Vacation

[leslievilarino]

I will be going away next month for about a week. I know that chameleons should be fed in the morning but while I am gone I think my friend can only make it here in the late afternoon or early night. Does anyone know if this will harm my chameleon badly? Also does anyone know any way to get around this? I have heard of "automatic cricket feeders" before but I have never looked into one..

 

[Chamifornia]

Does your chameleon cup feed? Having someone put feeders in at night would be the easiest way. Its really not that big of a deal feeding later if its only a couple insects but I wouldnt go more than that.

 

[leslievilarino]

Does your chameleon cup feed? Having someone put feeders in at night would be the easiest way. Its really not that big of a deal feeding later if its only a couple insects but I wouldnt go more than that.

That sounds good, Thanks so much

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I feed mine in the evening all the time. Not LATE evening, but I feed him when I get home from work at 4 PM or sometimes I work late and get home at 5 PM and still feed him. The lights don't go out till 9 for mine, so he had a few hours to bask in the light after he eats. Sometimes I will put some insects in his cage in the morning so he can eat throughout the day, but I typically only do this with insects that fly so that way they don't all get lost in the cage without me knowing where they all went.

Feeding early in the morning is just a general rule of thumb because then they have all day to bask under the heat lights which will help digest their food. In the wild though, a chameleon will nab an insect pretty much at any opportunity they get because they don't get fed on a regular basis like they do in captivity. With that being said, I'm not suggesting to feed them right before the lights go out. BUT..... In my opinion, as long as there are 2-3 hours or more to bask under the heat lamps after eating then you'll be okay.

 

[Remkon]

Well, the feeding itself I don't think will do much harm.
But in case of crickets they could start to munch on your cham during the night.
So either feed some insect that doesn't harm your cham or don't feed more than the cham eats before bed...

 

[trickedoutbiker]

But in case of crickets they could start to munch on your cham during the night.

This problem can be easily solved by leaving a piece of vegetable or fruit hidden somewhere at the bottom of the cage so that way the crickets can munch on that instead of the chameleon.