unofficial hunger strike poll

[dectr6]

Of those members who have chams on a hunger strike or with severly reduced intake...which ones chams are placed in a position close to a window or where they can see outside or in some other way know that it's winter. Just curious.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Hmmmm.
Interesting question.
Kitty (my adult male veiled) lives in the basement where everything is artificial. He's eating fine right now (last hunger strike was at the end of the summer).
I will tell you this though....without any visual exposure to what's going on outside...he has been going to sleep at about 4:00 in the afternoon (when it starts to get dark outside) regardless of the light schedule I have him on. Wakes up at about 8:00 a.m. (8 hrs of day and 16 hours of sleep)

-Brad

 

[dectr6]

Mine is by a window and is also going to sleep around 4:30. I just moved him to this location about 3 weeks ago which is when his eating slacked way off. He's eating about a fifth of what he was. Still healthy and maintaining weight though. I don't doubt that they can still sense when it's winter though. Could be the slight change in humidity or temps or ambiant light. It just seems like all these threads on hunger strikes has about tripled in the last month or so. Thanks for the reply. David

 

[Fate X]

i got a veiled on strike right now but he just shedd so hes gonna be alright it seems,he always strikes in the winter,i have not tried any other feeders though either.if he keeps striking im gonna try some kind of worms.
sonic striked about 2 months ago n it only lasted about 2 weeks now im fatting him up again.all the others are eating very good,i fatting a few of them up.

 

[christyo2o2]

Well Scooters cage is about 2 or 3 feet from our sliding glass door. we have vertical blinds that i usually keep open during the day. Scooter was on a hunger strike for a while although he started eating again... hes not eating like he was a month or so ago.

 

[Justin Carl]

are you gonna eat them fate x? fatting them up?lol

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Of those members who have chams on a hunger strike or with severly reduced intake...which ones chams are placed in a position close to a window or where they can see outside or in some other way know that it's winter. Just curious.

Our one fella who was on the longest hunger strike has his cage next to a window. He was the one we force fed for 3 days. On day 4 (yesterday) he ate a bunch of crickets on his own (yay!). But, yes, I hadn't thought of a seasonal connection. Of course, it's been cold, gray, and rainy up here (near Seattle) for months. Up here in the Northwest we often add extra lights in the winter to cut down on the dreariness.

 

[Trace]

I will tell you this though....without any visual exposure to what's going on outside...he has been going to sleep at about 4:00 in the afternoon (when it starts to get dark outside) regardless of the light schedule I have him on.

Brad R;

That's really interesting to me! (I have to cycle my critters with heat, humidity and light cycles to keep them healthy and breeding etc. Mine are on the same schedule as yours right now.) Considering the season, I'm assuming "Kitty" doesn't have outside access right now. Is there even a small window in your basement to indicate the rising and setting of the sun for him? It's neat he would know "sunset/sleepytime" if there isn't a window or lightleaks.

Cheers!
t

 

[bucky]

Mine is by a window and is also going to sleep around 4:30. I just moved him to this location about 3 weeks ago which is when his eating slacked way off. He's eating about a fifth of what he was. Still healthy and maintaining weight though. I don't doubt that they can still sense when it's winter though. Could be the slight change in humidity or temps or ambiant light. It just seems like all these threads on hunger strikes has about tripled in the last month or so. Thanks for the reply. David

So your suggesting that the time of the year could contribute to hunger strikes?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Trace,

There is no window in our small basement room, and he hasn't been out of his enclosure for 2 or 3 months.

-Brad

 

[Sara270]

I did observe a decrease in hunger/eating when I moved my panther inside in the fall (housed primarily outside day and night in the summer). He is now next to a window and my light timer is set according to daylight hours.

Light exposure, season, and temperature may all be possible variables correlated with decreased hunger. It would be hard to do a scientific study to control for extraneous variables that could confound outcome variable (i.e., eating).

In my laboratory (in humans) we found that amount of light exposure was strongly and positively associated with sleep quality. That is, as amount of exposure to daylight hours increased, sleep quality increased. Not sure about the relationship to eating in humans.

 

[royden]

Otto can see the window in the office. When I open up his cage he enjoys roaming his territory which inlcudes to the end of the open cage door and back, which I joke is his way of 'checking the weather', because he walks to the end of the cage door where he looks outside for a minute or so and then turns around and walks back into his cage.

He's involved in a pretty heavy strike right now.