After all the effort I put into breeding silkworms..

[saskiat]

My chameleons won't eat them.. ?

Quite some weeks ago, I finally got to buy some (500) eggs,
Waited for weeks untill they hatched,
Proceeded to carefully move around these teeny tiny fragile worms with a tiny paintbrush or feather in order to clean their uneaten food every few days,
cleaned out dead worms (they die so damn easy)
After a month only about 100 out of 500 were left.
But lo and behold, they were finally feeder size!
So I dangle one in front of my chameleon, quite proud of my ability to keep these fecking worms alive,
And all he does is get all puffy and pissed off ?
I also put one in his cage and left it, but he did not eat it lol. Guess they don't recognise it as food?

Ungrateful bastards.
On the plus side, the silkworm moths are very cute to look at.

 

[snitz427]

I would keep trying, and let it free range on a branch. It takes a few tries sometimes, but if he's hungry he'll eat it. Once you've tasted silkworm (or silkmoths), there's no turning back.

 

[Redman]

I feel your pain! Many is the time I have killed off silks, or offered them only to be given "The Look". I know it's the terrible sin of anthropomorphism, but I can't help but imagine them saying "Really? YOU want ME to eat THAT!?!?! I think not, sir." LOL

 

[Ramrod]

My chameleons won't eat them.. ?

Quite some weeks ago, I finally got to buy some (500) eggs,
Waited for weeks untill they hatched,
Proceeded to carefully move around these teeny tiny fragile worms with a tiny paintbrush or feather in order to clean their uneaten food every few days,
cleaned out dead worms (they die so damn easy)
After a month only about 100 out of 500 were left.
But lo and behold, they were finally feeder size!
So I dangle one in front of my chameleon, quite proud of my ability to keep these fecking worms alive,
And all he does is get all puffy and pissed off ?
I also put one in his cage and left it, but he did not eat it lol. Guess they don't recognise it as food?

Ungrateful bastards.
On the plus side, the silkworm moths are very cute to look at.

That's the way mine acts toward dubias. Now I have a nice colony of those going. Drake is about to get some tuff love. Lol

 

[snitz427]

You can always trick him into eating them. I do that with my panther who refuses dubia. I put small dubia in a cup with superworms or silkworms (his favs!) and then shake them into a corner of thr cup so theyre kinda crawling on each other. He usually accidentally snags a dubia while getting the worm.

 

[The Wild One]

Once you've tasted silkworm (or silkmoths), there's no turning back.

You’ve tried one? ?

 

[snitz427]

You’ve tried one? ?

You havent!?

 

[Christel]

Well, you COULD always harvest the silk..... ?

 

[The Wild One]

You havent!?

.......?

 

[Ramrod]

You can always trick him into eating them. I do that with my panther who refuses dubia. I put small dubia in a cup with superworms or silkworms (his favs!) and then shake them into a corner of thr cup so theyre kinda crawling on each other. He usually accidentally snags a dubia while getting the worm.

Yeah, I have used that method before and it does work. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[skoram]

My chameleons won't eat them.. ?

Quite some weeks ago, I finally got to buy some (500) eggs,
Waited for weeks untill they hatched,
Proceeded to carefully move around these teeny tiny fragile worms with a tiny paintbrush or feather in order to clean their uneaten food every few days,
cleaned out dead worms (they die so damn easy)
After a month only about 100 out of 500 were left.
But lo and behold, they were finally feeder size!
So I dangle one in front of my chameleon, quite proud of my ability to keep these fecking worms alive,
And all he does is get all puffy and pissed off ?
I also put one in his cage and left it, but he did not eat it lol. Guess they don't recognise it as food?

I had the exact same problem with my first panther ??

Silkworm feeders are hard to find where I live so I drove about one and a half hours to a farm and purchased about 100 live worms. I even starved my panther for about a week to see if he would give them a try, but to no avail. I've read that it varies from chameleon to chameleon and also how late (or early) you try to introduce them to their diet.

On the plus side, the silkworm moths are very cute to look at.

I bet they would happily go after the moths ... I wonder why I have not read about anyone trying this before. Are the moth wings (dust) bad for chameleons?

 

[Ramrod]

I had the exact same problem with my first panther ??

Silkworm feeders are hard to find where I live so I drove about one and a half hours to a farm and purchased about 100 live worms. I even starved my panther for about a week to see if he would give them a try, but to no avail. I've read that it varies from chameleon to chameleon and also how late (or early) you try to introduce them to their diet.



I bet they would happily go after the moths ... I wonder why I have not read about anyone trying this before. Are the moth wings (dust) bad for chameleons?

My cham does back flips over the silkworm moths.He absolutely loves them.

 

[salty dog]

Sometimes mine will gape at me, I stick a worm in their mouth, they eat it lol.. seriously

 

[Lucinda]

I would keep trying, and let it free range on a branch. It takes a few tries sometimes, but if he's hungry he'll eat it. Once you've tasted silkworm (or silkmoths), there's no turning back.

All mine wants to eat is mealworms and maybe a hornworm. I have thousands dubia roaches and will not eT then didfeed him anything but dubias for a week he wouldnt eat so I tried another week and still he will not eat them .so I caved and gave him mealworms

 

[snitz427]

All mine wants to eat is mealworms and maybe a hornworm. I have thousands dubia roaches and will not eT then didfeed him anything but dubias for a week he wouldnt eat so I tried another week and still he will not eat them .so I caved and gave him mealworms

Take mealworms out of your rotation. Superworms are a better replacement and will get the same excitement from them... they’re like little Doritos. Nom.

But I wouldn’t offer superworms or mealwroms at ALL for a while to get them eating other foods. This is very common and why many of us give superworms sparingly s a treat. I use them to coax my chams out of the cage when needed, or as a treat mixed jn with other feeders. They get maybe 4 superworms per week, tops.

I actually think some of my chams would take a silkworm over a superworm!

 

[Lucinda]

Take mealworms out of your rotation. Superworms are a better replacement and will get the same excitement from them... they’re like little Doritos. Nom.

But I wouldn’t offer superworms or mealwroms at ALL for a while to get them eating other foods. This is very common and why many of us give superworms sparingly s a treat. I use them to coax my chams out of the cage when needed, or as a treat mixed jn with other feeders. They get maybe 4 superworms per week, tops.

I actually think some of my chams would take a silkworm over a superworm!

Cant find silk worms where would I buy them rainbowmealworms.com doesnt have them

 

[PabloTheCham]

Sometimes mine will gape at me, I stick a worm in their mouth, they eat it lol.. seriously

Thats EXACTLY what i do!

 

[PabloTheCham]

Cant find silk worms where would I buy them rainbowmealworms.com doesnt have them

http://www.mulberryfarms.com/live-silkworms-c22/

 

[snitz427]

Cant find silk worms where would I buy them rainbowmealworms.com doesnt have them

I will have some for sale shortly. Morifeeders.com is a member/sponsor here. Im sure there are others, I dont order bugs much anymore.

 

[Randers88]

Cant find silk worms where would I buy them rainbowmealworms.com doesnt have them

beastmodesilks.com is awesome too!