Baby Food

[wst0209a]

Can you raise baby veiled chameleons off of anything else other then crickets? I have a few more months until mine hatch and was just curious of what I can give them other then those crickets. What about dubia nymphs or lateralis nymphs? I know you can do silkworms when they are really small. I don't really want to get fruitflies unless I have to. Are fruitflies even worth getting because they are so small? Are they hard to raise and breed? How much do you think 1 chameleon will eat in a day/week?

 

[wst0209a]

And for the fruitflies which one is better for newborns? Hydei or Melanogaster?

 

[davider]

I used Hydei, they worked great I read somewhere that if you cham doesn't accept the Mon. they will take in the Hydei.

David

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Weston,

Although baby roaches might work, I think that you may find it difficult to deal with roach nymphs that would be small enough for baby chameleons. Most of us have worked with pinhead to 1 week-old crickets for newborns. Hydei are a reasonable feeder too. On the plus side, melanogaster FFs are fast producers but they are smaller than the more effective size of a hydei for our typical chameleon babies.

Personally, I like raising my own 1-week-old crickets and hydei FFs for babies. It's not too hard but it will take advanced planning for both feeders. If you think that they will be hatching in a couple of months, I'd start getting things up and running now. It can take many weeks to get hydei into full bloom and 2-3 weeks for crickets to be ready too.

If you plan for 10 FF and 10 crickets per day per baby then you will probably be okay. Unless you have fast access to these feeders elsewhere, always have multiple batches in process at your location. Batches fail so be ready for it. Keep FF batches staggered-out a few days and have 5-10-15 cups running at any one time. I had as many as 30+ cups in production and if I had too many, I used to share them with others. Keep the cups somewhat isolated from each other in case of a mite breakout. Aaah, the joys of babies .

Partially used Hydei FFs cup:

 

[wst0209a]

what do you feed your fruitflies? Do you make your own food? If so, what does it consist of? I really don't want crickets again, I just got rid of them. I think they are terrible to keep, they smell and they are to noisy for me. I know the pinheads don't make any noise but I'm sure they stink.

 

[wst0209a]

does anyone have a good website on fruitflies?

 

[wst0209a]

About How many FF will a newborn chameleon eat per day? I think I am going to go with the Hydei FF because they are bigger. Will I be able to culture them fast enough to keep a steady supply for the 41 newborns? About how old will the chameleons be when they lose interest in FF? Also, how many cultures will I be able to make if I only get one culture of the hydei to start out with?

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

Hydei work for newborns. There's probably no need for Melanogasters, in my opinion, if you get your Hydei producing.

There are lots of fly culture recipes. I suggest just buying the mix for Hydei until you get things working before you experiment with your own mix.

Figure on needing 1 week-old crickets within a week or two even though you can continue feed Hydei for many more weeks


Here's a few sites to work your way through...

http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13

http://www.edsflymeat.com/

http://www.flyculture.net/main.sc

http://www.doylesdartden.com/fruitfly.html

http://joshsfrogs.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=37

http://www.fruitflies.net/mites.htm

http://www.buyfruitflies.com/