Need some feeder suggestions

[Tortdad]

my little guy is only 5 months so finding small enough bugs to give him a wide varied diet is hard. I tried blue bottle flies, which he loved, but only 4 of the 50 turned into flies. My ability to keep crickets alive is surprisingly aweful so I feed him dubia as his staple food. I also recently started putting 2 small super worms per day in his cup.

Are super worms ok as a daily thing?

What other suggestions do you guys have for variety for a small cham? When he's a big boy I can had horn worms and such. I live in TX where it's hot so anything I order has to be shipped priority overnight which costs like $25 so I need to order enough stuff to make it worthwhile.

 

[Chameleomom]

Have you tried dubia? they can be use as a staple feeder

 

[Chameleomom]

Dang not awake yet and see where you feed dubia Silkworms are great for them

 

[Tortdad]

I'm having problems finding a place that has silk worms and the other stuff I need. I don't want to pay shipping for dubia then turn around and pay overnight for silks.

 

[Panthro413]

I'm having problems finding a place that has silk worms and the other stuff I need. I don't want to pay shipping for dubia then turn around and pay overnight for silks.

I get my silk worms from the link below. Specify on checkout that you want the smallest they have. Only takes 2 days. Fast shipping. I have a 3 month old Cham and they are perfect size! I just got a fresh order yestetday. The silk worms were born on the 5th of this month. Really small ones. Give it a shot. Dont forget to specify youd like their smallest.

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/253075196051

 

[Monta]

my little guy is only 5 months so finding small enough bugs to give him a wide varied diet is hard. I tried blue bottle flies, which he loved, but only 4 of the 50 turned into flies. My ability to keep crickets alive is surprisingly aweful so I feed him dubia as his staple food. I also recently started putting 2 small super worms per day in his cup.

Are super worms ok as a daily thing?

What other suggestions do you guys have for variety for a small cham? When he's a big boy I can had horn worms and such. I live in TX where it's hot so anything I order has to be shipped priority overnight which costs like $25 so I need to order enough stuff to make it worthwhile.

Hi, try wax worms their soft . My Panther doesn't like super worms anymore and they have a hard outside exterior too. I heard not to uses them as they're staple diet though.

 

[jamest0o0]

You can get away with pretty large worms, they don't have to be tiny

Dubia suck IME, go with orange heads if you can. If he'll eat Dubia forever, by all means feed them. But it seems as they get older and more picky, feeding Dubia becomes a huge problem.

Crickets change to banded and you won't have issues

Daily superworms will quickly lead to hunger strikes for anything else, plus they are fatty, and worms in general don't gutload well. Yes they eat, but they don't hold much in their gut.

Butterworms are nice treats
BSFL are small and have a good calcium/phosphorus ratio(personal favorite for small chams)
Silkworms as mentioned
Giant canyon isopods

 

[jamest0o0]

Hi, try wax worms their soft . My Panther doesn't like super worms anymore and they have a hard outside exterior too. I heard not to uses them as they're staple diet though.

I wouldn't feed more than a couple waxworms a month. But they are nice as a rare treat, especially for an upset or sick cham.

 

[Chameleomom]

I get my silk worms from the link below. Specify on checkout that you want the smallest they have. Only takes 2 days. Fast shipping. I have a 3 month old Cham and they are perfect size! I just got a fresh order yestetday. The silk worms were born on the 5th of this month. Really small ones. Give it a shot. Dont forget to specify youd like their smallest.

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/253075196051

I will try them. I have had some problems getting silks

 

[Tortdad]

You can get away with pretty large worms, they don't have to be tiny

Dubia suck IME, go with orange heads if you can. If he'll eat Dubia forever, by all means feed them. But it seems as they get older and more picky, feeding Dubia becomes a huge problem.

Crickets change to banded and you won't have issues

Daily superworms will quickly lead to hunger strikes for anything else, plus they are fatty, and worms in general don't gutload well. Yes they eat, but they don't hold much in their gut.

Butterworms are nice treats
BSFL are small and have a good calcium/phosphorus ratio(personal favorite for small chams)
Silkworms as mentioned
Giant canyon isopods

So treat super worms as a treat?

I was already thinking of adding some orange head to the mix. Since I don't have temps set for breeding my own colony... can I keep my orange head and dubia in the same bin?

My guy didn't care at all for BSFL so I had them set up to turn into flies but not 1 lived.


Ive been using banded crickets and they die off super quick. I'll get 250 and maybe get to feed off 50.

I was already thinking of starting a ISO pod colony

 

[Tortdad]

I'm torn.... I only have the one cham and want to start my own colony of bugs to save some coin but I cAnt be starting a million different things so i want to pick 2 that are going to be his staple and set myself up. I don't want 10 colonies and find myself overrun with bugs.

I wish I could find another person near me to trade with. I have a couple species growing them them a few more... then just trade with each other.

 

[jamest0o0]

Oh really, where did you get your banded from if you don't mins me asking? And how are you keeping? I have ones that have been alive over a month now.

And for superworms I do them once a week with vitamins or d3 supp

Orangeheads are more aggressive than Dubia and will probably bully/eventually kill them in the same bin.

Young chams seem pretty skeptical of new feeders, mine were, but ended up loving the BSFL. I'd think he would eventually take them and like them, but I understand not wanting them to go to waste.

 

[Tortdad]

Oh really, where did you get your banded from if you don't mins me asking? And how are you keeping? I have ones that have been alive over a month now.

And for superworms I do them once a week with vitamins or d3 supp

Orangeheads are more aggressive than Dubia and will probably bully/eventually kill them in the same bin.

Young chams seem pretty skeptical of new feeders, mine were, but ended up loving the BSFL. I'd think he would eventually take them and like them, but I understand not wanting them to go to waste.

First couple of times I couple them from PerSmart because I needed them right away. Then I got some from Josh's frog. After that I tried some from a local breeder, the lady I get my Dubia and supers from.

I keep them in a plastic bin with screen on top, was feeding greens and used potatoes and oranges for hydration.

I just skip crickets all together now. As of now my guy eats the crap out of dubia

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah if you can then just skip the crickets, I'd like to use them as occasional variety myself rather than a staple. I think orange heads might be your best bet for an adult Cham staple. But keep feeding the dubias too if he takes them!

 

[Scottsquatch]

I'd go with roachs and crickets. Crickets really arent hard. I think you just had a run of bad luck. Waaaay back when I was a kid, I kept anolis lizards and I GED them mostly crickets. I had some luck breeding crickets back then and I was just a punk kid like 11 or 12 years old. I know you can do it.
Silks are good, and I plan to breed my own. I even purchased mulberry bushes just for this purpose. However, it seems like these are a little more work than crickets after talking to others here that have bred them, that's why I'd go with the crickets if you dont wanna do more than two colonies. Good luck!

 

[moonlightecho]

@Tortdad If you're still interested In silkworms, I have a ton and am trying to thin out my colony. I can ship some to you if you're in the US.

For bsfl, can someone tell me how often you are supposed to feed them to the lizards? I was told that they can be fed as a staple, but then people who sold them to me said they're not meant to be fed as a staple. Or does it depend on the lizard?

 

[JacksJill]

If your crickets are dying off try giving them more space in a larger container and more ventilation.
I buy silk eggs and hatch them out in small batches. Feed them off at the size you need.

 

[Scottsquatch]

That's what I plan on doing as well. I'll just hatch smaller batches and grow them out to what I need. Also, is it a good idea to introduce new blood into the silkies every now and then to keep the genetics strong?

 

[Jakama]

I get my silk worms from the link below. Specify on checkout that you want the smallest they have. Only takes 2 days. Fast shipping. I have a 3 month old Cham and they are perfect size! I just got a fresh order yestetday. The silk worms were born on the 5th of this month. Really small ones. Give it a shot. Dont forget to specify youd like their smallest.

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/253075196051

Looks like a great resource. How long do you think these things live?

 

[Andee]

That's what I plan on doing as well. I'll just hatch smaller batches and grow them out to what I need. Also, is it a good idea to introduce new blood into the silkies every now and then to keep the genetics strong?

True but not true. You do want to introduce strong genetics on occasion but you have to breed the worms to have strong genetics. And introducing new blood from a reputable source is extremely important. Silkworms have a terrible immune system and you will find that with new batches and old batches. The best thing is breeding your silkworms strong and true. However in the process you have to be prepared to lose hundreds of dollars in worms for good breeding stock. I have been working on my strong genes for 1+ years now.


And @Tortdad why do you think the BSFL and Blue bottle flies died? Did they look dead or something?