Good substitution for crickets?

[Ashleigh]

I have a male panther morph cross, 8 months old and who is the PICKIEST eater EVER...He will not eat crickets anymore. if I stop giving him anything else and just crickets, he goes on a hunger strike....He absolutely LOVES any soft bodied worm I give him so I ordered some hornworms that will get here today. He's been eating a few supers, but I really think he just doesn't like crunchy bugs...so my question is, is there any other alternative?? I feel like I'm waisting money every time I buy crickets... Any ideas???!

 

[Kerbie]

I'm new to all of this but I ordered some phoenix worms and silkworms for my little guy with MBD because of the high levels of calcium. Another member also recommended butterworms.

 

[Eltortu]

How about some butterworms or waxworms?

 

[reptilover]

Silk worms and horns are good hydrators. And a great treat and phoneix worms are.good, but i wouldn't.rely on to many soft bodies, try and keep him eatinf crickets.. have u tried dubia roaches?.there a good feeder,
The soft body worms. Wax, supers, mealies can be very fatty and shoukdnt realky be a staple

 

[Johnny84]

Dubia Roaches are best for a staple diet to your Panther Chameleon...IMO! Thats what I feed along with proper dusting and they will flourish!!

Hope thus helps!!

 

[AngieL]

Silk worms are quite nutritious. Have you tried locusts with the back legs removed? My Cham won't eat black crickets but she will eat the brown ones!

 

[mrlax]

My female Jackson's chameleon is quite picky as well. She eats small crickets sometimes, and loves flys/moths/butterflies and picks at random creatures when they happen by her outdoor 'sunning' enclosure- I caught her eating a small random spider today. I actually just ordered a bean beetle culture from Sticky Tongue farms in Southern Ca...here's the (shrunken) link below if you are interested....

http://tinyurl.com/76364jy

Mine haven't arrived yet, but there are great pics & videos on their webpage (and Facebook page) of small and large chameleons chowing, and they say they have 30% more protein than crickets. So worth a try from my perspective, although a beetle culture at our home is my wife's worse nightmare

 

[carol5208]

silks are good. Low fat but yes they are soft bodied so maybe mix in a super here or there or some other hard bodied prey. What I did with my chmaleon that wont eat crickets...when I feed him something else I shove a cricket in his mouth while he is chewing on the other feeder. He never once spit it out!

 

[sandrachameleon]

I have a male panther morph cross, 8 months old and who is the PICKIEST eater EVER...He will not eat crickets anymore. if I stop giving him anything else and just crickets, he goes on a hunger strike....He absolutely LOVES any soft bodied worm I give him so I ordered some hornworms that will get here today. He's been eating a few supers, but I really think he just doesn't like crunchy bugs...so my question is, is there any other alternative?? I feel like I'm waisting money every time I buy crickets... Any ideas???!

firstly, how long do you wait before you give in? A healthy adult can easily go a week without food. He is highly unlikely to choose to starve to death - he will eat crickets if you dont give in and give him something else. Its a good idea to get him back to accepting crickets, and then vary the diet so that he never knows what the next meal will be. This keeps their interest and reduces the chance of a true hunger strike.

but wether or not you decide to get him back to crickets there are lots of options
try a combination of silkworms, butterworms, roaches, a few superworms (these are just as crunchy as crickets but fattier), the occassional mealworm, soldier fly maggots, cultured blue bottle flies, terrestrial isopods, indian walking sticks, termites, moths, etc. Try not to let any one prey choice make up more than 20% of the animals diet

 

[Ashleigh]

I'm new to all of this but I ordered some phoenix worms and silkworms for my little guy with MBD because of the high levels of calcium. Another member also recommended butterworms.

He does like the pheonix worms, but I haven't tried butterworms yet, but I'm sure he'll eat those too lol

 

[Ashleigh]

Silk worms and horns are good hydrators. And a great treat and phoneix worms are.good, but i wouldn't.rely on to many soft bodies, try and keep him eatinf crickets.. have u tried dubia roaches?.there a good feeder,
The soft body worms. Wax, supers, mealies can be very fatty and shoukdnt realky be a staple

My husband would NEVER let me have roaches in the house...the crickets are as far as he goes! lol

 

[Ashleigh]

Silk worms are quite nutritious. Have you tried locusts with the back legs removed? My Cham won't eat black crickets but she will eat the brown ones!

I was buying black crickets 100 at a time from mulberry farms, but maybe that's the issue...it was hard to find only 100 count online

 

[Ashleigh]

firstly, how long do you wait before you give in? A healthy adult can easily go a week without food. He is highly unlikely to choose to starve to death - he will eat crickets if you dont give in and give him something else. Its a good idea to get him back to accepting crickets, and then vary the diet so that he never knows what the next meal will be. This keeps their interest and reduces the chance of a true hunger strike.

but wether or not you decide to get him back to crickets there are lots of options
try a combination of silkworms, butterworms, roaches, a few superworms (these are just as crunchy as crickets but fattier), the occassional mealworm, soldier fly maggots, cultured blue bottle flies, terrestrial isopods, indian walking sticks, termites, moths, etc. Try not to let any one prey choice make up more than 20% of the animals diet

Well, he's just growing so fast that I'm worried he won't eat enough. I would love it if he would just eat the crickets!! lol roaches are out of the question due to my husband killing me if I brought them in the house( and I don't think I could stomach them either...bleh) but I'm definitely trying as many different things as possible to get him to eat and vary his diet, it's just the crickets he won't eat

 

[camaleonte82]

Well, he's just growing so fast that I'm worried he won't eat enough. I would love it if he would just eat the crickets!! lol roaches are out of the question due to my husband killing me if I brought them in the house( and I don't think I could stomach them either...bleh) but I'm definitely trying as many different things as possible to get him to eat and vary his diet, it's just the crickets he won't eat

reptilefood.com has the option of 250 for the smallest amount of crickets you can buy at a time but i will tell you. my chams love them to death. they hate the crickets from the pet store. wont touch them but everything i have bought from reptilefood.com they consume faster than i can blink

 

[ibdragons]

I had that problem ,and like Sandra said don't give in ,dont put anything in the cage and then after three or four days throw in a few Crix and he will eat them . Don't give in. It's better you use crickets as the staple food cuz u can gutload more. Not that u can't gutload the others. Key word is don't give in.u can still feed worms but it should be 20% of its diet.