Keeping my food alive

[KRuehle]

I will be getting a young cham soon, and I'm pretty read up on cricket care and what sizes are acceptable, etc.
I realize that they need a varied diet, so I would have to have some kind of worm on hand as well as crickets. What are the life span of worms, can I refrigerate them to keep them from cocooning, or do they not cocoon? Help me in the worm world/feeders other than crickets please!

 

[MSMorgan]

K.,

First, welcome to the site. Very exciting time for you. What type of cham are you considering? Do you have your enclosure and set up ready for him? As for feeders, variety is key for chams. I'm going to add a couple of links for you to check out:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

To answer your q on "worms" there are several varieties that a cham can eat. Look in the above care/food post to see what I mean. Some last a while, while others are shorter lived. Currently, I am raising supers ( I just cleaned/sorted the bin and have hundreds of the little boogers) and have a dubia colony going as well. I buy horn worms and crix once a month from a supplier in my state. I try to mix it up between the crix, dubias, horn and supers for good old Lucky the veiled. So far, so good. Let us know what you've decided on. Hope to hear from you soon.

 

[KRuehle]

K.,

First, welcome to the site. Very exciting time for you. What type of cham are you considering? Do you have your enclosure and set up ready for him? As for feeders, variety is key for chams. I'm going to add a couple of links for you to check out:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

To answer your q on "worms" there are several varieties that a cham can eat. Look in the above care/food post to see what I mean. Some last a while, while others are shorter lived. Currently, I am raising supers ( I just cleaned/sorted the bin and have hundreds of the little boogers) and have a dubia colony going as well. I buy horn worms and crix once a month from a supplier in my state. I try to mix it up between the crix, dubias, horn and supers for good old Lucky the veiled. So far, so good. Let us know what you've decided on. Hope to hear from you soon.

Most likely a veiled, and I won't be getting him for a few months, however the enclosure and everything is on its way. How hard is breeding feeders? I feel like you have to put a ton of work into something like that.

 

[MSMorgan]

Most likely a veiled, and I won't be getting him for a few months, however the enclosure and everything is on its way. How hard is breeding feeders? I feel like you have to put a ton of work into something like that.

If it took a lot of work/finesse to breed the dubias and supers, I wouldn't do it. Super easy to do and very little maintenance time involved. Check this link for veiled info. Aditionally, there are some great Veiled keepers here. Do a search and read away.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[MeruJack]

Silkworms are easy to raise from eggs. After the eggs hatch, I feed them a thinly grated layer of silkworm chow once a day until they get to the desired size. You can feed them more to get them to grow faster. They are very nutritious. I buy my eggs and chow media from Coastal Silkworms directly (or from Coastal via eBay).

 

[KRuehle]

Silkworms are easy to raise from eggs. After the eggs hatch, I feed them a thinly grated layer of silkworm chow once a day until they get to the desired size. You can feed them more to get them to grow faster. They are very nutritious. I buy my eggs and chow media from Coastal Silkworms directly (or from Coastal via eBay).

Do you have any good sources to provide for information on breeding silks? Everywhere I go, someone does something different.