About feeder breeding

C

Captyn Cron

New Member
We are thinking about buying a cham and we come to the part the wife is squimish about....bugs!

I don't really care one way or the other besides having to shell out money on the regular but what are the pros/cons of breeding the different kinds of feeders?
-How much space do I need to be able to breed the various feeders? Could I raise them outside or in a shed?
-What would I need to get started with this endevour?
-Which feeders would be 'best' or the most benefitial for our future cham to begin breeding?
-Do I have to use roaches? IMO thats a critter I pay someone to get rid of,lol. My concern is that here in Texas roaches can take over a house despite how clean it is and I wouldn't want to have any 'escape artists' camping out behind my stove and mking a home for themselves. If our cham will need them then so be it, willing to make the sacrifice.
 
With one cham it would not be worth the time and mess. Unless you go with Dubia roaches-they are easy, do not fly or climb, and breed easily.
 
You sure are helping me a bunch Julirs.

I should have said that I am kind of a ways from any 'supplyhouse' I guess, and I don't want to have to order food off the net all the time. The nearest petshop is about an hour drive from me and I was thinking about breeding feeders mainly as a convinence and to save gas.
 
I would go with Julirs on this one as well. The Dubias are super easy, keep them fed, warm, and dark and you will have plenty for one or numerous chameleons. I have one panther chameleon and started with 50 dubias 3 months ago. I have 300 or so now and I also keep crickets around and pheonix worms.
 
Honestly for one cham your cost for ordering online would not be that much compared to the time and effort you would need to breed your own. Also you want to offer as much variety as possible like silkworms, hornworms and superworms and those are difficult to breed. Check out our sponsers under the classified section and get some ideas of the cost.
 
Thank you everyone! I am actually looking at the sponsors now and have decided this is not something I am going to persue unless(read until,lol) we get more than one or two chams
 
Superworms are easy, take up almost no space, and have less "ew" factor for those who are squeemish than dubia roaches might.
Even when I only had one chameleon, I was breeding three or four different bugs. Its good to know what goes into the bugs, good to know you have a reliable source, and it is still worth it financially.
 
I thought about breeding feeder for my one cham but decied that the work and upkeep was just too much for me but i do live alot closer to a petstore than u do Captyn Cron.

My research on the Dubia roach says that they are "less stinky" than other feeder thats always a plus and easy to breed
 
Ok so doing some more research and I found something not only cool as hell but, a bit ironic. I have ten painted butterfly cocoons near ready to 'hatch' right now! The boy's "Gammy" bought them a couple weeks ago just as something neat to have. Looks like I'm gonna breed in the end after all,lol. Should these be used as only a snack and can I feed the 'pillers to a cham?
I think I can convice the wifey about the Dubia, not that it's exactly my first choice either but the concenses is that they are easy so why not against it. Easy=Better,lol. I'll just convince her that every one that gets eaten is like revenge for each one that has lived in every craphole of a rent house we ended up in.
Got another few questions tho-

-Zoophoba worms-what is that exactly?
-Are manti hard to breed? -the boys would get a kick outta them too I think.
-Do I have to use mulberry leaves for silkies or is their a commercal feed I can buy?
-Can I breed stickbugs in Tx?
 
IMO breed your feeders

I keep dubias, crickets, mealworms and supers for 1 cham/3 leopard geckos.

youll never run out/you know what they been feeding on.

at petco its $1.75 for 15 crickets. i have prolly around 1000 and all together it cost me like $5 for the bin and the $1.75 for the original 15 adult crickets. the same for my other feeders.

supers are easy to breed. the only thing is u have to seperate to get pupa's.

youll always see people complaining that ups hasnt showed up, or their shipped feeders are dead, or they forgot to buy them. im never going to have those issues.

plus im a fisherman and i use the feeders as bait also. the trout love supers. bass love dubias.

too much effort? open the lid toss in a carrot. repeat till all bins are fed.

as far as dubias (roaches) theyre the best feeders to give to ure cham and the easiest to keep. they dont stink, climb, fly, make noise. and as far as cleaing goes "DONT", the babies eat the droppings.

and eventually you can save one of these guys day and make a buck by shipping them some nice feeders.

if nothing else its a cool ass biology project you get to create and watch happen.

That is all,
~James
 
Captyn Cron said:
Ok so doing some more research and I found something not only cool as hell but, a bit ironic. I have ten painted butterfly cocoons near ready to 'hatch' right now! The boy's "Gammy" bought them a couple weeks ago just as something neat to have. Looks like I'm gonna breed in the end after all,lol. Should these be used as only a snack and can I feed the 'pillers to a cham?
I think I can convice the wifey about the Dubia, not that it's exactly my first choice either but the concenses is that they are easy so why not against it. Easy=Better,lol. I'll just convince her that every one that gets eaten is like revenge for each one that has lived in every craphole of a rent house we ended up in.
Got another few questions tho-

-Zoophoba worms-what is that exactly?
-Are manti hard to breed? -not realy but they are kinda for show or meant as snacks. another thing to think about is you have to feed these guys your feeders (fruit flys and pinheads). i plan on getting an ooth at some point but thats just because i want to see my guy tongue smack a mantis.
-Do I have to use mulberry leaves for silkies or is their a commercal feed I can buy?theres mulberry paste and mulberry leaves.
-Can I breed stickbugs in Tx?yes
Click to expand...

i have no idea what zoophoba's are.
 
I breed both dubias and superworms. Both are easy to breed but supers take foreverrrrrrrrrr to see results. Still you can order a dozen superworms for next to nothing, use them to start a breeding program and you are on the way. You will not have feeders from the project for months & I do mean months. But it takes no effort and once you get them going they keep going.
 
Thanks for your responses.

The time issue was something I was concerned about and in reading this we will probably start a feeder breeding program before we even get our cham so we won't have to worry about doing everything all at once. This way we can have a steady supply of goodies!

After doing more research manti are out of the question for us to breed. Seems like it takes alot of effort for little rewards unless you sell them and I'm not gonna go there yet.

Thanks again for the help guys!
 
Get your breeder feeders now (lol). figure out how u want to breed them, get that goin. then do all the research for your cham. by time you do all the proper research and are too the point youd actually feel comfortable and all knowing and get your cham you should have a decent amount of feeders to start with. visit www.reptileexpo.com or somthing like that, and go the closest reptile expo. there you can get outragious amounts of feeders for dirt low prices to start your colonies.

this is exactly what i did and it is all golden.
 
getting together prices for kristy now(i'm chris btw) 'Coning' her into it took all of ten words and a look at ya'lls posts,lol.

Oh...guess what 'hatched'? Got four painted ladies! Came out just a couple hours ago!

Totally unprepared to use them to start a colony tho. The care sheet that came with them didn't really go into keeping them, just said get flowers or dribble some sugar water on TP or paper towels. What do I need to do to ensure they stay healty and happy? Also how often would a cham be able to have these? That way I know how many I need to keep vs get rid of.
 
I know these won't but I figure we got 'em so we might as well make the most of 'em. I gotta get some....what-cha-call it...hollyhock or something like that for them to lay eggs on. These are gonna be our 'starters'

I already have read some of her stuff, it is really informative. Gonna have to give her kudos for the info.
 
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