Fish food???

T

Treyton

New Member
The place i get my crickets from feeds their crickets fish flakes ( just tropical fish flakes) and oat meal. I have fed my chameleons crickets from there for over a month ( and they are both healthy) one of the ladys there said she gut loads her crickets with fruit and veggies with fish flakes sprinkled on top to increase the protein level and a couple other things i just cant remeber exactly and i dont want to say something and have it not be right. She has bearded dragons.

What i am wondering is this safe to do for chameleons? is it possible to gut load your crickets with your regular fruits and veggies but to also sprinkle them with the fish flakes to give them a little bit more. I ask because i have fed them to my chameleons from there and havent had any problems with my chameleons getting sick or anything.

Thanks for everyones input :)
 
i see that you were on the other thread about this issue. do some research on chameleons and animal proteins. fish food has animal protein. which is ok for bearded dragons. long term use of this can cause issues in "most" chameleons.
 
I didnt know what was in it. But do you think it is ok if that where i buy them from they are fed with it?
 
Treyton said:
Motherlode- than you feed your roaches to your chameleons? What brand of flakes do you use?
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I do not over use it as I rotate what I feed to my feeder (roaches) insects. However I have been using fish flake as a feed for insects for along time and am a fan. I have got to go back to the Aquarium room and check what brand I'm using. I do not recall of the top of my head. I prefer fish flakes over other protein sources as the amount fed is easy to monitor and flakes disappear in a night while other meat based/protein items can become a bit funky to much for my preference. I'm at my apartment and won't be back to the aquarium room until next Thursday then I can check.
 
That is no problem. I will get a high qualoty one, or find one with not so high animal protein. But i am not talking about giving it to them all the time. I feed them fruits and veggies, with fish food sprinkled on top and they will eat thay than eat the fruit, so the fruit normally last two days and the fish food is eaten in the first day. So i think from what you are saying is its a good thing tomadd that little bit extra but dont over use it pretty much. Thanks
 
I normally only feed fish flakes to my insects once or twice a week. I mostly feed them veggies and other food I think they may prefer. My roaches devour the flakes I feed them though. As I keep my roach colonies in my aquarium room.
 
 
ataraxia said:
read through this about animal proteins

https://www.chameleonforums.com/dog-food-fish-food-50857/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/warning-necropsy-photos-gout-pseudogout-17746/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/swollen-neck-3309/

http://chamworld.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

read the diets they have in nature, not what we choose.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_(insect)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombyx_mori
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_quinquemaculata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mealworm


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7144258AAU3763
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links.

I have been supplementing my roaches with a couple kinds of fish flakes (only giving them as food once to twice a week) and have not had any problems for how long I have been feeding my roaches this diet (4-5 years). Definitely something I'm going to look into further though. I'm going to chat with professor DePeters who is a PHD on the subject. However with minimal supplementation and a varied diet over 4-5 years I have not had any problems. Although I feed out many other kinds of insects other than crickets and roaches that do not receive a fish flake diet. Interesting!

The majority of the diet that I feed my roaches and crickets are fresh greens and fruit.
 
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Chameleon are insectivores and are definitely not acquiring their protein from a plant source. As well mid to large chameleons have been regularly documented as feeding on vertebrates. Which is definitely naturally acquiring protein from an animal source. I would not mind seeing at what levels of feeding on animal protein that starts to cause Gout in chameleons. This would give a good idea of how often/much to feed out animal protein to feeder insect prior to feeding out insects. Probably is going to be high since chameleons are insectivores.
 
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franticurchin said:
after all that has been said should i start giving my feeders fish food once or twice a week?
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Should? No.
Could, without problems? Yes.
Could cause problems? Maybe, but very unlikely if fed sparingly.
Want to take the risk? I feed a tiny bit of fish food to crickets and mealworms, and right now am feeding bb maggots on king prawn and shedloads of vitamins (other stuff in there too). The flies will be a treat which is not often repeated.
 
Fish food flakes typically (though not always, read the label) contain animal protein and fat, plus pre-formed vitamin A and vit D3. There are things you need to control the intake of. Therefore, I recommend NOT using fish food as part of your gutload. The gutload should benefit the chameleon, not the bug. However, in small amounts no damage is likey to be caused.
 
sandrachameleon said:
Fish food flakes typically (though not always, read the label) contain animal protein and fat, plus pre-formed vitamin A and vit D3. There are things you need to control the intake of. Therefore, I recommend NOT using fish food as part of your gutload. The gutload should benefit the chameleon, not the bug. However, in small amounts no damage is likey to be caused.
Click to expand...
Exactly, but I still use flakes a bit :eek:
 
Is it really worth the risk? feeding your feeders crap in the long term is only going to impact on your chameleon!!!! at the end of the day, fish food is for fishes!
 
I have been using Tetra Veggie fish flakes. It seems after reading the label the only animal protein they use in making these flakes is fish meal, shrimp meal and fish oil. The rest (the majority) all looks to be ingredients that have come from plants. I only supplemental feed this to my roaches however the finish what I feed them by the next day. There is one other Tetra fish flakes I use except I'm out of at the moment.

Some vegetarians do not consider fish as a meat.
 
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