Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just moved my 4 month old female jackson in to a new cage that has 1/4" hardware cloth and all of the crickets get out right away except for the first 2 or 3 on when i put them in right away so i was wondering what is a good cup for cup feeding where is the best spot to place them and how do i make it so the crickets don't jump out and they don't get soaked when the cage is misted. any other information about cup feeding would help.

First of all, I think it might be to late for you to try cup feeding, but here are some answers to your questions. To keep the crickets inside the cup, you must take off their back legs. I would use the deli cup so your chameleon and crickets cannot eat through the cup and you should put the deli cup at the bottom of the cage where your chameleon can get to the crickets, for an example in the middle of the cage or one of the corners. Why don't you try hand-feeding to your chameleon, it is not hard to do.

what do you mean too late for me to cup feed i have only had for a little under a month and hand feeding doesn't work all the time.

It doesn't matter how long YOU have had him. Like you said, your chameleon is 4-5 months old. You should do it when they are babys, so they are use to it. You can try it though. Are you too afraid to hand feed or something, because chameleons like it when you hand feed to them.

i filled a deli cup with some crickets and a few mealworms under her favorite bio vine. I couldn't wait to see if the thing would work so i fealt obligated to pick her up and take her onto the vine after i placed him there she started storming off quickly(i mean for a chameleon at least)when something finally caught his eye and he started looking at it in some sort of confusion and after about a minute she decided to go for a cricket then a mealworm. i just wanted to share my short experience and thank you guys for helping me out with my chameleons. My next question is should i start off my 2 month old male with cup feeding now. he is in a cage that the crickets can't get out of but won't be for long

That would be a good idea man and I am glad it worked.

Chameleons don't care how they get food. You can take a 2 year old chameleon that has caught free roaming crickets all it's life and will quickly adjust to food in a cup.
There is no need to spend time breaking the legs off of cricket's so they don't escape. Just get a suitable container (height wise).
Handing feeding is for your enjoyment not theres. How would you know they prefer hand feeding since they are wild animals by nature and would never be hand fed?

I don't think it's ever too late to cup feed I have cup fed a full adult wild caught cham before and not had any problems with it. He fed from the cup minutes after I put it in. They learn very quickly that the cup usually has food in it.
I have some young veilds that actually run to their cup when I open their door.

It's really simple I use a plastic measuring cup and hook the handle or tie it to a branch or the cage wires with a twist tie or pipe cleaner. I make sure there is a branch over it so the cham can perch there to shoot at crickets. Just make sure they can reach them. Most size crickets don't jump out much (adults might) but I just put them in whole and most stay in there. I put a little cover on the cup while misting or take it out and put it back when I am done misting.

i have my deli cup secured to a sturdy piece of wood with vines near most edges for easy access it is about 1/2 way up in the cage. i don't seem to have problems with esscapees except if it is a dirty cup so they can climb it. to avoid floodign from misting you can either strap it to the underside of a branch (in this case you MUST have vines going near it) or what i do is poke small small holes in the bottom of the cup so the water drains right through the only problem here is the mist can wash dust off of crickets. the only time i have escaped crickets is sometimes she will nab several crix with one shot and then "spit" all but one out but she quickly catches them. hope this helps. JK