Waiting to be held to eat

[brittbritt]

When we first brought home Mister Li-zard he went on a 8 day hunger strike. We quit holding him right away and offered him some different types of worms to eat. Since then if he stops eating a day or so we quit holding him daily to get him to eating again.

Now I'm noticing if he doesn't eat for a couple of days and my daughter gets him out to hold him, right when he goes back in his enclosure he goes right to his food cup to eat. Is this something anyone else has noticed their chameleons doing? It makes me wonder if he's waiting on her to hold him then when she does he goes and eats good.

 

[jajeanpierre]

How long have you had your chameleon?

I suspect your chameleon is extremely stressed by handling. The usual response to stress is to stop eating, but not all the time. Sometimes increased appetite is a response to stress.

I just get the feeling you are putting this animal under constant stress based on what little information you have given.

You have a chronic anorexia problem and notice that handling has an effect on whether he eats or not.

Please stop handling him. You have an animal that is showing signs of stress.

Stress is a leading cause of poor health in chameleons. A stressed animal's immune system is suppressed by the hormones secreted during stressful events. Chronic stress from living in an environment that is inappropriate--too hot, too cold, not enough nutrients, too small, not enough cover to feel safe, etc., etc., etc.,--will do the same thing. A suppressed immune system will allow disease or parasites to take hold and overwhelm the animal. Stress doesn't usually kill directly, but it sets it up for the animal to get sick. Sick chameleons usually die, especially in the hands of novices.

 

[brittbritt]

Thank you so much for your feedback. We adopted him less than a couple of months ago. I've been doing even more research on chameleons since bringing him home as I want him to be healthy and happy with us.

He came to us in a smaller sized enclosure of 16"x16"x24". My daughter saved up her allowance and we got him into his new bigger 24"x24"x48" enclosure. The past owners only misted his enclosure down once a day and I don't think they ever dusted his feeders with vitamins. I mist him down four times a day now and dust his food down with the right vitamin powders.

 

[ChamDE86]

Hello Britt,

Just so we can rule out any other potential issues, could you please fill out the form on the link I've provided below? It helps to be descriptive as possible so we can better understand your current husbandry and if any correction is needed. A photo of your chameleon and his cage setup would also be helpful.


https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[brittbritt]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Graceful chameleon, have had him since February, was told he is around 1 year old.
• Handling - My daughter holds him at least once every other day for a few minutes.
• Feeding - Right now he will only eat wax worms. His past owners only fed him meal worms and crickets. He no longer eats them when offered.
• Supplements - Every other day I dust the wax worms with Repti Calcium without D3. Once a week dust with Rep Cal Herptivite multivitamins.
• Watering - I mist his cage down with a hand held reptile mister four times a day. I mist all the live plants down until they are dripping wet and I see him drinking off the plants daily.
• Fecal Description - I saw him towards the bottom of the cage two nights ago defecating. It was formed, not watery.
• The color was brown with white in it. He has not been to the vet yet.
• History - His previous owner sold him to me saying he was a veiled. I didn't know enough about chamleons at that time to know he was instead a Graceful chameleon. They only misted his cage down once a day and he was only fed meal worms and crickets. I don't believe his food had ever been dusted with vitamins before coming to live with us. After the 8 day hunger strike when we first got him he will no longer eat crickets or mealworms. I can't get him to eat superworms or phenix worms either. I've tried Dubia roaches and he was scared of them and wouldn't eat them. He'll only eat wax worms now. On the days he eats, he will eat between 2-5 of them.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - 24"x24"x48" mesh enclosure. He came to us in a smaller 16"x16"x20" mesh enclosure.
• Lighting - He has a UVB bulb but I didn't save the box it came in. He also has a 100W daylight basking spot bulb made by Exo Terrs. We turn the UVB and 100W bulb on between 8-9 a.m. We turn it off at around 9 p.m.
• Temperature - His basking temperature is around 81 degrees. I have a handheld temperature gauge. We keep our house temperature between 68 and 72 degrees.
• Humidity - I don't have a humidity gauge. I've never measured it before. I can buy one tomorrow when I go to town.
• Plants - There are four live plants in his cage. Two are umbrella plants. He also has the one he came with that has real long vines. I don't know it's name. The other plant I checked the name of it when I bought it to make sure it was chameleon safe but I don't remember what it was called.
• Placement - His cage is in my daughter's room. There is no fan in her room and the vent is across the room from his cage. His cage is sitting on a wide Tupperware container where it's not sitting directly on the floor.
• Location - We live in Florence, Alabama.

Current Problem - I am concerned that he has days where he won't eat then when my daughter holds him he goes right in his cage and starts eating.

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

I'm going to be honest you might be over feeding him. At my dance studio, the owner of the place sister has one and she feeds her Cham 15 crickets every other day. But I am a little confused on what you are saying. Are you saying ur Cham only eats when he daughter holds him or no.

If he is only eating when she is holds him he might be getting bored of his eating place. Try feeding him some crickets from a bucket or feed him outside of the cage.

If he only eats when ur daughter does handle him that means he is getting way to stressed and won't eat.

You probs should bring him to a vet just to make sure everything is ok, since you said you have never brought him to a vet. Kind of like a check up to make sure he is in good health. If you do bring him to the vet j would adress your situation and they will help you with it.

 

[brittbritt]

I'm sorry I didn't word it better. He has days where he eats between 2-5 worms daily. Then he has days where he won't eat for 2-3 days. I've noticed when my daughter holds him on the days he hasn't eaten yet he will sometimes go right back in the cage and go eat a couple of worms. He will eat without being held as well. I just thought it odd he will some days go right back in his cage and eat after my daughter has held him.

I've advised my daughter that we're not going to hold him for quite a while as to not stress him further.

 

[Bush baby]

Hi there, you have a great cage setup!

Wax worms are a horrible staple diet. It's like feeding a child candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner and expecting them to be healthy and thrive. How do you offer him worms now, in a cup or by hand? He really needs to get back to either eating crickets or dubia roachs as a staple meal. Have you tried free ranging the crickets? Free ranging is when you place the crickets directly in the cage and allow him to hunt them down as he would in nature. Alot of people don't like this method, as some crickets can nibble on your cham as it sleeps, but i have never had this issue as i leave food at the bottom of the cage for my crickets to eat, so they're alway gutloaded by the time my cham gets to them.







You should cut back or eliminate handling him. He may just be one of those chams that doesn't like being held.

Try the crickets again, but also try 'flying food' like flies. That usually breaks them out of a hunger strike. I also find that exposure to nature sunlight stimulates appetiete as well, so take him outside whenever you can.

 

[brittbritt]

Thank you for your reply. I've got to go to town today anyway and I'll get him some more crickets to try again. I put his wax worms in a small little cup by a spot he likes to sit at. One of his plant's vines holds it in place since it's so light. After bringing him home in February he ate crickets for a couple of days then has not eaten them since. I tried having them in a container and also free roaming in his cage. We love him so much and just want him to be as healthy and happy as possible.

 

[brittbritt]

I bought a humidity gauge today to stick in Mister Li-zard's cage and also some crickets to try to get him to start eating them again. I cut up some apple, carrot and butter lettuce for the crickets to eat before feeding them to him.

 

[KrazyZen]

you know since i became a member of this site and reading the forum and this is just my opinion i noticed specially with first time chameleon owners that they sometimes go way over board when they think something is wrong when maybe all that is needed is to allow the chameleon time to adjust in it's new surroundings. and in all my years selling salt an freshwater animals as well as reptiles i always recommend doing as much research on a pet you might purchase specially animals like chameleons who isn't really that hard to keep if you give it what it will need to keep it healthy physically and mentally. and when you decide to buy the animal you must do whats best for it not what you'd like to do with it. what i'm trying to say is these lizards can stress easy if handled too much specially when it's unfamiliar with you and i know ppl who admire chameleons wanna handle them more then they should but if you did your homework you'd know it's suggested that they are more of a pet that should be admired from a distance. i'm not saying you are not doing a good job so far i just wanted maybe future chameleon owners to know what they are getting into. i also want to say even though stress can cause a major decline in there health i think a lot of times they are seen as delicate animals when in reality they can be pretty sturdy once they are familiar with it's surroundings. ok now let me see if i can maybe suggest a few things that might be of help to you. lets start with his cage... is it in a high traffic area ? do u got maybe dogs or cats that might stress it? also you talked about misting it more then the previous owner . you can fix this buy just adding a dripper and don't think you gotta buy a overly priced misting system. just get a plastic container poke a hole near the bottom seal it with something thats not toxic or just make a hole on the cap or lip n run a longer tube and just connect the end with some kind of valve like one u can get for a couple of dollars in a aquarium store or use even a dripper for irrigation and it will do the same job them high priced misting items do. hydration is important so is what u feed it. and it doesnlt matter what you feed it if you're not gutloading it's food. think of it like that saying ... you are what you eat...so if the feeders you are giving it eats crappy things or has nothing cuz the caretaker doesn't bother even giving it anything then it's a no brainer that your chameleon isn't getting anything beneficial. ok now having the right li8ghting is a must but if you can allow it to get some natural sunlight even for just 30 minutes will greatly increase it's over all health just a warning make sure u give it a cool shaded area it can go to if it gets hot it doesn't take long to overheat it and die.. last thing i can suggest is maybe try just letting it feed in peace by using a cup not too deep and leave the room for now and just be patient theres plenty of time to train it for hand feeding .last thing i wanna say is when your daughter handles it does it sway back n forth or opens it mouth if it does then it's stressed and maybe needs more time to aclimate.. well good luck

 

[brittbritt]

You're very right about us not being completely ready for our chameleon. I did some research before bringing him into our home but did not do nearly enough. As I'm coming across things we're doing wrong I'm doing my best to correct them as soon as possible. With all the help on this site I feel I'm headed in the right direction with Mister Li-zard's care.