Mealworms problem!
- Thread starter Robyrango
- Start date
Robyrango
New Member
Thanks Dave. They slightly bigger than 1 inch, I'm always worried that Fender will choke because his feeders are too big, but better be safe than sorry right? He has plenty of food available and I prefer him to have 4/5 extra feeders but smaller. Should I give him 2/3 every day?
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
mealworms have a high chinton to "meat" ratio, a high fat content, and a low nutrient count. They should be well gutloaded, calcium dusted, and should make up no more than 10% of a chameleons diet. i would not recommend daily use
males absolutely can over-eat.
if the worms are no wider than the space between the chameleons eyes, and not much longer than the length of the chams head, they are fine for size
males absolutely can over-eat.
if the worms are no wider than the space between the chameleons eyes, and not much longer than the length of the chams head, they are fine for size
Robyrango
New Member
Thanks Sandra.
I think I'll keep crickets as staple diet and give him few mealworms twice a week.
About gut loading, I recently realize that my feeders have a better diet than I do!lol
Robyrango
New Member
If you think mealworms are cute, then wait till you see a silk moth!I was totally unprepared for how darn cute they are! When my first one hatched I couldn't bear to feed it to anyone so I kept 'Moffy' in a tub and he lived for 9 days!
LOL!! That's a relief.. I'm not the only "freak" out there!
Caterpillars are my favourite!!
whereswaldo
New Member
just crix and meals arent a wide enough variety if i was you id go ahead and look online for varietys theres so much beter stuffs for them to eat. hey phoenix worms arent cute at all lol and awsome for them and my guy goes friggen nutz for them. were going to get out first silks this week. miss lilly how big was those moths? howabout hornworm moths they got a deal on mulberryfarms... i got a day to think b4 i place my order.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
feeding our bugs better than ourselves seems to be a common "problem" on this forum! LOL
Here is a link to a list of feeders (with info about each) which you might find useful. I suggest you add a few more choices to the menu
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
fluxlizard
Avid Member
Can you clarify this?
I've been looking for a complete nutritional analysis of nearly all feeder insects (vitamins, minerals, amino acids) and cannot find anything close for any of them.
Old mealworm adverts used to claim they were high in 17 different amino acids or something like that, but I've never been able to find anything to back up those claims...
Are you talking about that, or only about fat/protein/calcium/phosphorous?
(Which is all I've been able to find).
Or are you referring to shell to meat ratio?
Also does anyone know of comparitive complete nutritional analysis of insects purchased right from the insect farms vs gutloaded different ways?
Seems like this kind of research would be a really great help for the lizard community. So would complete nutritional analysis of the commonly consumed wild insects by chameleons (flies, locusts, bees, wasps)...
Robyrango
New Member
You see I live in Ireland and is not easy at all to get either chameleons or feeders, that's the best he can get and he's doing just great, so why mess things up?
fluxlizard
Avid Member
I didn't catch this comment-
This is technically not true.
Fergusson went multiple generations with panther chameleons in his laboratory on a diet consisting of alternate feedings of crickets and mealworms. Mealworms were selected because they gutload calcium better than crickets when he conducted his nutritional analysis of gutloaded crickets and mealworms.
That said, certainly as much variety as possible is the optimal situation for our chameleons, and most of us can do much better than 2 feeder species.
In Ireland- you might be able to find other herpers who can help you get feeder colonies going if you check around and in the summer there are also wild insects that can be collected. They don't have to be lizard keepers- there are Irish amphibian keepers who might help as well.
I've seen other Irish herpers when I browse this forum and they might be able to help you locate some insect sources:
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/
Robyrango
New Member
Sikchick341
New Member
Im trying to feed my cham his first mealworm but I don't know how to approach this. I put a few in a cup in the bottom of his tank but he hasn't touched them yet. He seems uninterested in anything that I hold. How do I introduce him to foods that don't crawl around like crickets do?
Robyrango
New Member
My Panther decided to start to eat on his own 2 months ago after being hand fed (I loved the hand feeding experience!) for the first 2 months after I got him! I knew he couldn't resist a mealworm, so I just handled to him holding the end of the worm between my fingers, they do move, Fender got it straight away! I left 2 more in his feeding cup, I'm still in work now so I don't know if he ate more!
Your cham was prob not hungry at the time! Keep trying it will eat it!!
fluxlizard
Avid Member
Thanks!
Miss Lily
Chameleon Enthusiast
The moths are quite small compared to the size of the worms at pupation! They are about a cm in width and length from what I remember! They look like little teddy bears with wings! The antennae look like false eyelashes, lol! There's some pics in my old thread: https://www.chameleonforums.com/meet-moffy-40260/ and this was a dead moth that looked like an angel with it's wings furled around it's body! https://www.chameleonforums.com/angel-moth-48575/
Robyrango
New Member
I know what do you mean now!! Moffy was just adorable!
JonRich
New Member
LOL!! That's a relief.. I'm not the only "freak" out there!
Caterpillars are my favourite!!
OMG!! I can't!! I can't stand Caterpillers. Only for my Chams!!
I'm getting my roach colony up in numbers to avoid silkies and horn! And moth? barfff!!
