Stopped eating out of feeding cup

[TimUp]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - ambilobe ambanja cross, male, about a 3 1/2 months, 2 weeks

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? none yet

Feeding - 10-15 crickets every day crickets get bug burger, kale, apple, yam, zoo med dry gut load, water gels I also have given him a couple of wax worms only 1 a day

Supplements - dusting them with rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium w/vit.D3 ultrafine powder every other day and rep-cal herptivite w/beta carotene multivitamins 1/week on weekend.

Watering - dripper and habba mist 30 secs every 3 hours i didn't see him drink today but was lapping up alot of water yesterday

Fecal Description - black with very white w/gushy clear stuff. I'm pretty positive about this as he lifted his leg, pointed his but at me, and looked over his shoulder as he took a crap this morning.

History - 2 weeks old so not to much of this

Cage Info:
Cage Type - small screen cage

Lighting - repti sun 5.0 uvb and 50w heat lamp. both on for 12 hours

Temperature - average daytime 82 high 90 low 62 at basking measured with digital. 70 currently at bottom measured with analog

Humidity - current 50% low 30% and high 84% maintained with a habba mist

Plants - I have fake branches with fake leaves at the top and also have small pathos, spider, and corn in the bottom to help maintain humidity. I potted all of these and covered the surface with large rocks to prevent ingestion of soil.

Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Located on kitchen table in the corner of the room. Not a whole lot of traffic

Location - Where are you geographically located? San Diego, CA

Current Problem - He has been eating out of small dish that I place the crickets in except for the last 2 days. He now will only eat the crickets after they jump or crawl out of the dish. Is this something that I have done to pi$$ him off. I did clean (wiped down the inside of the cage to clean up mess and I also rinsed all fake and live plants with warm water) his cage last night and he was not happy about that at all.

 

[camimom]

hes probably jsut bored with the food being so accessable.

 

[TimUp]

I thought that might have been the problem. he doesn't leave his perch when he does eat. He just sits there and waits for the crickets make there way to him.

I don't really mind that being the problem since it's a lot more interesting to watch him eat.

 

[sandrachameleon]

consider using a large feeding bowl, so that the crickets cannot escape it and so that they can move around more (thus attracting attention / hunting instinct). Ensure the feeding bowl is clean. Also some prefer a dark bowl, as opposed to something white or shiny (and this preference can appear suddenly after happily eating from white for months previous)
he also may just not like where you have the dish, especially after your recently cleaning may have moved things

your temps seem a little high for a young animal.

 

[Seeco]

I have some suggestions but first off I think the corn may be an impaction and bacteria risk. Regardless it is probably not very effective.

I cup feed in about 10 cages. This time of year some decline in appetite is common. My theory though is that if the cham has a bad taste associated with the cup he will avoid it for awhile. This can happen if he poops in the cup and the crix nibble it, or if there is a dead insect in there and he accidentally eats / bites it. Or stagnant dirty water.

What I always do to make sure the animal is happy is remove the cup and wash it thoroughly. Leave it out and starve him for about 2 days. Replace it and put just 2-3 crix in. Add a golf ball sized rock or something else safe for the crix to crawl up on. All my cups have screen bottoms. Here is an example: https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-methods-part-2-chams-gettin-busy-kitchen-72402/

 

[TimUp]

Thanks for the help! I'll get that corn plant out of there and work on making a better feeding cup. Would it still be a good idea to let a few roam free so he has to actually hunt for his food?

I wasn't to for sure about the temps but he pretty much just hangs out under the uvb all day.

 

[carol5208]

On another note most of us dust with calcium without d3 at every feeding and the calcium with d3 a few times a month. Now it also depends on what type of d3 calcium you are using. You happen to be using one that has a very high concentration of d3, therefore you definitely want to scale back on that. I would get a regular calcium and use the Repcal with d3 a two or three times a month. you don't want to overload on the d3! Do you take your cham outside for natural sunshine? If the weather in Cali allows you should do as often as possible.

 

[Seeco]

Thanks for the help! I'll get that corn plant out of there and work on making a better feeding cup. Would it still be a good idea to let a few roam free so he has to actually hunt for his food?

I wasn't to for sure about the temps but he pretty much just hangs out under the uvb all day.

Oh hey I thought you meant ground up corncob as a substrate. I'm sure a corn plant is fine!

 

[TimUp]

Ya it's a corn plant not substrate.

I did read something about this and just have not gone to LLL yet to get the other. I guess I'll have to do that tomorrow. I have not taken him outside yet, since he is still new. I found an old bird cage at a garage sale and am in the process of cleaning it up and turning it into his outdoor cage. It should work for maybe a year till he is to large. I figured it would be a neat cage to use though.

 

[Seeco]

Ya it's a corn plant not substrate.

I did read something about this and just have not gone to LLL yet to get the other. I guess I'll have to do that tomorrow. I have not taken him outside yet, since he is still new. I found an old bird cage at a garage sale and am in the process of cleaning it up and turning it into his outdoor cage. It should work for maybe a year till he is to large. I figured it would be a neat cage to use though.

What at LLL? As for the bird cage bars, don't get surprised by chameleons' ability to squeeze!

 

[TimUp]

What at LLL? As for the bird cage bars, don't get surprised by chameleons' ability to squeeze!

I'll grab the calcium w/o d3. I plan on wrapping the cage with some extra screen that I have in my garage. I figure this should limit his ability to get out.

 

[Leza]

I had this problem a week ago. My Cham quit eating out of a cup I had, clear and shallow, maybe 5 inches wide. I tried free ranging them, he wasn't going for that either. I went out and got a small milk jug(it was half and half) cut a hole on one whole side and put a little bit of screen in the back vertically for the crickets to climb. He immediately ran over and chowed down. Just another idea. At that age he should be wanting to eat all day.

 

[sandrachameleon]

On another note most of us dust with calcium without d3 at every feeding and the calcium with d3 a few times a month. Now it also depends on what type of d3 calcium you are using. You happen to be using one that has a very high concentration of d3, therefore you definitely want to scale back on that. I would get a regular calcium and use the Repcal with d3 a two or three times a month. you don't want to overload on the d3! Do you take your cham outside for natural sunshine? If the weather in Cali allows you should do as often as possible.

I Agree with this
good catch C

 

[TimUp]

I got the calcium w/o the d3 and started him on that. I also moved is cage, that is on a cart, in front of my screen door and had him sitting in the sun this morning as it shined through. He got about 3 hrs of sun before it disappeared behind a tree and the onshore winds started to pick up. He was totally happy and crawling all over the side of the cage that faced the sun.

If I get him a few hours of sun a week how much d3 does he need?