Skittles is scared of roaches

[Damicofam6]

The title says it all. I tried to feed Skittles who is about 1 year old a few roaches and they weren't that big, but Skittles wasn't taking it. He basically ran away from my hand and back into his cage and tried to hide. He has never acted like that before and I don't think there was anything else around to scare him. Have any of you had an experience like this?

 

[jannb]

The title says it all. I tried to feed Skittles who is about 1 year old a few roaches and they weren't that big, but Skittles wasn't taking it. He basically ran away from my hand and back into his cage and tried to hide. He has never acted like that before and I don't think there was anything else around to scare him. Have any of you had an experience like this?

I don't blame him. I'd be scared too. Some chameleons just do not like roaches and will not eat them. Just about half of the chameleons I've had would not touch a roach of any kind.

 

[KLowery88]

My Al has only eaten a couple roaches and he always holds them in his mouth and gives me a look of utter betrayal, lol. He isn't a big fan at all.

If you think about it, chameleons in the wild aren't really going to run across a roach. Most roaches are nocturnal and they tend to hide under leaves and things. Not really what a diurnal, tree dwelling animal would be looking for. Add to the fact that most roaches freeze and don't move as a defensive mechanism, and I just don't think they look appetizing. I have heard that Green Tree Roaches catch chameleon attention more easily.

 

[MeruJack]

I raise and feed my chameleons Dubia roaches and they eat them fine as long as they are the right size. Even my 3 month old babies will eat them. When I was at a reptile expo in April I purchased a bunch of red runners to start a colony for my cham fam....Well, they won't eat them. I cleaned out all the adult enclosures yesterday and there were still some in some of the enclosures. I think that they might be too fast...I think they're pretty but I don't care for their super speed...I guess that's why they're called red runners. They're red and they run really fast!

 

[Chamifornia]

My adult panther ate 1 in the first 3 years of having him. I gave up breeding them until the beginning of this year I started another colony since I added another cham and He will eat them a little now which is 5 years later but it takes a while for him to eat if at all. Sucks but just keep trying and maybe he will come around, maybe he won't

 

[Calval24]

I'm in the same boat you are. My Ambilobe won't get any where near a dubia but he will eat everything else I offer. Some just don't like them much

 

[JGuinan007]

My veiled loves her dubia! Our only issue is she sees one moving darts across the cage to get in striking distance then the roach stops moving and its like they go invisible to her she looses interest and moves away and then they move again. This usually only an issue with the last roach.

 

[jtimen]

Have you tried a feeding cup? I put feeders into a tall tupperware container and hang it midway up the vivarium. My girl can see the movement inside and go over if she's interested. She can reach in, but the feeders can't climb out.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

My chameleon ate roaches when he was a bit younger because I had a buddy who let me try some out to see how he would take to them.... Kyú loved them. That was quite a few months ago.....

Recently in the past couple weeks, I decided to start a roach colony of my own, but I've had a very hard time getting my now-adult male panther to eat the larger roaches. I've not tried offering him the mediums or the smalls because he is an adult panther and I figured he would like an adult roach (that, and an adult roach is a lot harder to lose track of inside my cage).... but he just isn't having it. There was an adult male roach in his cage about a week or so ago and I'm not sure if it is hiding in the plants really well or if it finally got eaten..... I'm sure to find out when I do a deep clean in about a month. Trying to get a nice feeder cup going for the roaches specifically so that way I don't ever lose any in my cage, but I haven't had time to make a different one after I wasn't happy with my last design. Going to start offering him smaller roaches here and there and see if he takes them. He's had roaches before, more than once, so I'm sure he just needs to get that taste back in his mouth to know how much he loves them. I think the bigger ones just intimidate him right now.

but Skittles wasn't taking it

As for getting him to actually TRY them though.... Try to put a couple of smaller ones into a feeder cup with other insects and maybe he will accidentally hit it while shooting for a different insect. If that doesn't work, try to offer him his favorite treat a few times in a row. His favorite juicy worm or his favorite moth or whatever it is he absolutely loves. Then, after you feed him a couple of those and get him all excited, try offering a roach. See if his attitude suddenly changes. If THAT doesn't work, try not feeding him for 3 days in a row to make him hungry, and then offer a roach to him. If he doesn't take it, offer something else first, like a small cricket or a fly or something to get him excited, and then try offering the roach again after that. Just keep trying and trying.

Sometimes it takes chameleons a bit to realize that an insect is food and not an enemy. I had this problem when trying to feed my adult panther chameleon Hawk Moths for the first time. I had 7 Hornworms pupate and I was so excited for Kyú to try out the moths. One hatched, and I tried to offer it to him and he just wasn't having it. Did the same thing your Skittles does, and he ran and hid from the moth. I tried again an hour later, with the same result. I tried to offer the moth again the next day, and my cham just didn't want it. That sucked for me, because another moth had hatched overnight. Hawk moths only live 24-48 hours or so unless they have nectar to drink, which I did not have..... So now I had 2 moths and 5 pupaes that I had no idea what to do with. I gave the two hatched moths plus 3 of the pupae to my buddy Nick down the road from me who also keeps a chameleon. I kept two of the pupaes and decided to try again when they hatch. About a week or so later, another one of mine hatched. Lucky for me, My chameleon was already a bit hungry because I feed him every other day, and the moth hatched in the evening of one of the no-food days. I had to be out of town for a day, so I put the moth in the cage that Friday evening, crossed my fingers, and left. Came back home Saturday night, and the moth was still there. So the next day was day three. Offered him the moth in the morning, no good. Offered the moth again a few hours later, and still no hope. So I just left if in there and figured I would take it out when it finally died on its own. I placed it on the screen of the cage, at the very top, in clear view, but it was barely moving as it was probably almost dead at this point..... I walk away and go about my business and ten minutes later I hear a loud POP. Sounded like my chameleon fell from a branch so I rushed over to see what the noise was, not even thinking it was the moth because he had denied it so many times before. I get over to the cage, and he had the moth in his mouth. I was overjoyed! It was the only food item he had ever decided to turn down, and I finally got him to eat it!

https://www.chameleonforums.com/media/nom-nom-nom.42856/

That was over a month or so ago..... I still have the other pupae that hasn't hatched yet, although I know it's alive because it wiggles a bit if I hold it. I wonder if my cham is going to be stubborn on the 2nd one? He looked like he loved the taste of the moth.... so we will see.

Sometimes you just have to keep trying and keep trying..... maybe they will take to it and maybe they won't, but never give up on the first day. Or the second. Or the third. Try and try again. If Skittles doesn't take to the roaches soon, then give it a break and maybe try it again in a few months. I've heard stories of people who offer food items only to have them rejected time and time again, but then months down the line, or sometimes even years down the line, they decide to try again and the chameleon eats it. That's one of the fun (and very frustrating) things about chameleons; they are unpredictable and it's sometimes a giant guessing game with them. It's a great learning experience though.

Good luck!