male Nosy Be panther chameleon

[Turner1986]

so recently my male Nosy Be panther chameleon completely stopped eating crickets and will now only eat superworms. he won't even look at anything else unless it's a super worm. is this normal behavior?? because it's his favorite food or something?? should i maybe order some silk worms online??

 

[carol5208]

This is not uncommon for them to do once they taste superworms. I have always said they must taste like filet mignon and crickets taste like hamburger or something! Supers are fine, but just like any other prey item they should rotated and incorporated with other insects. Silkworms are a good choice, as well as hornworms. And btw supers can be gutloaded just like crickets. They will eat just about any fruit and vegetable.

 

[distortionz]

What Carol said.. I'd say the majority of chameleons once tasting supers don't want to eat anything else.. id still try other foods because a varied diet is pretty important.. but if all he will eat is the supers just make sure your gutloading well.

 

[urawrath]

What Carol said.. I'd say the majority of chameleons once tasting supers don't want to eat anything else.. id still try other foods because a varied diet is pretty important.. but if all he will eat is the supers just make sure your gutloading well.

i guess my cham is weird then, he usually turns his head from the supers and wants crickets

 

[Turner1986]

This is not uncommon for them to do once they taste superworms. I have always said they must taste like filet mignon and crickets taste like hamburger or something! Supers are fine, but just like any other prey item they should rotated and incorporated with other insects. Silkworms are a good choice, as well as hornworms. And btw supers can be gutloaded just like crickets. They will eat just about any fruit and vegetable.

Im gonna have to try some silkworms and hornworms for sure. I gutload my superworms with the same stuff i gutload my crickets with. Oranges, apples, carrots, and collard greens. The only thing different is the crickets get one thing extra, Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet. Other then that all the gutload is the same.

 

[ChameLIonLover]

It kind of sounds like your guy might be addicted to superworms. I believe that is fairly common. You may have to offer your guy only crickets until he takes em, if you're concerned with variety. Or yeah, add something like blue bottle flies, silkworms, or hornworms to the diet :]

 

[ridgebax1]

I never used supers for that very reason and they are not a good bug to use as a staple feeder. It is like feeding your kids McDonald's fries as an exclusive diet. You may just have to tough it out and resist feeding them to him. I would not give any food for a day then try with something like a horn, silk or phoenix worm. Offer them to him and if he does not eat within a certain amount of time, take them out and try again the next day. It may take a while but he should eventually start eating other things. Supers are very high in fat so should only be offered as a treat. If I were you and got him off of supers I would not ever offer them again.

 

[Turner1986]

I never used supers for that very reason and they are not a good bug to use as a staple feeder. It is like feeding your kids McDonald's fries as an exclusive diet. You may just have to tough it out and resist feeding them to him. I would not give any food for a day then try with something like a horn, silk or phoenix worm. Offer them to him and if he does not eat within a certain amount of time, take them out and try again the next day. It may take a while but he should eventually start eating other things. Supers are very high in fat so should only be offered as a treat. If I were you and got him off of supers I would not ever offer them again.

None of those are available to me, id have to buy them online. The only thing i can get in the pet store is crickets, superworms, and mealworms.

Guess i will just have to buy some hornworms and silkworms online, they are kinda expensive tho

 

[chamillion]

My adult panthers do the same thing. They grew up with locusts but now they only eat superworms.