catching wild insects ?

[yobro]

Ok i have read that its not so good too feed wild insects to your cham but there are people who do i was woundering is there any safe way to catch wild bugs and clean them so they can be safe for my cham bc mealworms waxworms and crickets is whats around me and that realy isnt a big diet even if you add in silkworms and roaches thats 1% of there natural
Diet and im all diffrent insects Im tryn to hatch out a mantis oothca now as feeders . Any info would help the place that i have in mind is next to a state forest owned by my family and hasnt been sprayed in 5 plus yrs .

 

[Chameleonmaster]

you could catch grass hoppers in fields or adult mantid and stick insect if you can spot them. i feed wc feeders all the time during summer just don't feed of any insect with bright warning colors like yellow and red.

 

[yobro]

Ok as in cleaning them or putting them in a quarantine container is that advised And i was thinking of either buying a net or uncle miltons critter vac or should this be a new thread ?

 

[Chameleonmaster]

i keep them in a cage for a day and if any die off i throw them all outside just incase they ran into pesticides. no need to clean them i'd just throw them in a cricket container with some greens.

 

[teoo OoT]

There was a fly in my veileds cage and he nabbed him does that count? I was wondering if that was safe too
.

 

[fluxlizard]

If it hasn't been sprayed with pesticide, I'd just collect and feed. You will loose some of the benefit of the wild collected insects if you take them home and feed them for a while. The wild food that the insects have been eating is part of the benefit for your lizard.

 

[Jamire]

^That's an interesting concept. What is the wild food that they eat that is better than our gutloads? Just wild wheats and grasses?

 

[Muddyfeet]

insect have a VERY short Gastic transit time.. if you are looking to add a different type of insect.. only.. then keeping and feeding.. is ok..

If you want to maximize the option on not only a novel feed item.. and get the benefit of wild, varied diet.. feed ASAP.. don't keep..


you may get some benefit to the varied diet the wild ate when growing (the nutritional composition of wild prey differs due to lifetime diet) but want to get the best bang for the buck feed fresh.. think Grass fed or free range.. there is a difference between nutritional makeup of the product out of the animal.. why better diet..


As "vitabugs" are on the market.. what a prey item eats during growth has a lot to due with overall nutrition.. so even if you catch and keep wild insects.. for a SHORT term.. there are some nutritional benefits.. above commercial basic feed for growth animals.. but if using wild, where parasite etc may be a concern.. FRESH to get ALL and the most benefit is the best IMOP..

 

[fluxlizard]

^That's an interesting concept. What is the wild food that they eat that is better than our gutloads? Just wild wheats and grasses?

Because they are feeding on what insects normally eat.

Artificial gutloads and diets aren't the same. Maybe we can get a more nutritous than wild insect overall in some ways (or many ways or most ways), but we won't get all the same stuff in there.

Most wild insects feed on a variety of green leaves high in carotenes and calcium and assorted other goodies. And yes- wild grasses are very good for that. It is what locusts are made of, and grass grows huge animals like cows and buffalo, providing what they need. We aren't hindgut fermenters or it would be good for us too- but we can't break down cell walls of grass.

Captive insects feed on grains (not grasses and leaves etc) and human preferred veggies- most of which are much lower in minerals and vitamins now than 50 years ago because of modern agricultural practices. Some are also bad thanks to GMO practices which have bad effects on animals over generations.

Some very serious chameleon breeders/authorities (abate for example- used to head up the CIN) have given up the hobby because they feel there is a missing element preventing multigenerational success several generations into captivity. Doesn't seem to be a problem for feral chams in florida, california, and hawaii feeding on wild insects...

If the concern is parasites- feeding insects an artificial diet for a few days is unlikely to clean them of parasites anyway. And most parasites have relatively host specific lifecycles. In other words if their natural lifecycle is to go from insect to bird to insect again, *usually* (not always) it will not do well in a lizard...

 

[Muddyfeet]

feeding wild has risk.. one parasites.. but one can get parasites feeding commercial too..

A type of parasite that is NOT normally found in Chams... more of a worry.. the Zoonotic potential and no immune response to it..

Pesticides, herbicides... as I saw NOT ONE SINGLE honey bee last summer in my own personal garden I did not collect any wild insects as I had in the past.. see a decrease in insects?? don't feed them.. insects travel to feeding areas.. see a decrease.. local use of chemicals is a possibility..

 

[yobro]

So whats the strangest insect you have ever to feed to your cham ?

 

[Swayne8998]

Feeding wild insects can be a great idea if done with precaution and correct judgement. You definitely do not want to feed any insects that have been in an area sprayed with pesticides, have bright colors, have stingers/release toxins, etc. Grasshoppers are great if you find the right ones. Mantis are good as well, but I would recommend cutting off the hands/pincer things as they can cause some serious damage to a chameleon. All kinds of things, really, as long as you take the right steps. Once you have them, I would also gutload and house them at least 7 days to be safe to see if they live and to get fresh nutritious substance in them. I would not say wild insects should make up a majority of a cham's diet, but definitely a good treat every now and then.

As for strangest insect, I would say what took me by surprise is that you can feed your cham snails. You CANNOT however feed them right after they are caught, you must breed them for a couple generations as they carry parasites. Also, they must be common/garden snails.

 

[yobro]

Ok i know isopods aka rollie pollies can be given to them aswell but u need to breed them or buy them so they dont have chemicals in them or was it metals like iron in them either way they have to be breed . So breeding graden snails im going to have to look them up any tip on care for them snails

 

[Swayne8998]

Ok i know isopods aka rollie pollies can be given to them aswell but u need to breed them or buy them so they dont have chemicals in them or was it metals like iron in them either way they have to be breed . So breeding graden snails im going to have to look them up any tip on care for them snails

You will probably be able to pick some up from a flower shop or some place that has issues with them as pests, they would be happy to give them to you. I believe sandrachameleon may have a blog on breeding them (she has a blog on just about everything). From what I understand...

You should place them in something like a 20 gallon aquarium with a couple inches of unfertilized soil with leaf litter covering the top. Make sure to keep the soil moist, you may have to mist it a couple times a day. Maybe put some other hides in there like half logs, rocks, etc. As for feeding them, you may have to check with some other members for that info, I'm not entirely sure. I've never raised them myself (yet).

 

[Jamire]

Snails sound like a good idea, but aren't very practical. Its been said that they could take up to a year to breed and grow to size. Check here

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/133-snails.html

 

[yobro]

Thank you for the info on the link on the snails it will come in handy when my i go to breed them thats if i can wait the full year

 

[ir0k]

Im curious cause i dont see them often at all where i live, can u buy mantis online or at some shops?

 

[yobro]

Mine was online from amazon it was 8 bucks for 2 small oothca they hatch 50-200 eggs

 

[yobro]

Lol just found it i took a snap shot of it 6.30 plus tax

 

[happiness]

feeding wild has risk.. one parasites.. but one can get parasites feeding commercial too..

A type of parasite that is NOT normally found in Chams... more of a worry.. the Zoonotic potential and no immune response to it..

Pesticides, herbicides... as I saw NOT ONE SINGLE honey bee last summer in my own personal garden I did not collect any wild insects as I had in the past.. see a decrease in insects?? don't feed them.. insects travel to feeding areas.. see a decrease.. local use of chemicals is a possibility..

It's really sad about the honey bees.. when I was younger there were A LOT of them in my yard and it wasn't surprising to get stung by one on the foot. I noticed there were practically none years later.. Never thought this could be do to chemicals! I always had an idea that other bees were killing them.

There are like 10000 crickets & mantis in my backyard. Last year I mowed the lawn (it was really high though) and thousands were hopping all around. I tried my best not to run them over. I can feed these to my chameleon? I'm not sure about the chemicals in the area.. There is a nuclear plant about 30-40 minutes from my house, not sure if that makes a difference.

How many people feed wild bugs to their chameleons? I'd love to do it but it worries me about the parasites :\


Edit**
Just read Swaynes informing post. I missed it xD
I don't think I could cut the pray mantis's arms off.. so maybe I should just stick to breeding my own food. !