Very Picky Sengel Cham. Some advice please.

[jadeaudio]

My 1st chameleon that got me in this hobby is the Senegel. I love him/her because he/she is an awesome sharpshooter when he wants to eat. Let's just say he never wants crickets anymore. I even left him with crickets in there for 4 days and that stubborn butt won't eat them anymore. I'm trying to breed Dubia's right now to give him something else, but seriously Dubia's are huge and he is only going to be able to eat really small ones. Currently he'll eat a superworm, but that isn't very healthy to eat that only. I put a silk worm in there and he wouldn't touch it. I left it in there for a say where the Pothos has a web of silk! The only thing he really attacks and eats within seconds is flies. Now after reading on here people say not to give him wild caught flies so I bought some from Mantisplace and they are just too small for him. Not sure how long it takes to get them bigger, but raising your own flies is a pain in the butt. And how nutrious can they be? My Panther cams eat anything and so does my Carpet, but my Senegel is a pain. I want to make sure he stays healthy and feeding him Supers is not going to cut it. Any suggestions? I would love to hear from people who actually have Senegels as a lot of Veiled and Panther owners do not realize how small these guys are, so options are really limited.

 

[xanthoman]

are you talking about fruit flies , house flies, or blue bottle flies ?, (the mantise place has all three) house and blue bottle flies , emerge almost full grown , blue bottle flies are about twice the size of house flies, and big enough to be of interest to even the larger chameleons, it would be pointless to raise either of them because both are dirt cheap in all three stages [spikes (maggots), pupae, or flies] ps i dont have any senegals but its hard to imagine a bbf being too small for any cham. but they are small enough for my larger two month old xanth neonates. flies are a great treat, but not a good staple , i dont know if you heat your dubia but keeping them heated to about 88-92* will cause them to grow and mulltiply about twice as fast as keeping them at room temp

 

[Vampire.queen]

How old is he? Well-fed adult could go without food for a week or two and then maybe he would eat everything again.

 

[jones5233]

A senegal is a very picky eater from what i have found out. Mine will not eat a silk worm but loves crickets. If you can get him to eat from your hand, i have found that the exo terra grasshoppers are a favorite of mine. But all in all just try different feeders until you find one. i am currently in the process of switching mine to freeze-dried food.

 

[jadeaudio]

Thanks for the replies guys! At Mantisplace I bought the houseflies and they are tiny, so I guess I need to get the blue bottle flies. I know he'll eat those, but will he get enough calcium eating just flies? So what stage should I buy the blue bottle flies in so that they turn out a nice size? I'm totally new to the whole fly thing, so I have no clue what to buy. I bought the houseflies and they came out very tiny where I just want to let them go.

I'm sure he is WC and probably an adult. I bought him at a local reptile show for $12 which got me into this hobby. So you think if I let him go a week without eating he'll eat crickets again?

It's definitely weird how he won't eat silk worms and glad to here someone elses Senegel won't wat silks also. I'm amazed you can get him to eat dry food. Any suggestion on how to sex him/her? How can you tell between male and female?

 

[Lizardlover]

A senegal is a very picky eater from what i have found out. Mine will not eat a silk worm but loves crickets. If you can get him to eat from your hand, i have found that the exo terra grasshoppers are a favorite of mine. But all in all just try different feeders until you find one. i am currently in the process of switching mine to freeze-dried food.

Why would you do that, healthy chameleons NEED live food!

 

[chambabysitter1]

Why would you do that, healthy chameleons NEED live food!

Agreed. Using dead food is ill advised all around.

 

[kinyonga]

How moist are freeze dried insects compared to live ones?

Regarding sexing Senegals...look at the base of the tail and the general shape and size of the body and head. I'll try to find some pictures....but right now I have to sign off.

 

[chambabysitter1]

I haven't used them in about 6 years. But I remember the freeze dried crickets being blackish in color, very dry, and awful smelling. Not to mention it wasn't very cheap compared to live. Plus, no gutload. Very hard sell in my book.

 

[Digby Rigby]

Think Green

In our experience green insects make for tempting targets. Since it does go after flying things I would suggest Panchlora nivea the green banana roach. Females are just under and inch long when full grown males a little over half an inch. Fairly easy to breed and they wont infest the house. They can fly and the adults climb glass. Then again so do flies.

Digby Rigby [email protected]