Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, most of you know I have been around here for awhile but have only had Luna for a short time. She is primarily cup or hand feeding except for the silkies, I just let them roam the branches. I ran out of crix and she had a big roach, and a BIG silkie (I don't know HOW she got it down) for breakfast. Well, I got some crix at the feed store today, did a fast and intense gutload (a few hours, 10 in a small cup with lots of fresh food and dry, too) and dusted them with vitamins (not her vitamin day but since they had a short gutload period I figured it would be OK). Well, I dumped all of them in her cup and she ate every last one! Quickly! I think she was really hungry and just inhaled them w/o thinking if she was satiated or not. Then she just gaped, licked her mouth a lot and looked as surprised as I was! Normally she gets her food 2 or 3x a day so she doesn't pig-out as much but she can consume a LOT of food!

I am wondering about letting them free range in the cage and allowing her to hunt. I feel like she will just be a cham couch potato b/c she is not doing her instinctive hunting. What are your thoguhts, experience, pros, cons, etc.?? Would a combination of the two work? I am going away in a month and will probably have my friend cup feed her just for simplicity and to make sure she is eating properly.

thanks,
lele

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles (Jaida, no name)
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - (still no names)

I do both. all of the dusted bugs I cup feed to make sure they dont rub the dust off before my chams eat them. I always put most of the daily non dusted crickets in a container too, but I throw a few in the cage to roam.

I prefer to have mostly cup feedings because I can keep track of what and how much they eat. you never know if those free roaming ones escape.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

Then your cham eats a poop filled cricket. Yuk!
Of course if you follow her around with a pooper scooper it may not be a problem.
Also crickets can munch on your herps too if you don't have a pinch of food for them in her cage.

I like to cup or hand feed. I'll make sure that she gets her tounge exercised well.. she'd reach a MILE if she could for a mealworm. Also, once she is finished growing she won't be eating nearly as much.
When Orion was eating 10-20 crix a day I used this method: (it's similar to bill strand's jug method) I took an orange juice carton (the ones like milk come in) and cut a door (leave a few inches at the bottom)that flipped down. *leave the door on* then I just used some of the left over 1/4" plastic mesh/screen and glued it in the back of the inside of the container. Then you just dust your crix, toss some food in the jug, toss the crix in *close the lid to take it to her cage* then fold the flap down. I originally used a ketchup container, but i had a lot of escapes. With the door on the carton it's a lot better. Every morning Orion would be waiting by it looking at me starving lol. Also, the crix wander around a bit more, giving more of a "hunting feel". The odd one will get out too.
OR, what I did when she was really small and still in her hexagon tank was use a cup and put the crix in, and hang the cup (from a punched out hole) from a branch. Then I had a stick in the cup that the crix could walk up on and get out. BUT they are dumb, so they don't come out all at once. Orion would wait and pick them off as they came out. OR, she'd follow them around and pick them off. You can also move the cup around so she has to look for it (same with the carton).
Free-roaming sounds good.. .but there are SO many hiding places, so many things they can eat.. and well, chams are so tricky when they become sick - I think one of the best ways to monitor their health is by their food intake, which ish ard to do with free-roaming.
Just my two cents. Or ten, lol.
Oh, I have a humdifier in her cage.. and well crickets are gross when they fall in and get soggy. MMmmm cricket soup! lol

I use a modified version of the Bill Strand milk carton as well (link below). I put up a piece of screen on the inside of the carton and coat the rest of the inside of the carton with some of that bug stop stuff (pricey). I can put lobster roaches or crickets with legs removed in there and they won't get out. Insects climb up the screen, so it's somewhere between free range and cup feeding.

You always hear about chams becoming lazy from cup or hand feeding. That hasn't happened at all in my experience. Mine are still great hunters even though they are fed with the feeder most of the time.

hth,
Joel Fish

http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/jan2003/hints/hints.html

I cup feed since i can take what's not eaten and dump them back with the rest at night with out searching the cage. I use the simple method and take my wifes empty 1 gallon water jugs and cut them in half. I hang them from the biovine and there they stay. Simple and effecient..
As for hunting, chameleons aren't exactly hunters. They wait for something within their range and feed. They don't stalk (in the true since of the word) moths,crix, and other prey items in the wild. They are opportunistic (at least mine are). My feed containers are all the same depth and iv'e never had a problem with anything meaning no tongue issues..