looking for more chameleon Food. any kind

[derekmorway]

i have 2 chams a panther and a vieled.. different cages of course.. i mainly feed crickets and for the adult vieled some superworms. the baby panther isnt big enough to eat them yet. but i am interested in making their diets more of a variety and pls let me know some good ideas andor you can supply any. i know most commons for them but i want a good supply of something. i would especially love grasshoppers for them.. well just let me know what you guys can come up with thanks..

 

[pssh]

Use the search button. I'm not in the mood to make a list, but silkworms, hornworms, roaches, praying mantis, and stickbugs are good everyday feeders. In the US, you have to catch grasshoppers or breed them.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

silkworms are a good, and I hate to use the term because I feed on average 6-10 different kinds of feeders during any given week, staple. They are easy to raise and breed. Plus you can put the excess eggs in the fridge and hatch them out whenever you want. If you don't refrigerate them and only have 2 chams you will end up will probably 1000000 to many. you can also just buy them and hornworms from mulberry farms. Just order 100 small and like 100 medium silkies. That way they wont pupate before you feed them all. Hornworms are also amazing and the easiest things in the world to take care of, plus I bet your veiled would love a 4+inch 12 gram hornworm treat. You could also get like 2 breeding pairs of dubia roaches and just feed off the babies they produce. they produce plenty, they just take a few months to grow. Most people on here say the adult females are too big for a panther but all my panthers eat the adult, both male and female chams. Even my 4 1/2 month old male will eat adult dubia, only the males of course and only within 24-48 hours after molting so they are soft and fit in his mouth. Avoid superworms as an every day thing because of the high chitin from their shells though. It can cause impaction. I use them usually 1-2 times a week and only a few each of those times. Just search feeders in the search engine and you will find plenty of threads on breeding/ cheapest places to buy/ nutritional value of lots of them. A member on here called sandrachameleon also has a ton of great blogs on the nutritional values of the veggies that people use to gutload their feeders so you can ensure your cham a balanced diet Good Luck!



Justin

 

[derekmorway]

thanks both of you for your info and im still open to more opionions.. i know my vieled loves the superworms but like you said it should be a couple times a week so i will lower it down. but ill have to wait for grasshopers til it warms up.. cant wiat til i move back to florida nextyear tho ha!

 

[Lizardlover]

thanks both of you for your info and im still open to more opionions.. i know my vieled loves the superworms but like you said it should be a couple times a week so i will lower it down. but ill have to wait for grasshopers til it warms up.. cant wiat til i move back to florida nextyear tho ha!

Aint it the best! I can catch grasshoppers right in the dead of winter.

Uhm yeah grasshoppers, katydid, quite a few roach species (even varying roach species adds variety to the diet,) like banana roaches, dubia, dwarf caves, and such species, phasmids, superworms, silkworms, crickets,anything to add variety.

 

[derekmorway]

you can catch grasshoppres?? how many could u get?? and what are you willing to charge for them i would love to get them!!!! aha

 

[Lizardlover]

Unfortunately its illegal to ship grasshoppers across state lines, I was just making a point of how great FL was . I only catch enough for my chams though anyways.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

I wish it was warm in michigan year round. Breeding grasshoppers is such a hassle because they take so long to hatch. catching them is so much easier and you can get like 100 different kinds. I just have my chams vet checked once a month in the summer when I'm feeding wild caught food just to make sure they don't pick anything up from the bugs. The haven't yet, although one of them got parasites from crickets bought at a pet store. lol. How Ironic.

 

[Metric]

With all this talk of wild feeders its important to stress the fact that some of these wild caught bugs could have come into contact with toxins, parasites or pesticides so it's always recomended that you breed any insects you find and feed the offspring rather then feeding the caught bugs right away. Unless you know for a fact that the bugs you're catching are safe it's always good to take precautions.

 

[OldSkoolxReasons]

Haha sorry i forgot to mention not to collect them anywhere in the city at all and try not to collect them by farms as well because farmers use [pesticides alot. I collect mine in a grassy valley here in a state park that is unkept by people so its all natural. So my main concern for them is the parasites, but like metric said do not collect them anywhere near anything man made or that has any lawn work done. Good luck.

 

[Lizardlover]

Same here, I got to wetland preserves and forest preserves to collect wild feeders.

 

[sandrachameleon]

i have 2 chams a panther and a vieled.. different cages of course.. i mainly feed crickets and for the adult vieled some superworms. the baby panther isnt big enough to eat them yet. but i am interested in making their diets more of a variety and pls let me know some good ideas andor you can supply any. i know most commons for them but i want a good supply of something. i would especially love grasshoppers for them.. well just let me know what you guys can come up with thanks..

Good idea, offering more variety.

This blog entry has a good list of feeder options, and info about each:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

Also, where to buy many of these feeders online: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/171-where-buy-feeders-online.html

 

[dakotakleiner]

what petstore?

i live in st. clair shores but i buy crickets from warren often do you know what petstore your cham caught a parasite from?

I wish it was warm in michigan year round. Breeding grasshoppers is such a hassle because they take so long to hatch. catching them is so much easier and you can get like 100 different kinds. I just have my chams vet checked once a month in the summer when I'm feeding wild caught food just to make sure they don't pick anything up from the bugs. The haven't yet, although one of them got parasites from crickets bought at a pet store. lol. How Ironic.