Dubias vs Crickets?

[Wowbango]

Please excuse my ignorance...new here and I have a ton of questions! So after 1 1/2 days of feeding my new little guy, I hate crickets already! Jumpy little jerks! I went to one of the sponsors; website (Dubiaroaches.com) and was reading all the facts about them and how they are better for Chameleons than crickets. I did buy some dubia roaches and some crickets as I thought it would be a nice way to mix it up, and hoping to get some silkworms too. Would my Panther be fine with just dubias and silkworms with a hornworm or something every so often? Is there a disadvantage of eliminating crickets, other than because they're cheap? Thanks

 

[ChameleonUES]

Variety

It is always good to have a variety of feeders. Usually people have 1 or 2 staple foods being crickets and/or dubias. Most people will want dubias for obvious reasons. HOWEVER, make sure your animal will accept dubias, as some chameleons will not. (mine did not) I ended up with 100 uneaten dubias.
If you chameleons does accept them, then you can certainly use them as a staple diet. But always mix up the variety of insects you feed him/her.

 

[Wowbango]

It is always good to have a variety of feeders. Usually people have 1 or 2 staple foods being crickets and/or dubias. Most people will want dubias for obvious reasons. HOWEVER, make sure your animal will accept dubias, as some chameleons will not. (mine did not) I ended up with 100 uneaten dubias.
If you chameleons does accept them, then you can certainly use them as a staple diet. But always mix up the variety of insects you feed him/her.

Great! Yes he eats the dubias just fine. When I fed him the first time, I put some dubias and crickets in there...and he CHARGED towards the dubias and swallowed them all up.

 

[ridgebax1]

That is great, none of my chams until CJ would even give Dubia's a second look. I don't really mind crickets they are just stinky. I feed my guy hornworms, silkworms, butterworms, wax worms, phoenix worms in addition to dubias and crix. I never feed mealies or supers. Many keepers do but they are high in fat and I have seen threads where the lizard decides mealies or supers are all they want to eat. I tend to think of them as the Mickey D's menu for reptiles. They taste good (I assume, no personal knowledge here) and are bad for you on a regular basis.

 

[Wowbango]

That is great, none of my chams until CJ would even give Dubia's a second look. I don't really mind crickets they are just stinky. I feed my guy hornworms, silkworms, butterworms, wax worms, phoenix worms in addition to dubias and crix. I never feed mealies or supers. Many keepers do but they are high in fat and I have seen threads where the lizard decides mealies or supers are all they want to eat. I tend to think of them as the Mickey D's menu for reptiles. They taste good (I assume, no personal knowledge here) and are bad for you on a regular basis.

That's what I've been reading up on, the high fat content of super worms. I just ordered some on ebay but definitely will not be using them as a staple. Especially with him being so accepting of Dubias. I'm still trying to find silkworms that aren't super expensive. Everywhere I find they're either out of stock, super expensive, or only selling eggs.