Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey,how do i open my chams mouth??hes a baby still and i just want to know how i should do that just incase..thanks alot..heres a link to a site of pics. of him..also when he pooped today there was pinkish looking stuff where it normal is white..do you think that is a problem??he is doing really good now,likes being held,likes to be out in the open and not hide anymore like he did when i first got him..hes also really really active..and loves to bask..hes also trusts me alot and will even eat fruit flies off my hand..i heard its kinda rare for them to do that at such a young age..his tongue feels soo cool!!!hope to hear back from someone soon
jonny blaze
my cham..around 3.5 months old

What is the reasoning for doing such a thing? Medications, tube feeding, etc... ? Not quite sure where you’re headed with this so the more info you can give the better.

Opening a baby cham's mouth is tricky and should only be done if there is no other option. You can GENTLY pull down on the gular area (under the chin) and put your other fingers over the nostrils. The cham should open up. Also, a much gentler way is to get the cham to gape at you and hold the mouth open with a credit card or a tongue depressor.

An orange or pinkish tinge to the white urates is pretty common...it could be from gutload ingredients, but can also be a very subtle sign of dehydration if the urate is also firm.

Baby chams can be docile as they haven't figured the world out yet. As it gets older it may either stay this way or get more attitude. Handling doesn't always have much effect on the cham's natural personality, but consistent routines and hand feeding can teach it that you are not going to eat it!

hey,thanks alot for the replies soo quick..i just wanted to know how to do it just incase..cause i have heard of alot of people doing it,but had no idea how it'd be done.hope some of you got to see the pics..i'm glad the pinkish color isnt anything bad..when i first got him,i was really worried about him cause i wasn't sure i was doin things right,cause this is my first chameleon or even reptile..but things are going very very good now..how many fruit flies or crickets do you guys think i should be feeding him at this stage of life??he goes soo crazy for fruit flies soo he mostly eats those..i feed him about 13-20 fruit flies and 1-3 crickets a day..its hard to keep the crickets under control in his cage cause there are small cracks in the cage where they hide in for long periods of time..they can't get out of the cage though..thanks for the help
jon
ps-hope ya all check out the pics i put up

I tend to let my chameleons under 6 months eat as much as they want. Which is about 6 times what you are feeding yours. What I mean is, they eat 6-8 times per day, and each feeding is multiple fruit flies, AND multiple small crickets, or, flies plus a butterworm, small (1cm or 1/4inch) mealworm (fresh moulted), stick insects (1cm or 1/4inch), etc. Once they hit 6 months, I tend to control things a bit more. Their stomach is only so big, so over feeding them just results in unused waste. Plus females can over-eat, making eggs to big.

Hope you are using a cage and not a fish tank.
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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada

hey,those pics of him in the tank are when i used to feed him in a feeding cage..i don't anymore..i didn't want stuff being able to get out into my room,so things were more controled this way..but if ya saw all the pics,i had pics of his acual cage..thanks for the replys

Good to know the tank wasnt it's normal home. I can understand not wanting the feeder bugs roaming your house! I have suspended several smooth-sided feeding cups in each enclosure, but even so I know a few crickets excape. Luckily most of mine eat quickly so I know the bugs dont have much chance. But For those that dont like to eat when being watched, who take their time about eating and dont "hunt" so weel, I have to really be careful, expecially with roaches!

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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada

Be careful...crix loose in the cage for very long get hungry and can chew on your cham at night when it is asleep. If you are going to free range crix in the cage you need to keep some gutload somewhere they can reach it. Otherwise your crix have lost their good gut contents and may be full of stuff you don't want your cham to eat...fecal material, moldy plant material or soil. To give the fruit flies something to eat and keep them in one area for the cham to reach, put a chunk of fruit on a stick near a convenient perch.