Have you ever heard such a thing?

[ShaunaLynnA]

I was searching the net for Nosy Faly pics when I came across someones site who raises chams and food. They said there's eats crickets, worms, dubias and sometimes pinkies Have you ever heard of a cham eating pinkies? I thought it was crazy when I read it but that is what it said. I wish I would have saved the link now cause I can't find it anywhere. Please let me know as I am interested in the topic now not that I would ever try pinkies but thought I would get opinions!

 

[beardeds7587]

def possible but pinkies lack enough nutrition , unless u wanted them to get fattend up i have fed my beardies pinkies , so i def know chams can

 

[Jamelon]

There is a video on youtube of someone feeding their chameleon a pinky. I dont think i could ever do that though, ill just stick with insects.

 

[ShaunaLynnA]

Yeah I agree I will stick with the insects as well. I got rid of my snake cause I couldn't bear to live feed it rats and things.

 

[james L]

Lots of people feed large chams pinkies every so often. I dont like to because of how fatty they are, but its a good natural source for calcium, vit a, etc..

 

[Eszzie]

I feed my adult veiled pinkies once a month. They are a good source of different minerals and lots of calcium ofcourse which is good for his muscles and bones

I feed the new born ones but even the ones who are getting slightly bit of hair and darker skin can be fed. I even fed my adult chams some baby chameleons. chameleons can eat baby chameleons or small lizards in nature as well.

I've had some situations in which you have stronger and weaker babies, instead of letting the babies die or trying to keep them alive I fed them to the bigger animals. In this way you keep the stronger animals alive and filter the weak so you can keep breeding with the stronger animals. Same as happens in nature.

 

[Bob 1000]

What about this onehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NNj3ZmlDJU&feature=related?? I'd be worried my cham would get hurt by the mouse..

 

[Eszzie]

I don't feed them that big.. When they are still blind they can't bite or anything.. Just give some smaller ones to be sure.

 

[kinyonga]

Pinkie "bones" are not well calcified yet....but I suppose that the milk they get from the mother mouse has some calcium in it.

Here's a thread about pinkies....
https://www.chameleonforums.com/feeding-pinky-mice-41456/index3.html

 

[kongchi]

What a Beast, I could never imagine my Sebastian eating a pinky but check out this Parsonii

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-BokAusX5s

 

[pssh]

Aren't hoppers better nutritionally?

 

[Eszzie]

You think what a grass hopper eats and taking the size of a grasshopper into consideration is more nutricious than a baby mouse who get's more nutricious food from mommy (don't forget in the belly of the mommy.) A baby mouse needs more vitamines, calcium and minerales to develop than a grasshopper.

Also a grasshopper is an insect and a mouse is a mammal. Mammals have a skeleton made of calcium, which is more than most insects contain, right?

 

[Olimpia]

I'm just going to copy what I wrote in another thread like this a month or so ago:

In the wild, chameleons eat all sorts of non-insect food matter. From birds to lizards, I've seen photos of everything. However, in the wild it's a necesity thing - you may not see anything really good in days, and if a nice little lizard crawls infront of you, you're going to take the chance because you might not eat again in a couple days. But in captivity, it's not really doing much since you can spice up the diet with so many other, more insectivore-specific bugs. The animal protein in mice is tough for insectivore animals to digest, since their systems just aren't specialized for that. And an excess of it will lead to medical issues.

It's a little like dogs. Some [insane] people think they can keep their dogs on a vegetarian diet, which cuts about 7 years off the life of their dogs. Why? Because even though dogs are a tiny bit omnivorous and can happily tolerate some veggies and fruit, their digestive system and body is built for the digestion of red meat. So a carrot here and there is absolutely fine, but as soon as you make it a large chunk of the diet you're going to end up hurting the animal.

I think that perhaps if you really had to, a few a year wouldn't do much harm, but I just don't see any great points in favor of the practice. If you need extra fat, we have wax woms and butterworms. If you need more calcium we have supplements, phoenix and butterworms. We have everything they want in INSECTS, which is the most fitting diet for an insectivorous animal.

 

[Elizadolots]

Eszzie, I believe "hopper" is a term for a young mouse that's past the pinkie stage and just "hopping".

 

[summoner12]

Yes people do feed them pinkies... but it isn't something you should do very often. I have done it before and only a couple of chams took any interest and actually ate them.

If you think it is gross or wrong.... then you might not want to own a snake....

 

[Eszzie]

Eszzie, I believe "hopper" is a term for a young mouse that's past the pinkie stage and just "hopping".

Oh sorry i didn't know that term. I figured it was a grasshopper.

To respond on Olimpia:

I don't have any problems with feeding my chams other feeders than just insects and obviously my chams don't mind either, they love it, they don't hastitate a second when getting a baby mouse or baby chameleon. I know it's good for them and I try to give as much different feeders as possible. Unfortunatly in my country not as many different feeders are available as in US but even then I would still feed them.

Would you offer a snake a big worm if it contains the same amount of supplements instead of rats or mice? Snakes can also eat toads and frogs and i would certainly give those too if I would have a snake.

 

[Olimpia]

To respond on Olimpia:

I don't have any problems with feeding my chams other feeders than just insects and obviously my chams don't mind either, they love it, they don't hastitate a second when getting a baby mouse or baby chameleon. I know it's good for them and I try to give as much different feeders as possible. Unfortunatly in my country not as many different feeders are available as in US but even then I would still feed them.

Would you offer a snake a big worm if it contains the same amount of supplements instead of rats or mice? Snakes can also eat toads and frogs and i would certainly give those too if I would have a snake.

I don't mean to say that it's wrong or unethical, only that it's tough on their digestive system. It's similar to giving a horse chicken tenders because it has more nutrients than grass, but it's not going to be good for the horse's system because their system is not built for anything but grass and plants. Obviously, a horse wouldn't eat chicken, but do you get what I mean?

Chams are insectivores, so they digest insects better than they digest animal protein. And too much animal protein will end up causing problems like gout, which is why cat/dog food shouldn't be used as gutload. I know in the wild they eat lizards and small animals, but I think that in captivity they don't have to turn to animals for food, since we have a variety of insects to offer them for a nutritious and varied diet.

I could completely understand how you have to turn to other food options if you live somewhere where it's harder to get as many insects as we have here, but I'm just saying that I don't think it's a better alternative to insects. But that's just my opinion, of course. And I certainly could feed a snake a worm if the worm wasn't going to hurt it's digestive tract and offer if it offered some great benefit mice don't

 

[jr andrade]

Yup i fed mines a pinky once just to experiment needless to say he didn't prefer live animals :x

 

[Eszzie]

Then there is something else that comes to mind. If chams would only eat lizards as a way to survive in the wild, why would my well fed cham eat mice and baby chams without hastitation? He loves it and it's definiatly not a reason of survival. I also talked with a vet about certain things and peopl underestimate the PH value of the stomache acid of a chameleon. Chameleons can actually eat some very tough things if it comes to insects and small animals due to the PH value of the stomache acid, so i'm not worried about his digestive system at all! Also I only feed 1 mouse once a month, but too much of any kind of food isn't good, but variation and a balance diet is very important.

 

[Olimpia]

My dog would eat chocolate without hesitation too, but that's clearly not good for her!