Feeders

Dazzler420

New Member
hey everyone just wondering what a good feeder would be for my buddy, i give him crix now i did give him meal worms before but i read they were hard for him to digest. I cant keep givin him crix, any suggestions?
 
Chameleons are predators, and very few predators survive on just one food naturally. You'll find that chameleons go through phases just like people do. Mine have especially enjoyed trying new foods, but they can get bored and spoiled, and go on hunger strikes.

I pretty much always make crickets available to my panther chameleon. They are his least favorite food, so I know he won't usually eat them unless he's really hungry. They are the only food that I supplement. I feed them fruits and vegetables.

His staple food is silkworms. I offer him silkworms daily. He doesn't always eat them - fine, he's got crickets if he gets hungry.

Sometimes we'll let a couple silkworms cocoon, and feed him the moths when they hatch. They don't have a ton of nutritional, but it's stimulating for him to have a different kind of prey, and they flutter and draw his attention. They are also harmless and don't eat themselves, you I can just let them roam around in his enclosure.

We've also fed him hornworms, which he liked at first, and then got a little picky about. But he still ate them.

What I like about the hornworms is not only are they nutritious, but they are loaded with water. Silkworms, too, to a lesser extent.

We also feed him butter worms and wax worms, but not too many. They have a high fat content, and we also don't want him to decide those are the only things he is going to eat. These are by far his favorite foods we've found to date. We feed these to him kind of like you would treats to a dog. He may ignore lots of other foods, but he finds butter worms and wax worms completely irresistible. They are also perfect when guests are over and we want to show him off!

Anyway, my point is that not only is it good for your chameleon to vary their food, it's actually kind of fun, too. You'll find yourself a little more connected to the personality of your pet.
 
I stay away from the wax worms because they are nutritionally a waste of calories and fat. If i want to treat my chams i catch wc grasshoppers or katydids. My main staples are crix & roaches with hornworms mixed in. If someone starts to get picky I will feed them grasshoppers for a cpl of days. Its amazing how happy they are to get crix again after a few days of a different feeder.
 
I culture my own wax moths
with my own gutload so they are more nutritous

I use them as a treat only though cause
they are probably still high in fat and can
cause refusal to eat other foods

other than that your cham will go
carazy when he/she sees them fluttering around the enclosure
 
 

Sometimes we'll let a couple silkworms cocoon, and feed him the moths when they hatch. They don't have a ton of nutritional, but it's stimulating for him to have a different kind of prey, and they flutter and draw his attention. They are also harmless and don't eat themselves, you I can just let them roam around in his enclosure. t.

next time cut open the cocoons and feed off the pupaes directly. Cutting open the cocoon here is a lot of work. These strains are bred for silk. I am importing a strain that does not produce a lot of silk but are hardier to raise.

the pupaes are FRESHEST at 5 days old from the day they start spinning . THey are also at their nutritional height.

You are right about the moths though, not much there. Their best part has been turned into the eggs. After a moth lays eggs, she is light and emptied out. I do give them away to be fed off just to provide that variety.

If anyone starts to sell pupa, it will command a very high price, as you all know how much $ and work it takes to get them to that stage..
 
pupae feeding

Interesting, I hadn't thought of feeding off the pupae. We have cut the cocoons open before, since sometimes the emerging moths will get stuck in there and die. I don't mind that the moths don't add anything nutritionally, they are just for variety.
 
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