Free ranging silkworms?

[snitz427]

hmmm ok.. I had considered this but I thought to myself "What if Spike accidentally eats this!?" I mean I know it's basically just mushed up mulberry leaves... but is there any danger to that? I could do that and stick them back on the leaf looking tray I have. ty!!

Nah, no real risk, and its unlikely he would. Its not as helpful to them on its on (vs digested by our feeders), but it certainly won’t hurt him if he ingests some. The silkworms usually dont wander too far from food, but they can survive a few days without it.

I tend to leave them on the branches and if theyre still around the next day, I put the dab of food on the branch near the silks. Silkworms are clumsy and sometimes fall off the branch, but I just stick em back up until they are eaten.

 

[Steve A]

Nah, no real risk, and its unlikely he would. Its not as helpful to them on its on (vs digested by our feeders), but it certainly won’t hurt him if he ingests some. The silkworms usually dont wander too far from food, but they can survive a few days without it.

I tend to leave them on the branches and if theyre still around the next day, I put the dab of food on the branch near the silks. Silkworms are clumsy and sometimes fall off the branch, but I just stick em back up until they are eaten.

oh so you leave them in the enclosure overnight? I contemplated doing that and just putting some food out for them but I felt the misting would make a mess of that situation. Interesting. I'm gonna try using the tray I have and seeing if I can do this my way, with the food as you suggested. But if this don't work I may try this method. ty!!

 

[Shauna_T]

So cute! I sit at work and rotate between watching my 3 chams. Then at night I watch my gecko jump around his enclosure.

Love this!!!

 

[snitz427]

oh so you leave them in the enclosure overnight? I contemplated doing that and just putting some food out for them but I felt the misting would make a mess of that situation. Interesting. I'm gonna try using the tray I have and seeing if I can do this my way, with the food as you suggested. But if this don't work I may try this method. ty!!

Yep - I throw them in and leave them until eaten, which is usually by the next day. The silkworm chow dries out pretty quickly and it will just fall off the branch. If you have isopods and/or springtails in your plants / soil, they will happily clean it up. Isopods are great additions to any cham enclosure! They’ll hide in the soil and work hard to keep the place clean. If they get eaten, they are high in calcium.

 

[Steve A]

Yep - I throw them in and leave them until eaten, which is usually by the next day. The silkworm chow dries out pretty quickly and it will just fall off the branch. If you have isopods and/or springtails in your plants / soil, they will happily clean it up. Isopods are great additions to any cham enclosure! They’ll hide in the soil and work hard to keep the place clean. If they get eaten, they are high in calcium.

I've been thinking about incorporating isopods into the enclosure. I have a couple questions though...

I do not have a bioactive enclosure. Is it okay to just put some in the plant pots?

I also like to put some BSFL in the plant pots to let them do their thing and eventually pupate and turn into flies for him. Will the isopods get in the way of that?

I think tomorrow I will go ahead and throw some silks in there and let them hang out in there then. They're basically in there all day anyway. I've just been putting a couple small dabs of food on a branch and sticking 2 silks on there, then removing them at the end of the day if he hasn't eaten them.

 

[snitz427]

I've been thinking about incorporating isopods into the enclosure. I have a couple questions though...

I do not have a bioactive enclosure. Is it okay to just put some in the plant pots?

I also like to put some BSFL in the plant pots to let them do their thing and eventually pupate and turn into flies for him. Will the isopods get in the way of that?

I think tomorrow I will go ahead and throw some silks in there and let them hang out in there then. They're basically in there all day anyway. I've just been putting a couple small dabs of food on a branch and sticking 2 silks on there, then removing them at the end of the day if he hasn't eaten them.

I do the same thing with BSFL, and the isopods don’t seem to
bother them. You can definitely add them to your potted plants. I have had them living in a pot covered with 1/2” stones, as well as bare soil… but they do best with “leaf litter,” which they will also eat.

 

[snitz427]

Dwarf white and Giant Canyon would be my recommendation, but you can always catch them in your own back yard!

 

[Steve A]

Dwarf white and Giant Canyon would be my recommendation, but you can always catch them in your own back yard!

Awesome ty I am gonna look into them tomorrow. I think for now I'd just have them go into my palms pots. They're in bigger pots on the bottom of the enclosure. My chameleon really doesn't go that low (so far lol) but they're also covered with large stones anyway.

 

[Steve A]

Update: I went ahead and incorporated VERY small silkworms into Spikes dish with his BSFL. I've been doing this for a little while now and it's been going great! I put 3 in there and he usually ends up eating 1-2. Sometimes all 3. Today, I even noticed him specifically go for a silk (and they're a little bigger now) specifically when one was attached to a BSFL that he ate, but fell off and landed on a branch mid tongue retraction . So I think downsizing them really helped him get back into his love for silks <3

He's now eating daily approximately:

12-18+ crickets
10-12 BSFL
1-3 silks

Maybe if anyone else runs into a situation like this where their chameleon starts refusing a certain bug they know they like they can try something similar.

 

[elizaann2]

Update: I went ahead and incorporated VERY small silkworms into Spikes dish with his BSFL. I've been doing this for a little while now and it's been going great! I put 3 in there and he usually ends up eating 1-2. Sometimes all 3. Today, I even noticed him specifically go for a silk (and they're a little bigger now) specifically when one was attached to a BSFL that he ate, but fell off and landed on a branch mid tongue retraction . So I think downsizing them really helped him get back into his love for silks <3

He's now eating daily approximately:

12-18+ crickets
10-12 BSFL
1-3 silks

Maybe if anyone else runs into a situation like this where their chameleon starts refusing a certain bug they know they like they can try something similar.

He is eating that many a day??? Man now I am wondering if I am not feeding my guy enough...

 

[Steve A]

He is eating that many a day??? Man now I am wondering if I am not feeding my guy enough...

Not always. I should have been more clear.

This is typically more like every other day I'd say. Then the off day he is eating less crickets. But typically eats most of the BSFL regardless. This fluctuates. But yes plenty of days he's eating this much!

I think you'll know based on what your chameleon is eating. If he's eating everything, maybe add like 10% more and see if he eats more. If not, stick to what you're doing.

If there are bugs left over (there are ALWAYS Bugs left over from Spikes day) then I wouldn't adjust a thing. He's clearly eating what he wants/needs

 

[Steve A]

He is eating that many a day??? Man now I am wondering if I am not feeding my guy enough...

So like Monday lets say he eats 18 crickets, 10 BSFL and 2 silkworms.

The next day he will probably eat like 12 crickets 8-10 BSFL, and maybe 1-2 silks.

But then wed he's back to 18+ crickets, 10 BSFL, and 2 silks.

The numbers aren't perfect though. I see him eating almost every time hes eating but some crickets escape (he gets most of the ones that escape!) and end up in his water bin under the enclosure. I want to say in 4-5 days there might be half a dozen crickets in there.

So the real number for crickets might be slightly lower. But not much! I

 

[elizaann2]

So like Monday lets say he eats 18 crickets, 10 BSFL and 2 silkworms.

The next day he will probably eat like 12 crickets 8-10 BSFL, and maybe 1-2 silks.

But then wed he's back to 18+ crickets, 10 BSFL, and 2 silks.

The numbers aren't perfect though. I see him eating almost every time hes eating but some crickets escape (he gets most of the ones that escape!) and end up in his water bin under the enclosure. I want to say in 4-5 days there might be half a dozen crickets in there.

So the real number for crickets might be slightly lower. But not much! I

Ok I just compared this to my spreadsheet and it looks like my guy does something similar where there is a big eating day and the next day is a little less.

Today my guy ate:
12 crickets
4 wax moths
3 bsf
~5 bsfl

I just like to over think things

 

[Steve A]

Ok I just compared this to my spreadsheet and it looks like my guy does something similar where there is a big eating day and the next day is a little less.

Today my guy ate:
12 crickets
4 wax moths
3 bsf
~5 bsfl

I just like to over think things

Yeah you and me both lol

 

[Camiezone]

I'm afraid to do this because I've offered dubias, crickets, bsfl, silkworms, hornworms(1 or 2 daily), superworms (1 or 2 daily).

Out of all of this, the only things he is actually eating are crickets and BSFL. the first couple days he devoured his silks. But once crickets and bsfl entered the mix that's all he wants. I'm afraid of trying this and him being stubborn and not eating then suffering.

At 4 months they are still scared of bigger food sometimes. What size are the horn worms? He may have been bit by one previously, and remembers that. Give it some time, n try again. He'll eat them again. I always free range my horns n silliest n hoppers. Keep it exciting to chase n catch. As far as i have witnessed, it's only the crickets that will munch on the chams if left inside enclosure, n just the large ones.

 

[Camiezone]

I stick my worms onto the side mesh near bottom of cage, mine seem to love watching the worms come crawling up the mesh, n always eat them as they can be reached. I also do this w dubias.

 

[Steve A]

At 4 months they are still scared of bigger food sometimes. What size are the horn worms? He may have been bit by one previously, and remembers that. Give it some time, n try again. He'll eat them again. I always free range my horns n silliest n hoppers. Keep it exciting to chase n catch. As far as i have witnessed, it's only the crickets that will munch on the chams if left inside enclosure, n just the large ones.

He actually does eat hornworms when I get them. But he won't eat Dubias or superworms lol

With that being said I only give him hornworms as a treat once in a while. He's mostly only eating silkworms, BSFL, hatched BSF, and crickets on a regular basis. At some point I will once again reintroduce some of those other bugs as well. But he seems pretty content on not eating them so we'll see.