Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am asleep until late mid day most of the week lately cause I have changed my lesson schedule.After a lot of time observing my veiled I realised that he stops feeding at about mid day.He likes to eat during early basking hours and the bowl is exactly below the basking spot so that makes sense.I was thinking of putting ckrickets from the previous night in the bowl along with gut load.I am not sure though that crickets will 'feel like home' and gut load properly when exposed to bare naked bowl without cover,
what do you think?
Thanks

I would put greens in the bowl with the insects. If the crickets don't eat the greens it won't matter because your cham probably will when eating the bugs. I'm surprised your cham doesn't eat at mid day. If mine is hungary he will eat when ever I put food in. I also don't leave insects in the cage all day. I put in a little more than I think he will eat, then remove the rest. Unless your free roming your cham I would let the crickets run loose (not all night, just at feeding time) hunting stimulates natural instincts which is good for the animal. Think of it as enrichment. Also did you feed him in the morning before? He might be used to eating in the morning and if you fed him at mid day consistantly his "internal schedule" might change. Hope this helps.

Tim

I let the crickets free roam and cup feed the zophobas(superworms). I cut up collard greens into small pieces and use it as a substrate in the cup/bowl. This has several advantages. First it acts as a padding so your chams tounge won't bruise when he shoots, second it is a good final gutload since it has a calcium to phosforus ratio of 14:1, and lastly, your cham may inadvertantly get some stuck to his tounge when feeding, which is a good thing since it is very nutritious. The superworms devour it as well, so thier guts will be full of fresh greens. Make sure to wash the greens as they may have pesticides and buy organic when possible. Note: I also like to feed silkworms fresh mulberry leaves minutes before feeding them off since they have a higher calcium content than chow. Hope this helps and happy herping.