Chameleon no staple diet

[Phimuhammad206]

Hello, Ive been getting my set up ready for my baby veiled chameleon that I'm about to purchase from a local breeder and I read that you should try to stay away from a "staple diet" and I was wondering what few insects would be good to feed everyday. I came across mulberry farm that sells a variety of bugs but I am unsure what combination of bugs would be ok to feed everyday

 

[Bush baby]

I've posted this on the site before, but i'll repost it here. Many think that gutloaded Roaches make for a better staple but i argue it's crickets….

Here's why:


Gut load

1) I've noticed that even after crickets are brought home after being purchased and you dump them into a container in order to gut load them, they immediately start feeding on whatever food item you have set aside for them. In other words, they seem un-phased by the 'trauma' of being scoop up from their current home (the pet store) transported via plastic bag for as long as several hours, shaken around, then dumped into a completely different environment. It's as though they are programmed to feed, no matter what. This is what makes them superior to roaches. Roaches, i've found, take time to settle in before they will feed. Crickets are eating machines which makes for the perfect gut load vehicle.

Free-range

2) I free-range, so after i've gut loaded my crickets in a separate container, i dust them and empty about a dozen of them into my chams enclosure. I do this because most of the chams i've had rarely cup feed. I leave a small amount of food, for the ones my cham doesn't eat immediately, in the cage bottom, so the crix won't nibble on my cham at night. You cannot free-range roaches because they are great at hiding, and are nocturnal, un-like crickets who are both active during the day when your cham will see them and at night.

Movement

3) Crickets are far more lively during the day when your cham will see them. Even if you cup feed, roaches tend to crawl into a corner or one side of the cup and remain still. Not good for predator who's feeding response is based on it's preys movement.

Impaction

4) I've notice that when i feed my chams crickets as the primary part of their diet, they have a bowel movement everyday, whereas when i've fed them roaches, it's gone from them defecating daily, to every other day, to sometimes once a week. From this i must conclude that a roach must be much harder for a chameleon to digest. I've even had to treat some of my past chams for impaction (using oil) when i had them on a roach diet. The situation remedied itself when i switched back from roaches to crickets.

Those are the reasons why i personally don't use roaches. I'll give them to my cham once in a while; but as i just stated, i've found crix just have more attributes that benefit the chameleon itself, as opposed to roaches, who seem to be a popular feeder not so much because they benefit the chameleon itself but because it's better for the owner, i.e they're cleaner, make less noise, produce less smell, etc…


…to each his/her own.

 

[nick barta]

Hello, Ive been getting my set up ready for my baby veiled chameleon that I'm about to purchase from a local breeder and I read that you should try to stay away from a "staple diet" and I was wondering what few insects would be good to feed everyday. I came across mulberry farm that sells a variety of bugs but I am unsure what combination of bugs would be ok to feed everyday

I would get small crickets, small super worms, small silk worms, and small hornworms.

Nick

 

[Lazy Boy]

I been using dubias, crickets, reptiworms/Phoenixworms, small supersworms, silkworms and butterworms. I also plan to add hornworms soon also. Make sure all feeders are size apropriate.

 

[MelissaB]

I'm really liking the giant green roaches, to give them a little variety. They're easy to care for, and have been doing really well. The only thing I don't like, is how fast they are. When I turn over a piece of bark they all go scrambling for cover, and boy are they QUICK!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Hello, Ive been getting my set up ready for my baby veiled chameleon that I'm about to purchase from a local breeder and I read that you should try to stay away from a "staple diet" and I was wondering what few insects would be good to feed everyday. I came across mulberry farm that sells a variety of bugs but I am unsure what combination of bugs would be ok to feed everyday

You don't need to feed variety in everyday- just overall variety.
If you were to pick maybe 5 prey choices, that would be fine. Those could be crickets, silkworms, superworms, roaches as your most often offered, and rotate the fifth choice (terrestrial isopods, hornworms, snails, blue bottle flies, butterworms, termites, indian walking stick, etc).

 

[Phimuhammad206]

Thanks for the response guys

 

[Phimuhammad206]

One more question when feeding a variety how do go about doing it? Do you do one insect for a whole week then the next week you do a different insect? Or is it a different insect everyday?

 

[ridgebax1]

I would vary the feeder insects every day. One day crickets, then hornworms, then silks, etc. My chameleons never really went for roaches either. Not enough movement. The green banana roaches I think can climb the sides of the container which is why I never used those.