sooo frustrated...

[royden]

My 7 mo veiled is on an almost complete hunger strike. He never ever eats out of a feeder cup, he always chases down his meals.

In the last two days he's ate 2 crickets. I'm trying to get him to eat some variety, so I got some king size meal worms and put them in a feeder cup.

No interest.

So I said 'too bad buddy, you're gonna learn to eat something besides crickets while the wife is still contemplating dubia's.'

Then I get the brillaint idea to throw a cricket in the feeder cup with the worms to draw his attention using a familiar feeder.

No interest.

So I see if he's hungry at all, and I remove the cricket from under his nose in the feeding cup and place it on the screen. He of course chases it down like he's starving to death and he's wondering where I've been hiding all the crickets.

arg! makes me so angry!

Why the hell is he obstaining from crickets almost entirely (2 or 3 a day at the most) but when I show him a new feeder (worms) he turns up his noes? And if I place his old familiar crickets next to his new worms, he turns up his noes at both?

makes no sense!

 

[lonomac]

Silkworms worked for me when mine wouldn't eat crickets. They're so easy, you just dust them, let them grab a vine and leave them be. I will strategically place them all around the cage in the mornings. Makes it easy and convenient for them when they're hungry.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

HA!
Welcome to feeding an almost adult veiled.
You'll get used to it and start to relax when these hunger strikes happen.
If he's not sick, he will eat when he's hungry.
Keep trying new things though (silkworms ARE great!)
Incidentally, were you referring to Zophoba worms or the giant mealworms?
I would steer clear of the latter as they are hormone raised to achieve their size and may not be the best thing to offer. Zophoba or "Superworms" are much better.

-Brad

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Guido seems to play food games, too. He has gone on a few hunger strikes. Our fail-safe solution has been to get one of those little tubs of chubby white worms that you keep in the fridge. That ALWAYS got him back to eating.

He did stop eating crickets, maybe when he was about 1 1/2 years old. That was it. Period. As far as he was concerned, he would die before he ate another cricket. It was crazy. So, we tried superworms. Those he loved. That's how he got so fat (250g).

When we had to change his diet we discovered he would eat crickets again. And we ordered silkworms, to vary his diet. We now know he will do anything for a silkworm. He will eat a cricket "if he's in the mood". So, we rotate things around and that pretty much keeps him eating. He gets fed every other day (at Dave W's suggestion) which helps him lose a gram here and there, and allows him to get hungry enough that he won't play games.

However, when he mated a week or so ago, he went on a hunger strike FOR DAYS. After 3 or 4 days I even tried to force feed him (get him to gape and slide a silkie in there) but it was to no avail, he just spit it out. Then, one day, I noticed he'd been eating his plants. So, that's what was sustaining him, anyway. A few days later, bingo, he was back to eating feeders again. Throughout the whole hunger strike he remained active and appeared robust.

 

[Dankmeleon]

i've never had any serious issues with hunger strikes, but all my chams are housed outside for most of the year and seem to have very fast metabolisms

 

[royden]

Thanks everyone. Makes me feel a little better. Today was so frustrating.

switching to dubia's really soon hopefully.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Try not to be frustrated when he decides he doesn't want to eat any roaches.
Just keep rotating the food and let him be hungry if he won't eat and don't stress.

-Brad

 

[royden]

Thanks Brad. That's exactly what I do and I guess I feel guilty for it. I'm like "dude theirs dinner right there if you're too picky to eat it you can go hungry".

Thanks for the encouragement.

If nothing else, I'm totally saving money on feeders.

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

Hummm... I wonder if they'll go for some snails
for sure clean them out by feeding them corn meal for a week or so
but... I think I remember that some of these guys love them.