Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok i have talked to a few people and what is the point of cup feeding. i tryed that with my bearded and he seemed a lot more happy when he got " the thril of the hunt" if any one can elarate on this that would be grate

For me the point is just so that my cham can find it's food.

Becki

One point may be "feeder contamination"
Contamination of food items can happen when the food is running around through the cage and plants - and debris

Another might be "convenience"
It is convenient to place food items in a cup, one can even put their supplements in the cup

Another might be "safety"
It is nice to know that your cham is safe from getting bitten by it's intended dinner

Another might be "econony"
It is economical to place 6 crickets/worms in a cup rather than in a cage where the cham might find only 2 of the food items, the other four are found dead later.

Just a couple of reasons.....
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This is one of the never ending debates in cham care. Some people swear by cup feeding, others don't. I have a sort of middle of the road approach. I confine some foods to a feeding bin (a larger plastic box that lets feeders roam around, gutload themselves and lets the cham shoot and hunt a bit from the rim), but I also leave a very few feeders like houseflies or moths loose in the cage for hunting treats. I don't like free ranging the majority of feeders because they do pick up grungy stuff off the cage bottom and can re-cycle parasites into my chams. They disappear quickly, lose their gutload or dust before they are found too and can chew on a sleeping cham at night. Things to remember are to place feeding bins where the cham has to stretch its tongue to feed...avoiding tongue weakness and eye-tongue coordination problems, boredom.

the above reasons mentioned are also why i cup feed but another reason is because the dead crickets and worms that are on the bottom of the cage get attacked by ants and that is a nightmare

What we do is vacuum the cages daily - we use a 5 gal Shop Vac. Be sure to clean it with bleach to tame the odor. We get the dead leaves, left over feeder isects, excess water, and anything else laying around down there.

We spray with "Healthy Habitat" too... this is an enzyme that breaks down organic matter and is used to control odors for small animals - safe to be used even with the animal in the cage. Great stuff.
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