I have a female panther chameleon (4.5 months old) who refuses to eat anything besides crickets. At first I just thought she just didn't want to cup feed, however I have now seen her eat crickets from the cup no problem. Ive tried hornworms, super worms and Dubia roaches. Is she possibly just a picky eater? I was just wandering if anyone has ever experienced anything like this and if so what did they do about it.
Young Panther has no interest in anything besides crickets
- Thread starter lucmyers
- Start date
ChamDE86
Avid Member
It's possible that the breeder only offered crickets since birth, so it's the only feeder she is comfortable eating. My guy didn't touch hornworms at all until he got a taste. Now it's one of his favorite treats. Try placing the superworm/hornworm on the side of the cage and let them climb. That usually drives them crazy enough to snatch it up.
Crashbandit05
Avid Member
My 6month old male panther is the same way. He just started eating bsfl and the flies that pupate. Really anything that flies he goes straight for. As long as your crickets are well gut loaded, she should be fine.
Boygeorge27
Avid Member
Boy George was the same would only eat crickets. So I got great advice from onow here to put some hoppers in his feeding cup with crickets then he might take a hopper and realise it was food. So I tried that and it work he now eats alsorts except dubia roaches which the ones I have a too big for him so on the hunt for smaller ones
Peachypink
Chameleon Enthusiast
The best way to get them interested in things like dubia is to make them appealing to them. I feed mine(as do many others) in a homemade feeder cup. I used the large cup they came in but others have used things like milk jugs, liter pop bottles or juice bottles and such. What you do is cut out a window and either attach screen to the inside or just rough up the plastic a bit. And make sure it is not see through. The picture of mine is before I painted it. You don't want them to try to strike at them through the plastic and get hurt.
This way the roaches have something to climb up and show more movement than if they were in the bottom of the cup. I have had 4 different chams now that I have been able to get to eat roaches with no issue. Not saying that all will but if you make it more appealing where they will at least taste, then you have a better shot. Once they start eating the dubia, I cut off the cricket supply. I use other feeders and never feed crickets again.
Here's mine before it was painted....
This way the roaches have something to climb up and show more movement than if they were in the bottom of the cup. I have had 4 different chams now that I have been able to get to eat roaches with no issue. Not saying that all will but if you make it more appealing where they will at least taste, then you have a better shot. Once they start eating the dubia, I cut off the cricket supply. I use other feeders and never feed crickets again.
Here's mine before it was painted....
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Ilike4hornedchams
Established Member
I had the same problem.
Mostly because I only fed them crickets (my fault), but when I started introducing superworms it took forever but I just showed them the bugs were alive and moving on their own and they tend to get curious and go for it. All I did is displayed it crawling in my hand for like a min or two and now it only takes seconds to get them to go for it.
Mostly because I only fed them crickets (my fault), but when I started introducing superworms it took forever but I just showed them the bugs were alive and moving on their own and they tend to get curious and go for it. All I did is displayed it crawling in my hand for like a min or two and now it only takes seconds to get them to go for it.
Remkon
Chameleon Enthusiast
The food has to move for them to get interested, I've noticed that...
My cham was taking a dubia roach when he'd see climb the screen or when i have it on tongs keeping it with the legs up so he can see it move.
wax/calcium worms also need to wiggle for him to show interest, if the worm doesn't wiggle he'll just look at me like 'what are you doing?'
With cupfeeding the food also mostly just sits there so my cham also isn't very interested in that either.
You should probably hang the cup in a spot where he frequently hangs out so he has more chance to see the food move.
My cham was taking a dubia roach when he'd see climb the screen or when i have it on tongs keeping it with the legs up so he can see it move.
wax/calcium worms also need to wiggle for him to show interest, if the worm doesn't wiggle he'll just look at me like 'what are you doing?'
With cupfeeding the food also mostly just sits there so my cham also isn't very interested in that either.
You should probably hang the cup in a spot where he frequently hangs out so he has more chance to see the food move.
