My girlfriend and I purchased a baby sambava panther chameleon that is about 2 1/2 months old and maybe about 2 inches long including his tail. It was shipped to me and got here friday the 9th. I fed him a cricket or 2 on the 9th and watched him drink, also watched him eat and drink on the 10th. on the 11th we moved him to my girlfriends house where he will be staying permanantly. Since then she cannot get him to eat when hes alone or when he is getting crickets placed right in front of him. The breeder said he was eating no problem and I did see him eat at first. He has a dripper and is misted quite often and also has a good heat source. Why isnt he eating? I figure its possibly stress from the move so should I be worried? Also how should I go about feeding it flightless fruit flies? I dont want to let them roam in there and bug him if he wont eat them. please help me!! Oh yeah I should also mention theyre pinheads he is eating, so theyre not too large. Oh and any advice in how to keep the crickets alive in his cage? they seem to all die, possibly from the water collecting on the bottom of the cage? this is my new baby!
and this his is dad.

Its truely possible he is very stressed from shipping and the move. It usually takes at least a week for a reptile to get adjusted to their new home. Can you give us more detail about the set up you have him in, substrate, enclosure, temps, etc?

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

Hello,

What are you using for a UV source? (make and model)

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.:: Rich ::.

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the fluorescent bulb is the reptisun tropical 5.0 and a 75 watt reptile day bulb for heat. The temp in the middle of the cage is about 85 degrees with a basking spot of 90-95. There is no substrate right now, we had a reptile carpet but it was drenched all the time from spraying it and we thought that was killing the crickets. And the enclosure is the smaller ESU 20x18x12 fresh air enclosure for chams.

You are correct that the water in the bottom is killing the crickets. They drown very easily.
Is the enclosure in a high traffic area with people or other animals walking by or moving around a lot? If so this may be upsetting it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

nope, no high traffic area. He's in my girlfriends room. She has been fiddling with him a bit to try and get him to eat, but when I found that out I told her to leave him alone because shes probably freaking him out. Also, any tips on feeding fruit flies? Im just worried if I let a bunch in his cage they will bother him, die in the water, or get through the screen walls and into my girlfriends room.

Sorry I have never kept anything small enough to need the fruit flies.
Would find their way out of a shallow glass bowl?

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Possibly put a few of them on a leaf near the Cham and then go out of sight to watch and see if it is eating them?

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

yeah, well they can def climb out of a bowl, if you give em a tap they fall back down, but I dont think anyone wants to sit in front of a fly bowl for hours tapping them while annoying our little cham lol

Hi,

My first impulse is to tell you that cham is too young to have been sold. They are not easy to keep either. But you have the little guy and its a good idea to keep him alive at this point. If your UVB lamp is shining through a screen enclosure he may not be getting enough rays to help him out. I would suggest the megaray bulb (Welcome To ReptileUV - Mega-Ray® UVB lamps for reptile lighting worldwide) for a cham. They need high UVB readings to process their food. If you moved him soon after he got settled the first time, chances are he needs a little time to destress....keep trying the fruit flies...hopefully he will come around and start eating again....

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Warmest Regards from Lyn