Is it ok to feed only crickets to your chameleon???

Kyle11

Kyle11

New Member
I have a 9 month old panther who is very healthy, active and nourished. He has had problems with worms in the past where he it spoils his appetite to where he wont take crickets. I gut load my crickets properly and he takes every offering. Is it bad to not offer a variety of food to your cham even if he is receiving the right nutrition? I see other owners offer huge variety to there chams and would like to know the pros and cons to me only feeding him crickets.
 
Pros and cons

About the only pro is its simple for you. That's about it.

Cons: Im going to let more experienced people add to this. However I would compare it to a human only eating potatoes. It can be done, but you'll suffer in some nutrients and get too much of others. I think that variety is important.

My chameleon hates worms too though. Have you tried cockroaches? Naveen loves them and their high is protein.

Naveen's diet is probably 75% crickets with mealworms and roaches thrown in.
That's just my two cents. Someone more experienced give more info or correct mine if its wrong haha.

Cheers!
Lancelot!

PS I try to gut load my crickets with variety of fruits and veggies to mix it up some.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say yes, with proper gut loading it's fine.

However most people will disagree with that. Including kinda myself. If youre able to use a variety. But I'd say if he gets picky when eating worms and won't touch crickets after and constant worms are out of your price range, stick with crickets.
 
A chameleon can live on a diet of properly fed/gutloaded crickets....but variety is always a good thing.
 
Last edited:
I have a diet that Screameleons gave me. I usually switch it up every week. I always use carrot and sweet potatoes every time. Then every week I switch between collard greens and type of leaf lettuce with either some sort of melon or squash. Then I mix up wheat brand with either brewers yeast, spirilulina, kelp and bee pollen. Some times I add things that I've learned from Sandrameleon's gut loading blogs, so the variety, nutrients and different tastes are there. I just wonder if it affects him eating just crickets?
 
I found my 2 got bored quite quickly of just one feeder. I try to mix it up, I currently have crickets, hoppers and silkworms going at the moment.
 
Really hard to find grasshoppers for sale online most everyone uses wild caught in pesticide free areas. You can get Silkworms form Costalsilkworms.com or I see you are in Dallas I have a bunch if you want to make the drive to Mansfield to get them.
 
Can he survive on just gutloaded crickets? Yes.
Is that a good idea? NO

If you offer a variety of prey, including a few larva/worms (note that I say a few, not so many as to "spoil his appetite") I believe you will have a healthier, happier chameleon.

If you want to avoid larva, there are still plenty of choices - blue bottle flies, termites, moths, many types of roaches, grasshoppers, terrestrial isopods....
 
sandrachameleon said:
Can he survive on just gutloaded crickets? Yes.
Is that a good idea? NO

If you offer a variety of prey, including a few larva/worms (note that I say a few, not so many as to "spoil his appetite") I believe you will have a healthier, happier chameleon.

If you want to avoid larva, there are still plenty of choices - blue bottle flies, termites, moths, many types of roaches, grasshoppers, terrestrial isopods....
Click to expand...

Sandra where can I find your gutload recipe? regards
 
 
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