Can I feed my cham oranges/orange juice?

broderp

broderp

Avid Member
I want to try and "mist" my crickets with orange juice/ carrot juice just before they are given to my cham. My thoughts are he may like the flavor of the bugs more, kind of like a treat. :)

Am I barking up the wrong tree here with this?


(I gut load with oranges, carrots and CRICKET CRACK. The crickets eat it up and my cham went from 3-5 crickets every other day to over 10 a day with a light snack of 2-4 in the eveneing about 2 hours before bedtime.)
 
If the crickets are being gutloaded, I don't see why misting the crickets would provide extra benefit? I'm sure the crickets are already orange flavoured when they pop in the cham's mouth. :D

Whenever a cricket gets mist water on it and ends up being wet, the chams tongue tends to not stick very well. I can also see a problem with over dusting if you "juice" the crickets and then add calcium/whatever supplement you are using that day. You might also risk drowning the crickets as I have had some, oddly enough, drown in a droplet of misting water!
 
I think one way of answering this may be to ask, just because you think that orange or carrot juice tastes good, why do you think a reptile would think that?

I am not trying to be a jerk, just making the point that we all sometimes try to layer our human thoughts, opinions, feelings, etc onto these reptiles. They do not think or feel like we do.

Anyhow, like has been mentioned, if you gutload the prey well, that will provide the healthy nutrients they need. I am guessing they like 'cricket' flavored cricket!! :p
 
Saldarya said:
I think one way of answering this may be to ask, just because you think that orange or carrot juice tastes good, why do you think a reptile would think that?

I am not trying to be a jerk, just making the point that we all sometimes try to layer our human thoughts, opinions, feelings, etc onto these reptiles. They do not think or feel like we do.

Anyhow, like has been mentioned, if you gutload the prey well, that will provide the healthy nutrients they need. I am guessing they like 'cricket' flavored cricket!! :p
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I understand your point, thats why I was asking! :) Your right, I do not know what if anything they like or dislike or even if they are capable of either expression towards thier food. :rolleyes:

I noticed he turned into a piggy since I changed my gut load. So I wonder if he can smell or taste the differnece. If by some chance he can smell them differently or taste them differently, then I just wanted to give him something of a treat.

It's really kind of sad to accept they eat out of instinct, and not out of choice or sort of favorite or preference.
 
You may be into something there with the change in gutload and them noticing a difference. I can imagine that a well hydrated and gutloaded prey item is likely much more desirable than a dried up cricket!!

Anyhow, sounds like you have him on the right path!!
 
I've read here and other places that citrus is too acidic for crickets, meaning its a bad idea to gutload and feed oranges to your scaly baby. You're better off with kale or apples.
 
MontyAndMelissa said:
I've read here and other places that citrus is too acidic for crickets, meaning its a bad idea to gutload and feed oranges to your scaly baby. You're better off with kale or apples.
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I have been feeding my crickets oranges for over 5 years with no problems that I am aware of. I was given this advice by Kammerflage Kreations who have been breeding panther chameleons for over 30 some years. Kale and apples are ok too though.
 
carol5208 said:
I have been feeding my crickets oranges for over 5 years with no problems that I am aware of. I was given this advice by Kammerflage Kreations who have been breeding panther chameleons for over 30 some years. Kale and apples are ok too though.
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Might just be for veileds cause they are a smaller breed?
 
Female Veilds and female Panthers are always much smaller than the males. Your female will never be near the size of your male.
 
broderp said:
I understand your point, thats why I was asking! :) Your right, I do not know what if anything they like or dislike or even if they are capable of either expression towards thier food. :rolleyes:

I noticed he turned into a piggy since I changed my gut load. So I wonder if he can smell or taste the differnece. If by some chance he can smell them differently or taste them differently, then I just wanted to give him something of a treat.

It's really kind of sad to accept they eat out of instinct, and not out of choice or sort of favorite or preference.
Click to expand...

I've found my chameleons eat wild-caught insects much more aggressively than my carefully nurtured prey foods. I don't know if it is the color that excites them (often a bright green) or something else such as the novelty. It might be that the wild insects are healthier so move more actively. Maybe the insects being raised outside in natural sunlight with natural food throw off colors that I can't see but the cham can, and these colors might be missing from the commercial crickets, stick bugs, roaches, etc., that are raised inside on a diet that isn't as healthy as a wild bug gets. All the chameleons that are given wild insects are recent wild-caught imports, which might make a difference to their reaction to prey items.

I've felt that when I feed wild-caught stick bugs, the chameleons have been much more excited about them than the captive-bred stick bugs I also feed. Any wild caught bug in the cage is usually immediately hunted while captive-bred insects might be ignored. These are only my anecdotal experiences.
 
MontyAndMelissa said:
I've read here and other places that citrus is too acidic for crickets, meaning its a bad idea to gutload and feed oranges to your scaly baby. You're better off with kale or apples.
Click to expand...

The advantage of supplying an acidic food/water source is that the calcium will be absorbed in the gut more easily.
 
Chameleons go on feeding binges and not eating for periods of time. We tend to over think the lack of food intake, and pin down a reason, but we are just guessing. I once had a person say he was sure his chameleon was on a hunger strike because the blinds were closed, and the chameleon did not eat for 3 days.

Some factors are considered necessary for keeping an appetite strong in the chameleon:

1. Basking temperatures must be high enough for the digestion to take place, so low temperatures will result in reduced/stopped eating.

2. Foods that move are more readily taken verses stationary. Dubias in a feeding cup which are not moving will often be ignored.

3. Adults do not need to be fed every day, not eating for several days for an adult is "normal." If you put food in every day, it will not always be eaten.

4. Young to adult chameleons tend to not refuse food regularly, but it does happen occasionally.

CHEERS!

Nick:D
 
broderp said:
I want to try and "mist" my crickets with orange juice/ carrot juice just before they are given to my cham. My thoughts are he may like the flavor of the bugs more, kind of like a treat. :)

Am I barking up the wrong tree here with this?


(I gut load with oranges, carrots and CRICKET CRACK. The crickets eat it up and my cham went from 3-5 crickets every other day to over 10 a day with a light snack of 2-4 in the eveneing about 2 hours before bedtime.)
Click to expand...


Yes, you are barking up the wrong tree.
 
orange have are high in oxal accid which blocks calcium absortion, you should not feed it to your cricket too often
 
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