Senegal not eaten in 5 days :( Mr. Picky Chameleon

[Larsa]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Espio the male Senegal Chameleon -W.C., juvenile/young adult, 3.5 inches not including the tail, weighs 11 grams.
Handling - Almost never because he is shy.
Feeding - Gut loading live small crickets a week, 1-3 crickets daily. Tried offering him a variety of live worms, doesnt seem interested in them.
Supplements - Flukers calcium w. Vitamin D3- phosphorus free dusting powder.
Watering - Mist 10 mins a day, Humidifier makes condensation on plant leaves, Little Dripper. He drinks a lot of water but cant stand getting his body wet. I always see him drink.
Fecal Description - Urate: mostly white with a teeny bit of orange/tan at end Feces: wet/slimy but solid, brown.
History - Ordered him online from Reptile City, he is wild caught from Africa, still young, accidentally sprayed him with water one time which made him flare. Hasnt eaten in about 5 days. He turns the other way when I offer him food in any way whether its with my finger, tongs, or letting his food crawl on the mesh screen. His last meal was 5 days ago- 2 small crickets ( hand fed ) and the day before that, one medium sized cricket. A few days ago we took him to the vet for a checkup. He had no parasites, had healthy gum lines, no blockage, very healthy eyes, and was given a small antibiotic.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -Tall mesh screen cage 18x18x24
Lighting - Reptisun UVB light, ZooMed Basking light, Night Heat lamp ( it gets 52F in my apt at night because its like 20F at night outside. ) All are on timers. Morning-8am UVB & Basking turn on, Night bulb turns off. Night-8pm Night bulb turns on, UVB & Basking light turn off
Temperature - TERRARIUM: Petco Thermometer says 75F-80F average in terrarium, basking spot gets up to 92F and is almost 6.5 inches away from basking light itself. For his cooling spots he climbs in the umbrella trees in the shady corner, where he likes to drink water. Night Light keeps his temp around 60F-63F but never below or above that. IN WHOLE APT: average temp stays around 54F-78F
Humidity - Main humidity is caused by a Safety 1st Infant humidifier. TERRARIUM: Petco hydrometer says humidity is anywhere from moderate to tropical 50%-75% depending where we aim the humidifier. IN WHOLE APT: average humidity stays about 54-62%
Plants - Live-yes. 3 umbrella trees ( He LOVES them a LOT! ) and a small pothos. We also have a few plastic dangly vine plants in the corners. He has a lot of dried up thick sticks that he climbs which do not have any fungus growth on them. He does have a thin layer of coconut husk bedding because it promotes less fungal growth on the sticks.
Placement - It is located in my living room on top of a semi-tall cubical dresser. The bottom of his terrarium starts about 48 inches from the floor.
Location - Northeast Texas- dry winter season.


Current Problem - I cant seem to get him to eat anymore! I think he is on one of those hunger strikes. If you read my feeding and history info that is pretty much what I am concerned about. He used to eat outta my hand but now he kinda doesnt want to eat his food. He pooped yesterday ( see fecal description ) I have tried wax worms, small meal worms, some other strange wormy from the pet store, and small-medium crickets ( tan--not the black ones ). I shake the crickets in powder, but not the worms. He hasnt eaten any worms yet-only crickets. I will try collecting small brown moths tonight. I really think he is bored with his food somehow.
Are these hunger strikes common/normal behavior? Will he eventually cave in? What can I do to try to get him to eat?

 

[lindstedt56]

Your supplement schedule is off.

Use Calcium without d3 almost every feeding
Use calcium with d3 2 times a month
Use miltivit 2 times a month

You could try giving him some flys. When my cham did not eat for a few days I gave him bottle flys and he finally started eating again. I guess he liked the movement.

 

[Elizadolots]

How old is he?

Guestimate how old you think he was when you got him, add in how long you've had him.

Oddly, that's a important piece of information.

 

[Larsa]

I am pretty sure he's a juvinile, but almost an adult. I have had him about 2 weeks now. I have started to wear only green colors around him, including nail polish. I am worried my bright colored clothing startled and upset him. He seemed more relaxed today when I wore all green, he even let me pet him a little. I ordered some flies online from tikitiki reptiles.com

 

[Larsa]

He is still being a pricky picky little butt T-T I hope he doesnt die or anything!!! He is still drinking a LOT of water. I am trying not to bother him so he doesnt stress out but at the same time the little bugger needs to eat!!! >:{ What I did was ( as I wait for my flies to come in the mail ) I took a reptile food container and put a few small mealworms in there. I will check every hour and count them and see if he takes interest in them. Since he drinks a lot of water, I was wondering if I could put a pinch of his calcium powder in his water dripper. I wanted to ask you all first if that was a good idea before I do it. I dont wanna force him to eat xsmall crickets if he isnt sick but is this an option too? It has been a week now since he ate ='(

 

[Elizadolots]

I would think he would eat more than 3 small crickets a day. Have you tried putting a whole bunch in there and seeing what happens?

 

[JackP308]

If he is eating I would be satisfied with that at least and not to concerned about how much. He's Wc and you haven't had him long at all. These animals usually will make it or break it with in first couple months of getting to a home. So if you have him hydrated and eating at least 3 crickets a day thats fine its a matter of him acclimating to his new environment in general. You don't want new WCs eating a lot anyways. Sounds normal to me.

Get him outside in Natural light as much as possible if the weather is nice he will really benefit from that .

 

[Larsa]

I would love to take him outside but its a little too cold out right now and cloudy In the spring maybe! A few days ago I bought a tall bamboo plant with 5 stalks planted. He went for a little joy climb and seemed to love it! He went up to the very top and basked in the sunlight peeking from the window. He had a great workout, he took a little nap which was cute!!!!

***I am gonna pick up some calcium-without d3


Anywayz... I think I found a solution to this picky little self. I personally did not like doing this at all but I felt like it was a necessity. Our vet even said to do this if he wont eat anything for over a week. Well first I took out the meal worms. He watched them curiously, twisting his head a few times at them-but then he went to go get a drink of water!!! T-T What I did was a little trick to get him to eat!!! I put a drop of water on his nosey and watched him lick it off. He opened his mouth and licked the water off his mouth with his tongue for a while. So what I did was let my BF hold him and put another drop of water on his nose. As he was licking, I placed a very very small cricket on his tongue and he ate it! I did this 2 more times and then let him be in his terrarium, crickets were non dusted btw. Luckily the crickets are gut-loaded. I really hope he isnt mad at me.... he seemed a little grumpy like "darn woman, I dont wanna eat a cricket!! Boring food! " Right now he is basking probably giving me the stink eye but at least his tummy is full. He really doesnt mind being held, as long as we pick him up by putting 2 fingers together under his belly from-neck-to-tail. I am gonna leave him alone for a while :/ At least he is getting flies soon!

 

[JackP308]

I would love to take him outside but its a little too cold out right now and cloudy In the spring maybe! A few days ago I bought a tall bamboo plant with 5 stalks planted. He went for a little joy climb and seemed to love it! He went up to the very top and basked in the sunlight peeking from the window. He had a great workout, he took a little nap which was cute!!!!

***I am gonna pick up some calcium-without d3


Anywayz... I think I found a solution to this picky little self. I personally did not like doing this at all but I felt like it was a necessity. Our vet even said to do this if he wont eat anything for over a week. Well first I took out the meal worms. He watched them curiously, twisting his head a few times at them-but then he went to go get a drink of water!!! T-T What I did was a little trick to get him to eat!!! I put a drop of water on his nosey and watched him lick it off. He opened his mouth and licked the water off his mouth with his tongue for a while. So what I did was let my BF hold him and put another drop of water on his nose. As he was licking, I placed a very very small cricket on his tongue and he ate it! I did this 2 more times and then let him be in his terrarium, crickets were non dusted btw. Luckily the crickets are gut-loaded. I really hope he isnt mad at me.... he seemed a little grumpy like "darn woman, I dont wanna eat a cricket!! Boring food! " Right now he is basking probably giving me the stink eye but at least his tummy is full. He really doesnt mind being held, as long as we pick him up by putting 2 fingers together under his belly from-neck-to-tail. I am gonna leave him alone for a while :/ At least he is getting flies soon!

Is he eating anything on his own , shooting tongue at all? Also nap you mentioned is not typically normal in healthy chameleons if it was in mid day.

 

[Larsa]

Sometimes he eats on his own and yes he sticks out his tongue when he eats. He let me hand feed him a couple of times. Today he didnt want any crickets or worms so I just left him be. I am trying to hatch some fly pupae right now. I ordered some wax worms to raise into moths but they died shortly after I put them in the fridge ( WTF then why does it say refrigerate on the lid!!?? ) errg I didnt know the fridge would kill them My fridge isnt even that cold, its on the 3 warmest setting. Still keeps my milk good grr I had to order more worms...keeping them at room temperature T-T

Also with the bamboo climing nap thingy he was climbing that for about 50 mins, about an hour just exploring the thing. He took a very quick nap, maybe 10 mins at most? I thought he must have been tired from the climb but no other naps.

He is still drinking his water, basking, climbing around, etc. I just got him some new branches at the pet store, hope he is enjoying those. I picked up calcium at the store a few days ago, without vitamin d3

 

[Larsa]

Hey guys I noticed something interesting today. While he basks, he turns brownish ( to absorb more light? )and he "flares" his neck out when he basks. Is this normal behavior? He does this even when im not even close to him/ in same room as him. Today...no interest in crickets but he twisted his head at a small waxworm-but then he kept looking at me im crazy and focused on me. Today I had to touch him because he was climbing his tree and slipped-so I helped him. He got a few black dots on him so I left him be after. Could this be a human trust issue? I mean he was wild caught-a human took him from his home and humans sent him around the world. I really think he is hungry but is scared of me or hates me what can I do? Should I leave his food in there?

 

[kinyonga]

I always leave the insects free in the cage.