Potential Eating Issue?

[Sphynx]

Hi there.

I got a baby male Veiled on Saturday. He is about 6 inches head and tail and from my opinion, appears to be great. His eyes are constantly turreting around and his feet holding a tight grasp to the branches.

However, last night I noticed he was spending a little less time under his light. Now today he was back under his basking lamp but something else kicked in. I feed him by holding a cup with crickets in it and he'll eat them from his basking perch. Today he only at three crickets and then lost interest. After that he went about mid-way down the cage and sat there all night. I tried to give him more crickets but he denied and looked away from then.

Since getting him on Saturday he has aten at least 3 crickets every day and I have seen him drink 3 times after misting.

I think I am just worrying a little much but how does he sound? Is this minimal eating periods okay? Is it normal for young Veileds in new enclosures to take on these disorders? Could it be due to stress? I do know it was cleaning day today in my room and the vaccuum was running along with a lot of people activity!

Thanks and I look forward to reading your replies,
Sphynx

 

[Nicodemayo]

How old is he? I really dont think this is to unusual if you've had him for less then a week. Sometimes it takes time for them to sink in. I think youll notice he'll begin to eat more in a few weeks after he gets used to his new environment. As long as he's eating something and you keeping his feeders well gut loaded and properly dusted he'll be fine. Also make sure his poops look normal. Other than that you really dont have anything to worry about imo.

 

[Sphynx]

He has began shedding today. I have been misting him like crazy to help him get his skin off but he seems to be struggling. As of now he has gone to bed but is covered in scattered patches of skin (especially around his eyes).

However he only ate two crickets today and I am beginning to grow concerned. On a good note I did see him drink ALOT of water during all his mistings. Keep in mind I let the screen enclosure dry out completely before every mist (7:30AM, 3:00PM, 7:00PM).

I just want to make sure this feeding habit isn't something to worry about. But do keep in mind he is still basking up at the top of his cage and drinking loads on a normal basis.

 

[Cainschams]

Make sure you are feeding appropriate sized crix. You should try to get some silkies for they are very nutritional and may stimulate his appetite.

 

[dodolah]

when they about to shed, it is normal to see a decrease in appetite.
He might return to his normal self within couple of days.
Try to vary his diet by introducing another kind of feeders such as silkworms and hornworms.

 

[Sphynx]

I will look into those types of feeders. I do not believe they are carried by the Pet Stores around me and due to the current weather conditions no shipping is avaliable in my area.

I am aware of Pet Stores offering crickets, mealworms, superworms, butterworms, waxworms and kingworms if that helps with potential choices of what to get him?

And yes this is his first official day of shedding and I did see a decrease of about 4 crickets per day. In terms of crickets I am definitely feeding him the appropiate sized crickets (they are actually smaller than between his eyes).

 

[AFH]

You also might try leaving the cup with the crickets in the cage. He may be a little unnerved by you holding the cup. He may eat more if you're not around. I have a very shy cham that will never eat in my presence.

As for cricket size, they should be about the length of the distance between their eyes, or the width of their head. If you're feeding him big crickets, he may only need two or three. But you do have choking potential on too big of meals.

 

[Cainschams]

Good job on crick size. I even feed my grown ups smaller crix than necessary. I get my bugs from mulberryfarms.com they are very good. There are a few other sites out there also but this was the first ive chosen and have no need to try any other site because of my good experiences. You do want to read up on the bugs though. Some are good treats with low nutrition high fat so you dont want to be feeding say waxworms all the time. Silk worms are a very good staple also. They are very juicy and help with hydration. I also use hornworms which are so cool to watch get devoured. These are very juicy also and stimulate appetite very well. I have a male panther that will only hand feed off these anything else I cant be around to watch him eat them. I live in maryland so it is cold as hell here and I just received my new bugs yesterday. The worms are usually bigger than the appropriate sized crix but are soft bodied so its not a big deal if they are bigger just not too big. Good luck

Mealworms arent good at all. No nutritional value and they can cause impaction and other digestion problems like constipation. I know people feed them but everything ive heard I stay away.