Veiled Chameleon ONLY eats when handfed

[inlinefourpower]

So, I have a veiled chameleon who is about 8 months old. In an attempt to make him more friendly (which seems to have worked, btw) I hand-fed him crickets. I'd just kinda hold onto their legs and he'd shoot the cricket out of my hands, nothing to it. Well, now the little fat bastard seems to be too lazy to eat from his feeding cup. At first it was kinda low in his cage, but now I put it right near his basking area angled so he can see the crickets hopping around inside. He is shedding right now, but he doesn't normally go on hunger strikes like this.

I suppose the other strange thing is that he will eat when I hold crickets in front of him.

Did I break him? Is he now too stupid to hunt?

 

[Saldarya]

Ask yourself this,

If you had someone who would cater to your every need including hand feeding you food every day, would you want to go hunt for it?

Point is, stop hand feeding him for a couple of days and he will get his own food.

 

[inlinefourpower]

I guess maybe I have been spoiling him : P

How long should he be able to go without eating? Actually I've kinda been meaning to ask this for a bit. It seems like most guides say that when he's an adult I only feed him every other day. How do I tell when he counts as an adult?

 

[Saldarya]

I would say that 8 months is not exactly an adult, and he is likely still growing, but him not eating for 2-3 days wont hurt him.

If you feed him every day, I would guess that 1 or 2 days without the hand feeding he will take it on his own.