Balancing Peepers diet - need advice

[Katacara]

I have to pipe in here with a quandary I have been having because I'm hoping that the people here can help.

I am trying to get my cham more of a balanced diet, I would really like to feed way less crickets because I already have probably 100 or so loose in my house now because they keep escaping... Anyway I have tried with no success hornworms, Peepers just wants nothing to do with them, so now I have a bunch of hornworms to deal with (some of which are already digging to cocoon themselves). My fear is that the same thing is going to happen with any silkworms I get.

Has anyone else had this problem? What's a girl to do?

 

[MSMorgan]

You might try a roach species vs. crickets. Additionally, depending on the size of your little girl, you could hatch an oothica of mantids/preying mantis to add variety to her diet. For what it's worth, most of us at one time or another have multiple feeders that our chams. no longer want/will eat. See if you can find a friend near by with a cham. or bearded dragon and set up a swap. That way, both you, your friend and the critters are benefiting and you might find something that your cham. absolutely goes nuts for.

 

[Tattersb]

My Jax is a crick-head. He prefers crickets and will eat other feeders at times, but it's a little bit of a crap shoot. Some days he'll eat supers every time they are offered, the next day he looks at me like: "Seriously? Worms??" and absolutely refuses to eat them. The one consistent thing he seems to be attracted to is movement, the wigglier (or fluttery-er) the better. He'll eat roaches if I hold them for him, because he's a spoiled brat-lizard. If I get silks or horns, he may eat a couple then I have 15-20 left. I just let feeders morph into whatever (soldier flies, tobacco moths, etc) then turn those loose for him.

 

[Katacara]

Thanks!! At least I'm not the only one with a cham with an attitude problem LOL!!! He is just a picky eater I guess... I will stick with trial I guess, it's just that feeders can be expensive. I don't mind spending the money if they are eaten but I want a pet cham that I feed not a bunch of pet bugs lol. I will definitely take the suggestion of trying to find someone in my area to bug swap with. Thanks again!!

 

[jamest0o0]

Chams are notoriously finicky eaters. They'll change up their habits constantly, I do notice most enjoy chasing crickets and fliers. If you want them to try a new food item, let it free range in the cage and give them a few days without anything else. A lot of times they just need to try it and realize it's tasty. Give bottleflies, bsfl(can also turn them into flies), wax moths, orange head roaches(better than dubia), silkworms(these are one of the best feeders), and butterworms.

 

[MSMorgan]

Hang in there! In my court, We're known as the "bug family" with a little dinosaur. I've begrudgingly established a dubia colony, a superworm colony and am now pupating the older hornworms in the hopes that Lucky will like hawk moths. He eats out of the first two colonies in waves. When I have too many, I put an add on Craig's list and sell them off, or trade for another species. Cham keeping is not for the faint of heart.

 

[Katacara]

Yah, I have to say that I didn't have all the info on taking (proper) care of a cham before I rescued my Peepers (that's what I get for trusting the advice from a pet store). I didn't realize that I would be keeping quiet so many bugs lol. Thanks to the people here on this forum adding their knowledge though Peepers is being well looked after, and I'm getting better and better at it everyday. Earlier today I put an add up on Craigslist for "feeder swapping" I'm hoping that some people in my area respond. Hopefully I can find enough people to make it easy to get feeders without hassle. I posted that I would be willing to take on breeding silkworms for trading (they seem to be the easiest to me).

 

[Tattersb]

Hang in there! In my court, We're known as the "bug family" with a little dinosaur. I've begrudgingly established a dubia colony, a superworm colony and am now pupating the older hornworms in the hopes that Lucky will like hawk moths. He eats out of the first two colonies in waves. When I have too many, I put an add on Craig's list and sell them off, or trade for another species. Cham keeping is not for the faint of heart.

^^What they said.