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I'm tired of seeing my young veiled not eating,I can do nothing more than sit and wait,I will not go through the procedure of explain certain things and parameters about my enclosure as I believe they have nothing to do with this.Personally I believe it's seasonal and will pass by but again I'm new to chameleons and would like a second opinion.My expierience with green iguanas showed me that at least in my country they stop eating as soon as october begins and get back to normal at the beginning of April.Anyway to shorten things out,
HAVE EXPERT VEILED OWENERS NOTICED ANY DECREASE IN THEIR PETS APPETITE FOR SEVERAL WEEKS BUT THEN RETURNED BACK TO NORMAL?

I believe in your last post you stated you only 'hand feed" and that the mesh in the front is too big and feeders get out. Well, it would be nice if all our chams accomodated us, i.e. hand feeding etc...but alas they do not. Most do not want to hand feed and want to free range...as they grow older this is what they do. As mentioned on the priro post try cup feeding.Also, most screen cages keep in the bugs unless you are using a larger mesh. For my small chams, I keep them in a open air habitat, and I have no problems with bugs getting out. I put them in and it is outstanding to watch them catch their bugs. As was told to me many moons ago on this forum, these are not dogs or cats that want affection etc...these are exotic "eye-candy" animals who are best kept alone and watched only. Try changing your cage to a more standard open air screen, and let your cham do its thing!! (oh..to answer your question....in my experience, it is not seasonal.......it is stress!!!)

Ok you convinced me,we'll go free range then,It's new cage will be ready as I planned in 10 days exactly with the appropriate mesh to hold crickets,it will also be much larger.But until then I'm really afraid of him dying on me since he ate only 5 crickets the last 10 days and will be 10 more,what are my chances?In the meanwhile I'll try a larger cup so he can have some until then.Also I could use some information on how to free range.For example how do you make insects use the entire cage and not sit on the bottom where they are propably unseen?How do you gut load while free ranging and will the crickets harm my cham while he is asleep or is this just a myth?
Thanks a lot for the help.

Something I forgot to mention,he started moving alot and trying to escape about the same time he stopped eating.He is about 6in and I keep him in a 60g vertical terrarium,as I told you I'm planning for a much larger one.I ask a couple of weeks ago in this forum if 60g is small for such size of cham because I was really worried and I told them I'm planning on a larger cage very soon.I was told that it's ok for the moment but I should watch out for signs of stress like dark colours attempts to escape and increase in movement,
thought I should mention this

In another post you said that your chameleon is about 6"...including the tail or not?

Most adult chameleons slow down a little during the cool seasons. Hatchlings wouldn't likely slow down, but as a chameleon nears his full growth, he should ease up on what he eats...and if that coincides with the onset of winter, it would make a difference.

5 crickets in 10 days is still low....even if he is nearly full grown and in the winter.

What are your cage temperatures? If he's too cool, he can't digest his food properly so he wouldn't eat as much.

How's his hydration? Some people say that sometimes a thirsty chameleon won't eat...but I've never noticed this.

Re: free ranging the crickets...the screen on my cages is fine enough that anything bigger than pinheads can't get out...so I simply throw in a few gutloaded dusted crickets every second or third day and they roam freely around the cage and in the plants and branches. Some will hide. I put a small container (jar lid)of greens, veggies and fruit in the cage so that the crickets remain somewhat gutloaded...and this brings them out of hiding too. You asked..."will the crickets harm my cham while he is asleep or is this just a myth?"...its not a myth....but it hasn't happened all that often in my experience. Although most of the time the chameleon will kick off the crickets, I have had some chew on the chameleon and cause damage. If you suspend one branch across the cage at the top so that nothing touches it, the chameleon can sleep there and the crickets won't be able to get at him. Of course, if all sides of your cage are mesh, this won't be possible since the crickets can (of course) climb the mesh and get to the branch.

Hoep this helps!

Chameleons sometimes get bored w/the same food regimen. Try some mealworms in a cup. Just a couple as sometimes they seem to get confused w/too many in a cup all at the same time - it might be harder to focus on a single prey item?

I have an adult female that has been "fasting" for over three months - by this I mean sh'e eat an occasional superworm, mabey 2-3 crickets at a feeding but nothing like the ravenous beast she'd been prior. I waited her out as her body weight did not seem to be declining. For the last two days she's been back to her old self - a glutton. Remember, they're not robots and are susceptible to many changes, both subtle and overt. If your basics are stable it should come around.

Bill

I hope he does,thanks for making me more calm but I will still try to eliminate any stress factors though

As Bill said, varying the diet can be key. You can try some fruits and veggies. Luna loved strawberries and bananas! Leafy greens that he can tear at might work, too. They usally don't begin on veggies until older, but you never know. How old is he? What country are you in? You mentioend you didn't want to list your entire setup, but sometimes something will jump out at one of us that you may have overlooked. At the very least what are the temps in the cage?

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
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One way to help determine if this is seasonal or not is to weigh him regularly. If his metabolic rate has declined due to season you won't see much of a drop in weight. If there is some other problem going on (what I think personally...keeping chams indoors in a regulated lighting/temp/humidity regime doesn't usually result in such a major change in behavior as this) his weight will definitely drop over time. Sometimes chams fast, but it is usually for short times like a male searching for a mate and being preoccupied. If the room temps are much lower and his light cycle shorter he may not be as active and eat less. If the room hasn't changed it is a good time to start ruling out health problems just to be safe.