Another vacation thread specific to dubias and feeding automation: a deep dive

[suprdude]

I'm planning to be gone for 2 full weeks and did a deep dive on feeding automation. The misting, venting, and lights are fully automated and very reliable, but feeding can't be automated like that. I know that having someone feed my cham is ideal, but after an exhaustive search, absolutely nobody wanted to get near my dubia roaches. I will have someone come in every couple days to make sure everything it working. Again, I have no one available at all that would directly handle bugs.

In the past for shorter trips, I put a lot of dubias in various cups but the water from the misters accumulated in the cup and the bugs got soggy and nasty. To address this issue, I drilled holes in the bottom of the cups.

I found that the more bugs you put in a cup, the greater the chance that they would escape.

I did my testing using Large 7/8" dubias. In retrospect, smaller dubias probably wouldn't escape as easily. I tested 4 different popular containers and only one was foolproof (the one that cost $.50 cents, LOL). Results below:

The best part of the cheap big container is it'll fit a lot of bugs.


My next challenge was raising the container to the right height in a stable way, so I bought some plumbing supplies and made this. It just happens to have an opening that matches the container diameter:

It looks like crap but it's functional.

 

[elizaann2]

Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[MissSkittles]

Would no one be willing to feed your chameleon any other type of feeders, like crickets or silkworms?

 

[suprdude]

In a lot of peoples mind, bug are bugs (although Dubias are the worst for most people). Also, he's a pretty picky eater.

 

[nightanole]

I just get "alot" of small crickets and throw them in the tank with sheltered cricket food, and let nature take its course. I have also dont self feeders with blue bottle flies and black solder flies, but the solder flies take timing.

But my crew wont eat dubia from a bowl, they dont move around enough.