I was curious about whether crickets would chew on the edges of a common calcium source, a chicken eggshell. I cracked some eggs for breakfast, and after eating the eggs, I washed the shells under warm water to remove all of the egg remnants, leaving nothing but clean dry eggshells. I dropped 1/2 of an eggshell in the crickets enclosure, and since then, 4 days ago,they have been shoulder to shoulder while chewing away at the shell. I don't know how much calcium each cricket will consume, or what will remain in their body, but I'm assuming my chameleon is getting a little calcium with each cricket she eats. I would have to assume that this is gutloading as much as the fruits and vegetables they've been eating. Give it a try and report back what you think. I use small cickets, which grow to almost medium before I use al 100 plus of them. If you use large crickets, I'd be curious to find out if there is visible evidence of them chewing away the eggshells.
I had a large sea shell that was a calcium source for a tortoise. One day while my Dwarf chameleon was free ranging I heard this crunch crunch scrape scrape sound, and there was my chameleon chewing away at the shell. I suppose it is instinct for them to seek out a calcium source and eat it as needed. It made me think about a Cuttlebone, which is a sea shell exoskeleton that you buy for your parakeet to chew on to provide calcium and shape and trim their beak. They are sold where ever bird seed and parakeet supplies are sold, like Walmart or pet stores. Has anyone ever used a Cuttlebone for their chameleon? I suppose you would need to remove it from their enclosure if it appeared they were taking in too much so they didn't overdo the calcium intake. I would not suggest eggshells directly in the chameleons enclosure, as they have extremely sharp edges, which could easily cut into their very skinny stomach lining.
These are just some ideas that have come to my mind. The main source of calcium for humans is ground up sea shells after all. Why would it be any different for our crickets or our reptiles?
I had a large sea shell that was a calcium source for a tortoise. One day while my Dwarf chameleon was free ranging I heard this crunch crunch scrape scrape sound, and there was my chameleon chewing away at the shell. I suppose it is instinct for them to seek out a calcium source and eat it as needed. It made me think about a Cuttlebone, which is a sea shell exoskeleton that you buy for your parakeet to chew on to provide calcium and shape and trim their beak. They are sold where ever bird seed and parakeet supplies are sold, like Walmart or pet stores. Has anyone ever used a Cuttlebone for their chameleon? I suppose you would need to remove it from their enclosure if it appeared they were taking in too much so they didn't overdo the calcium intake. I would not suggest eggshells directly in the chameleons enclosure, as they have extremely sharp edges, which could easily cut into their very skinny stomach lining.
These are just some ideas that have come to my mind. The main source of calcium for humans is ground up sea shells after all. Why would it be any different for our crickets or our reptiles?
Ive got lots of it for my birds and snails and terrestrial isopods.
