Feeding schedule - what to feed when!?

[Trinacham]

I'm drawing up a feeding schedule so that I don't overfeed (or underfeed) my panther. He is a year old.

I just need to know WHEN to feed him the different species.

So far all I've ever fed to him...
Crickets
Waxworms
Morios
Locusts

What I've ordered...
Lobster roaches

What can be fed daily, weekly and so on?

 

[doris]

wax worms should only be fed as a treat, make sure that all the insects are also fed well and dusted before feeding. You could try catching some moths (not if you live in a very built up area due to polution etc), we are getting loads in the house at night time, also the waxies are easy to breed and a pot soon turns to lots of moths, (not quite as large as the wilds one though)

any pics of him to cheer me up, I've just been to the vets with my female sambava.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I'm drawing up a feeding schedule so that I don't overfeed (or underfeed) my panther. He is a year old. I just need to know WHEN to feed him the different species. So far all I've ever fed to him...
Crickets Waxworms Morios Locusts
What I've ordered...Lobster roaches
What can be fed daily, weekly and so on?

Since he's a year old, he's still growing, so you can feed him quite a lot. IMHO sub-adults can get three to four insects per meal, three to six meals per day. Adults get one to three insects per meal, three meals per day.

I highly recommend offering the widest possible variety of feeder insects, spread over several feedings throughout the day. IMHO a variety of well-fed feeder insects is truly critical to the happiness and health of your lizard. Just as you would not fair well on pepperoni pizza for every meal of your life, your lizard will not do well on just crickets.

Feeding smaller meals throughout the day, rather than a one big breakfast, is, I think, more in keeping with how they might eat in the wild. Chameleons presumable have only enough digestive fluids to digest the ideal sized meal. So it seems to me that feeding an overly large meal is only going to cause them to pass the unused portion of the meal as waste.

Plus, if you put in more crickets than your panther wants to eat right away, any supplementation you dusted the crickets with might come off before that cricket does get eaten. And if the uneaten crickets wander around long enough without gutload, well their nutritional value decreases, eh?

I agree that waxworms should be limited to treats only (they're fatty).
Roaches can be offered daily.
Crickets (gutloaded) can be offered daily.
Silkworms can be fed frequently, maybe even daily.
Kingworms (gutloaded) can be given fairly frequently, say two or three times a week.
Hornworms can be fed fairly frequently, but i wouldnt say daily.
Butterworms perhaps weekly (also quite fatty, but a little higher in calcium than most feeders and they do make for a nice change)
Mealworms, infrequently, and better if only freshly moulted ones.
Chams do like moths, of almost any kind (but do consider what type of moth and where it has been and what it may have been in contact with) and mine would eat them daily if I could get that many! But I'd say weekly is plenty.
I also offer stick insects bi-weekly (their absolute 100% favourite meal of all)
and wood sows now and then.

Also, some folks may say skip a day now and then, let him go without food once a week or even more. I dont personally subscribe to this method.

 

[dodolah]

Since he's a year old, he's still growing, so you can feed him quite a lot. IMHO sub-adults can get three to four insects per meal, three to six meals per day. Adults get one to three insects per meal, three meals per day.

Correct me if i'm wrong, I thought Panther and veiled is considered an adult when they reach a year old. They have stopped having huge growth spurt after that age. As far as I know, Chameleon will never stop growing as well. Only the rate of growth become significantly slower after they reach that age.
I would recommend to regulate his feeding after he reached that age. Although it is quite unlikely, we want to avoid overfeeding the guy that he become fat. Overweight chameleon, as well as human, has significantly shorter life.

I highly recommend offering the widest possible variety of feeder insects, spread over several feedings throughout the day. IMHO a variety of well-fed feeder insects is truly critical to the happiness and health of your lizard.

well said!

Feeding smaller meals throughout the day, rather than a one big breakfast, is, I think, more in keeping with how they might eat in the wild. Chameleons presumable have only enough digestive fluids to digest the ideal sized meal. So it seems to me that feeding an overly large meal is only going to cause them to pass the unused portion of the meal as waste.

This is certainly an interesting thought. Do you have some articles you can link us to back up the idea?

Thanks.

 

[Trinacham]

I highly recommend offering the widest possible variety of feeder insects, spread over several feedings throughout the day. IMHO a variety of well-fed feeder insects is truly critical to the happiness and health of your lizard. Just as you would not fair well on pepperoni pizza for every meal of your life, your lizard will not do well on just crickets.

Yeah I thought it must be boring having crickets day in day out with waxworms and morios occasionly. He doesn't seem to eat locusts or black crickets but now he's older he may have changed so I'll try them again. Thanks for your info, that's really helpful. I have lots of wood sows in the garden and lots of moths. I was worried about feeding him wild insects but I guess if I'm careful it will be fine.

 

[Trinacham]

wax worms should only be fed as a treat, make sure that all the insects are also fed well and dusted before feeding. You could try catching some moths (not if you live in a very built up area due to polution etc), we are getting loads in the house at night time, also the waxies are easy to breed and a pot soon turns to lots of moths, (not quite as large as the wilds one though)

any pics of him to cheer me up, I've just been to the vets with my female sambava.

Thanks. No we don't live in a high pollution area so I will give that a go! When I leave my bedroom window open in the evening lots of moths are attracted to Calvin's UV bulb.

What is the matter with your female? I hope she gets better soon! Here is my boy

 

[dodolah]

Yeah I thought it must be boring having crickets day in day out with waxworms and morios occasionly. He doesn't seem to eat locusts or black crickets but now he's older he may have changed so I'll try them again. Thanks for your info, that's really helpful. I have lots of wood sows in the garden and lots of moths. I was worried about feeding him wild insects but I guess if I'm careful it will be fine.

make sure it came from pesticide free area and it's not a poisonous kind.

 

[sandrachameleon]

...I have lots of wood sows in the garden and lots of moths. I was worried about feeding him wild insects but I guess if I'm careful it will be fine.

You can take some pregnant wood sows, put them in a smooth sided bucket or aquarium with an inch of sand or soil, feed them dead leaves, bark and twigs, and whatever you would feed your crickets and roaches, even dead crickets and the shed skin from off your chameleons. Wood sows are actually isopods, not insects, and so must be kept moist (but not wet). After awhile, you have your own safe little colony and you know for sure no pesticides, fertilizers or other nasties touched them

 

[sandrachameleon]

Correct me if i'm wrong, I thought Panther and veiled is considered an adult when they reach a year old. They have stopped having huge growth spurt after that age. As far as I know, Chameleon will never stop growing as well. Only the rate of growth become significantly slower after they reach that age.

Actually I think you are essentially right, the biggest growth is in the first year, but my experience suggests they grow a fair bit into their first year also. And yes they do seem to keep growing, slowly, throughout their lifetime.

Then again, maybe I feed mine too much and they are just getting FATTER in their old age. Is 180-190 grams about right for an adult panther?

 

[sandrachameleon]

Trinacham, he's fabulous!