How much to feed?

[mikenjes]

I'm having a hard time figuring out just how much my new Panther Chameleon needs to eat (first cham to us). We've had him for about 3 weeks now. He was pretty much simply fed crickets with the breeder. I've fed him a variety of crickets, Dubia roaches, about 4 mealworms and just now 1 super worm- which he gobbled up in the space of 2 seconds. This variety has been spread out through the 3 weeks with the main food being crickets. I've started putting a feeder cup in his enclosure to be able to better track what he eats since he's new and I don't know his patterns/likes/dislikes yet but I'm not sure if I'm feeding him too much, too little or just enough.
He is about 5 months old. What would be the general feeding guidelines for a cham his age? Similarly, how do I gauge if a worm is too large? Some of the superworms are enormous!
Thank you!

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

first of all, ditch the mealworms. they have no nutritional value and have a hard exoskeleton that can cause impaction. chams should old be fed prey items that are as long as the space between their eyes.

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

also hornworms are great for hydration, gutloaded silkworms, crickets, Dubai, etc are also great

 

[PJK]

Variety is key like the last poster indicated, but at 5 months old, he is in his rapid growth phase, it is literally impossible to overfeed him. Feed him as much as he will eat. And I support ditching the mealworms. They are useless and can only cause problems later.

 

[mikenjes]

Mealworms were only out of desperation once because we had nothing else on hand and my husband raises them to feed the geckos he breeds.
Little Dude loves the Dubai roaches and crickets. I've been looking at Hornworms and Silkworms today but I'm a bit confused about keeping them. I DON'T want to get into raising them- how do I gut load them? Do I have to buy the food that the suppliers sell or is the food for if you are raising colonies?

 

[Peachypink]

Mealworms were only out of desperation once because we had nothing else on hand and my husband raises them to feed the geckos he breeds.
Little Dude loves the Dubai roaches and crickets. I've been looking at Hornworms and Silkworms today but I'm a bit confused about keeping them. I DON'T want to get into raising them- how do I gut load them? Do I have to buy the food that the suppliers sell or is the food for if you are raising colonies?

Hornworms and silks need the food the supplier provides. Silks only eat mulberry leaves or the chow made from mulberry leaves from the supplier.

As far as size geoes. For dubia and crickets they should be no wider than the space between their eyes. Worms are a bit different. They can handle a little length and what I measure by is how thick they are. I don't feed them if they are thicker than about half of the space between the eyes. I have given a few hornworms that are slightly bigger than that and mine handles them just fine.

Also, dubia are a great staple feeder.