Best Feeders to Free Range

AlecWade

AlecWade

New Member
My Veiled Chameleon Nasir is around 10 weeks old and is doing quite well! Hes eating 1/4-1/2 inch crickets and is devouring them! I thought about cup feeding him at first then changed my mind after he would not cup feed for two days. I think that he would eventually have taken his feeders out of the cup had he gone another day or two but I really enjoy watching him ambush his prey and hunt throughout his cage. So for this time I have successfully been free ranging his crickets and very small hornworms.

Currently I want to add a little variety to his diet but I have a few questions as I'm not very familiar with a very wide variety of feeders! I would like to continue feeding crickets, and horn worms as an occasional treats! He has no problem hand feeding an enticing horn worm out of my fingers when he's quite hesitant to bother with just a measly cricket... Spoiled already lol.

What would make some good free range choices for a small and quickly growing veiled? The crickets are great because they climb up towards the upper parts of the cage where Nasir picks them off with ease and horn worms are great because I place them on a leaf or stem and they crawl around until they are zapped!

I'm definitely going to pick up some small silkworms since they are very similar to hornworms and will stick to leaves and stems easily. What are some other good choices for free range feeders? I'm thinking some small roach nymphs will work well but will they crawl up the screens and stimulate my chameleons appetite? Going to the bottom wouldn't be a problem because there aren't many places for the feeders to hide and there is no risk of impaction.

-What would be some good smaller options to feed my chameleon besides crickets, hornworms, and silkworms. I'm not interested in mealworms or superworms yet maybe during adulthood. His body is around 3.5 inches 7 w/ tail.
-Can I feed my juvenile veiled until he is full? I Have been feeding Nasir anywhere between 15-25 appropriately sized crickets which he almost always finishes! I remove any uneaten crickets which is at most 2-4 of them.
-Should I supplement with d3 or multivitamins more than just twice a month in his rapid stage of growth? The d3 i use comes from the Repcal W/ calcium. The multivitamins I use is Repcal Herptivite and I also have Reptivite. I know to use plain calcium regularly, just wondering if I can supplement additionally to facilitate his rapid growth right now!

Sorry for another lengthy post just can't seem to write enough about the little dude! Thanks in advance!
 
Flies, locusts and praying mantis, all three are great because they are active feeders and can all climb. Locusts are brightly colored and will eat on live plants EXTRA gut-load, chams love um. Flies are super active and will spark a response in the most stubborn of chams with their constant speed and movement. Praying mantis sparks the biggest response of all of my chams, and if you feed your already gut-loaded insects to the mantis before feeding their double the nutrition. Silkworms are great but are expensive and very hard to culture yourself. I only hand feed roaches these days as they just hide and only come out at night mostly. If he's hand feeding try a blueberry or something similar in your hand but wash it first. Calcium every feed, d3 and multi vit once a week while he's young.
I dont think you can over feed him, he will slow down when he's ready.
 
You won't be able to get locust, there banned in the us just like us in the uk carnt get horn worms but dubi roaches would be good, use a feeder tub as they won't be able to escape and same for any worms
 
Thanks for the input. It's a shame that locust are unattainable in the US. They seem like a perfect feeder for chams! I will definitely try some flies and mantis however. Ive been hand feeding a few butterworms I picked up recently! Hope he takes a liking to those so I can have yet another feeder option.
 
Repcal contains one of the higher concentrations of d3. I would not give anymore than a few times a month. Your UVB light and if you take him outside will be sufficient enough that you don't have to supplement with artificial d3 that often. Also, same with the multivitamins. If you are gutloading properly then they should be getting most of their vitamins and nutrients through their feeders.
 
Davey2coops said:
Flies, locusts and praying mantis, all three are great because they are active feeders and can all climb. Locusts are brightly colored and will eat on live plants EXTRA gut-load, chams love um. Flies are super active and will spark a response in the most stubborn of chams with their constant speed and movement. Praying mantis sparks the biggest response of all of my chams, and if you feed your already gut-loaded insects to the mantis before feeding their double the nutrition. Silkworms are great but are expensive and very hard to culture yourself. I only hand feed roaches these days as they just hide and only come out at night mostly. If he's hand feeding try a blueberry or something similar in your hand but wash it first. Calcium every feed, d3 and multi vit once a week while he's young.
I dont think you can over feed him, he will slow down when he's ready.
Click to expand...

Where do you get your praying mantis and how big are they when you feed them to your chameleon?
 
Sounds like you're doing pretty well so far! Yes, you are feeding him just the amount he needs per day. I would say small superworms would be good but you said not yet... supers can cling to branches very well and they stimulate my guy. Dubia roaches cannot climb, so they're not very good free ranging feeders and will most likely stay on the ground and hide, and will freak you out later when cleaning the cage. Mealworms actually are not bad to feed. They can be offered to as much as 15% of their diet. There are rumors that they lead to impaction, but this is very rare. Mealies could be fed until your guy gets older, like around 5-6 months. Hope this helps :)
 
You can try feeding him in a tub (I use a shoe box sized tub) so that he can still hunt but the insects are contained. Roaches work well if you stick them to the screen or a branch. If just left on the floor or tossed in, they generally hang out on the floor.
 
locusts are great free rangers because they can climb any surface more or less. my veiled loves hunting them. you know hes got one on the side of his enclosure when you hear a dull thump lol.

dubias are OK if you have a lot of floor space. they tend to just hide instantly if theres anywhere they can.
 
bork da basher said:
locusts are great free rangers because they can climb any surface more or less. my veiled loves hunting them. you know hes got one on the side of his enclosure when you hear a dull thump lol.

dubias are OK if you have a lot of floor space. they tend to just hide instantly if theres anywhere they can.
Click to expand...

They (locusts) are illegal in the US to purchase. They can be caught outside, but that brings parasite and pesticide risks with it.
 
Thank you for all the replies and suggestions... I'm trying my best to provide a varied diet but it is a bit more difficult when my chameleon can't take down just any sized prey and feeding something too large is a risk I don't want to take.

I think I will place a feeding cup inside of Nasir's home for the occasions when I want to feed prey items which are not easily free ranged! I like the idea of tub feeding my chameleon and used to do this with bearded dragons however I think it would place too much stress on him as he isn't too keen on being handled yet. I also love watching him hunt and haven't been using a feeding cup because it seems more natural and stimulating eventhough I realize there are many negative aspects to free ranging food as well. Thanks!:D
 
Just leave the tub in the cage. Don't mess with it unless it's dirty/gross. Just open the cage and pop the feeders into the tub and close the cage again.
 
Swayne8998 said:
Won't the females eat the males after they mate? I just heard this from somewhere...
Click to expand...

Sometimes. It depends on the species, the amount of room the two have when mating, and most of all is if the female has eaten before the mating happened.
 
Swayne8998 said:
Won't the females eat the males after they mate? I just heard this from somewhere...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it can be avoided if your there to separate them but sometimes it just happens, males arent worth a great deal after they have mated as most tend to die within a month after, but you can use one male to mate more than one female. A mated female will produce more than one fertilized ooth as well, so its kinda worth the risk. I always hold the healthiest back for breeding and feed the others off.
 
All this mantis talk really makes me want to purchase some ooths and try them out! Great I just got a decent gut load for my crix down and now my feeders are going to need feeders... I love this hobby :p
 
Also, thanks for the advice Pssh I'm going to be tub feeding my chameleon in his larger and better cage. What height would you place the tub? Right now I plan to put it about half way up with plenty of branches and vines around it.
 
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