Feeder / breeder set up

[KapitalJ]

Thought I would share my area that I keep all my feeders. I am interested to see how others keep their supply. Also how many chams / reptiles you are feeding with this setup.

I am currently feeding 1 chameleon and 3 tree frogs (daughters). I have Silks, 2 bins op left first time hatching eggs. Cricket feeder bin top middle they get the best gut loading even though all my crickets are fed many ingredients, supers 3 bins top right, also have a beetle bin and a few boxes with supers to pupate (not shown in pic), grey bins are all crickets. 2 smaller bins are where I place the egg laying bins for the crickets to hatch . I will need to add 1 more big bin soon to sort the sizes and be able to have a breeding bin with adults.


My feeder / breeding set up.

Looking forward to seeing how you do it! I seem to get a little carried away.

Thanks.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

How did you cut your holes so nicely? And where did you get all the screen to put in the tubs for vents? It almost looks as if you bought them like that already pre-cut. Looks nice

 

[KapitalJ]

Thank you for the kind words @trickedoutbiker
I used a utility knife (razor blade). for the tops I marked out the corners and just used a scrap piece of wood as a guide for my knife. All of the side holes were cut out using a hole saw, 2.5" diameter I believe. The screen I bought at Home Hardware. I bought it by the foot. They have a 3' long roll and sell it for 0.99$/foot (super cheap 3'x1' for 0.99$). Just used a glue gun to glue it in place.
In the future I feel that a rack would work better to make use of more space.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

Ahh... a hole saw. That's nice. I wish I had one of those.... lol. Definitely makes it all look nice and clean.

I currently have no pics of my bug area, as it's never been quite all the way done yet. I'm always adding things and removing things and changing it all up a bit to try to make the absolute most of the space that I am using. I have all sorts of different containers in different shapes and sizes. Maybe I will post a pic of it all when it is all said and done. I want to have enclosures for every type of feeder I will ever be using, and I also have a couple of other containers that are basically for me to house wild caught insects or something if I ever come across another insect I want to gutload and feed.

 

[KapitalJ]

I guess everyone like to keep this top secret..

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I guess everyone like to keep this top secret..

We are all secret agents

 

[KapitalJ]

seems that way..
seems like the only threads that get replies are "need help with sexing" or "my cham hasn't eaten in 10 min I'm worried" lol...

*jokes*

 

[trickedoutbiker]

Most people don't readily have a picture available of their feeder insect collections. Lol. I've never taken a pic of mine before.

Now, you ask people to post pics of chameleons, you notification bar is going to explode. lol.

There are a few threads here and there on this forum if you dig deep to find them. Here are a few, just from doing a simple 10 second search...

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/feeder-setup.25422/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/pics-of-your-feeder-setups.111742/

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...tile-rooms-feeder-room-picture-thread.121536/


There are many others. That's just a few to start you out. You're welcome buddy

 

[KapitalJ]

lol.. yea... but it only takes a second to snap a pic.

I did a search on here. Most threads only had a response or 2, and were super old..

 

[KapitalJ]

At least you are playing! @trickedoutbiker

 

[cyberlocc]

Very nice, mine are still spread around the house hehe, bugs everywhere.

I need to get the reptile room done in the next month or 2. So I got a place to bring bugs.

My 4 year old likes the bugs but that is a bad thing. I separated all my really small dubia babies into a cricket keeper the other day. Then yesterday my daughter brought them out to show me (she was asking to play with them I said in a min) she dropped the tank, bout a 40 dubias all over, they lucky didn't all come out.

The dog went nuts lol. so I had to get the tank back up then go pick up baby dubia and beetles to drown them (after being on the floor I want using them lol).

I plan to do the rack thing though, so much easier then lids. I just have small dubia colony and some worms. But As I get more colony going lids are going to be a pain.

 

[Andee]

I want to get a rack for my colonies. I have GBR and Dubias at the moment. When the wind dies down and it finally turns into summer in my town, I will go out grasshopper catching. <3 I miss having grasshoppers. Right now the roach bins are in the garage and kind of spread out. The grasshoppers will be in the garage too but they will be in a screen/glass combo terrarium. I buy my crickets, I have no desire to ever breed them. They smell far too much. I used to have stick insects. But the colony died out when our drought got really bad. I don't raise super worms, just buy them, and currently I am keeping my silkworm eggs in the fridge for a month or two. The worms usually have a rather large sweater box rubbermaid bin to live in.

 

[cyberlocc]

I want to get a rack for my colonies. I have GBR and Dubias at the moment. When the wind dies down and it finally turns into summer in my town, I will go out grasshopper catching. <3 I miss having grasshoppers. Right now the roach bins are in the garage and kind of spread out. The grasshoppers will be in the garage too but they will be in a screen/glass combo terrarium. I buy my crickets, I have no desire to ever breed them. They smell far too much. I used to have stick insects. But the colony died out when our drought got really bad. I don't raise super worms, just buy them, and currently I am keeping my silkworm eggs in the fridge for a month or two. The worms usually have a rather large sweater box rubbermaid bin to live in.

I also was wanting to build a rack. But IDK if I will or not, handling the ventilation is hard for me. as my home is riddled with spiders I dont want them eating the bugs.

 

[NERVOUS]

I feed a single Chameleon with these feeders...

Bug Farm:

Bug Farm

• NERVOUS
• Jan 28, 2016

B. dubia:

Dubias

• NERVOUS
• Jan 28, 2016

N. cinerea:

Lobsters

• NERVOUS
• Jan 28, 2016

P. nivea:

Green Banana Roaches

• NERVOUS
• Feb 3, 2016
• 1

I also breed Super worms, but don't have any pictures... It's just a couple of plastic bins, etc.

I also pupate Horns worms...

Horn worms:

Lots of Horn worm moths on the way!

• NERVOUS
• May 6, 2016
• 3

Horn worm to chrysalis to moth

• NERVOUS
• Mar 15, 2016
• 1

I also pupate and (accidentally) breed Silk worms...

Silk worms:

Silkworm eggs

• NERVOUS
• Apr 10, 2016
• 1

Mating Silkworm Moths

• NERVOUS
• Apr 9, 2016
• 1

Silkworm Breeding - Egg laying - YouTube

• NERVOUS
• Apr 11, 2016

Female Silkworm laying eggs.

Fertile Silkworm Eggs

• NERVOUS
• Apr 12, 2016

Coastal Silkworms

• NERVOUS
• Apr 12, 2016

I think that's about it.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I think that's about it.

What do you do with all your extra feeders? With only one cham, surely you have WAAAAYYYY too many feeders. What do you do with them all? I've seen your bug farm pics in a few different threads and have always wanted to ask you. It's a nice lil setup though.

 

[NERVOUS]

What do you do with all your extra feeders? With only one cham, surely you have WAAAAYYYY too many feeders. What do you do with them all? I've seen your bug farm pics in a few different threads and have always wanted to ask you. It's a nice lil setup though.

Well, let's see here...

I limit the number of Horn worms I buy to a single pod at a time. After feeding off as many worms as my Cham will eat and pupating the rest to moths, there aren't any extras.

I don't buy Silk worms anymore, but I still have more than I know what to do with... Way more in fact! I'll probably have to start giving some of them away soon too.

Super worms live forever with very little maintenance, so I just slowly work my way through them... And once in a while I give some away.

I give away lots of B. dubia roaches. One of the teachers at my kids' school has a pair of Bearded Dragons... So, I try to give her a few adults every couple of days.

I feed off lots of adult N. cinerea, but they breed so prolifically it doesn't even put a dent in their numbers.

I can't figure out how to harvest P. nivea. So, they're just reproducing (slowly) in their bin... Not even sure how many I have at this point.

 

[alphakenc]

Thought I would share my area that I keep all my feeders. I am interested to see how others keep their supply. Also how many chams / reptiles you are feeding with this setup.

I am currently feeding 1 chameleon and 3 tree frogs (daughters). I have Silks, 2 bins op left first time hatching eggs. Cricket feeder bin top middle they get the best gut loading even though all my crickets are fed many ingredients, supers 3 bins top right, also have a beetle bin and a few boxes with supers to pupate (not shown in pic), grey bins are all crickets. 2 smaller bins are where I place the egg laying bins for the crickets to hatch . I will need to add 1 more big bin soon to sort the sizes and be able to have a breeding bin with adults.


My feeder / breeding set up.

Looking forward to seeing how you do it! I seem to get a little carried away.

Thanks.

Thats alot of feeders,how long does it take to clean all those bins

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I can't figure out how to harvest P. nivea. So, they're just reproducing (slowly) in their bin... Not even sure how many I have at this point.

I guess I don't understand what you mean by this.... Can't you just reach down in there with a cup and scoop some out or do it the same way you do with the other roaches? What makes the GB roach so different?

 

[cyberlocc]

I guess I don't understand what you mean by this.... Can't you just reach down in there with a cup and scoop some out or do it the same way you do with the other roaches? What makes the GB roach so different?

They burrow into soil. I think that is what he is getting at.

The other roaches dont need soil, GB do.

 

[KapitalJ]

how long does it take to clean all those bins

Its not too bad. I spend a little time down there every night, about 30min. Then I do my big clean on Saturdays, maybe an hour, hour and a half tops.. My kids love the bugs so they enjoy helping dad feed and clean them.