Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just got a new pair of jacksons a few days and they seem to be doing great. the only problem im having is geting them to eat out of a cup. i put crickets and worms in a cup and they show no intrest in them at all. they have no problem with catching free roaming crickets and eating out of my hand. id really like to monitor they're food consumption more closly tho. are they're any tricks or tips you guys have for getting them cup trained. all my other chameleons ive owned had no problem with eating out of a cup so im stumped. oh and how often should i be changing my uvb lights, ive read anything from every 3 months to half a year to 9 months, i use repts sun 5.0's if that helps.t sorry its a bit long

Lots of chams don't like using feeding cups, often because they are too small to aim into and the insects just don't catch their attention. Using cups is one of those classic debates. Using them can teach a cham to be lazy and not shoot its tongue enough or the cham does not get the chance to roam and hunt normally. Not using them can mean the loose crix lose their dust and gutload before they are found, they pick up fecal and bacterial or even parasite larvae from the cage floor...and then the cham eats all this. Rather than a small feeding cup try using a larger plastic storage box nestled in the cage plants. The chams can hunt from the rim of the box, watch and selectively shoot at what they want. Another trick is to put some gutload in the box with the crix and remove the box late in each day so the chams don't learn to just sit and shoot. AS for replacing ReptiSuns, most of us switch them out at about 6 months for adult chams. Yours are not caged together are they? They should be separate unless you have a greenhouse sized cage setup.

no, no, no they arnt caged together. they each have their own seperate screen cages. thanks for the advice, ill try the larger sized container.

I've had luck with picky bin feeders with this style-
http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/jan2003/hints/hints.html
The large box size like Carton mentioned works well too.
I sometimes put branches or a plant inside the box, so the insects can crawl around in 3d space. Somthing about crickets walking on a flat surface doesn't grab a chameleon's attention.
garrett