Blue Bottles

[Miss Lily]

So, today I had a food swap with my friend 'Chameleon Lady' - she brought me some blue bottle larvae and I gave her some silkworms in return. Do I need to do anything with these maggots? There are a lot of casters already (spikes) - how do I keep those? Last time I was sent some casters and I kept them in the fridge and took a few out at a time. I have a lot more this time though, lol! Some help with what to do with them would be great, thanks!

 

[houseofchameleons]

you should talk to chamelisa or chameo on FbI know she thinks that they are gross but other than that she could probably tell you something about them

 

[sandrachameleon]

are you going to feed them all off, or breed them?

useful links:
http://web.archive.org/web/200703270...y-rearing.html
Blue Bottle Flies
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/foo...ntainer-2.html
http://www.jangala.co.uk/Curly%20win...%20webpage.htm

 

[Miss Lily]

Thanks Sandra, I was hoping to just keep them cool and feed them off. I don't want to get into breeding them - had enough of that with the fruit flies, lol! Having been overrun with silkworms and all the work that they entail, I want something easy to provide as a feeder! Amy is fed up with them and most of them are to big for her to tackle now, and pretty much all of them are bigger than little Monty! I still have a few slow growers but not many tiny ones now.

 

[Monzon]

Chameleons love flies. My animals eat 80% to 90% flies and flying insects. I have read some interesting posts on the forum about flies. I have read that they carry disease and will make one's chameleon sick. I have read that they are only for treats because they are not good to feed in large quantities. I have read that they have little nutritional value, and I have read that they have the wrong balance of this mineral vs. that vitamin.

It seems to me that flies and flying insects are the majority of the food eaten by chameleons in nature. They are the most abundant and available food source chameleons would have regular access to. They are not as seasonally dependent as many insects are. They seem to be the first insects active when it warms up and the last insects active when it cools down.

When my animals have a steady diet of flies, their color and patterns, the texture of their skin, their eyes, even their feces, all seem to be optimal. Even fruit flies are readily eaten by my adults. My animals have other options of course, but I think more keepers offering flies more often would equal more happy chameleons.