new owner food question

[alpha1wlf]

Hi! I was just at a reptile show and fell in love with chameleons. Now I'm trying to do all my research before committing to one.
We're planning on getting a Panther chameleon. We do not have any intentions of breeding/keeping any bugs of our own (we live in an apt in Chicago!).
How often will we have to purchase bugs/critters/etc? I see they need to be fed about 10 crickets only every other day as adults. Is there a way to just... hold on to critters for a few days so they don't die and we don't have to run to the store every other day for food?
Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, just want to make sure I've got all the info, and I don't mess up!
We have an iguana now, so we do have experience with reptiles, just not chameleons specifically.

Thanks for any and all help!!

 

[Sanababit]

Hello and welcome to the forum, i buy about 60 crickets and 50 mealworms, it lasts me 1 week for two chameleons, i started breeding my own crickets so i am waiting on them to get bigger, btw, for the 60 crickets and 50 mealworms costs around 7.50 dlls a week, i have been doing this for 2 months now, and have been having a blast, i fell in love with chams on a reptile show too

Sana

 

[alpha1wlf]

Ok.. so.. where do you "keep" the crickets?? And how do you only get a certain amount out at a time??! It sounds dumb but these are the kinds of logistics I think about!!! All I can picture is all these crickets escaping into my apartment and driving me crazy!!! lol

 

[jamjam]

your better off with supers over meal worms. Needless to say your going to need to keep bugs at home unfprtunately if you are going to want to have a chameleon even if your not breeding them. as a younger cham was buying 500 crickets at a time lasting me up to 6 weeks. didnt mind the die off because get a cheaper price as you buy more and was worth it. i still rather not keep running to the store so now plan is to buy 100 and hope last bout a month. otherwise you will have to buy some have it last a lil while and go back to the store more frequently and cost more over time.

most feeders keep very well with little to no effort and should not be a worry.

you probably do not want to pick up right from a store and feed right away anyways would def want to house them atleast 24hrs before hand and gutload them properly.

feeders that are easy to care for and last a while are supers, meal, phoenix worms, butters, and dubia roaches

 

[jamjam]

Ok.. so.. where do you "keep" the crickets?? And how do you only get a certain amount out at a time??! It sounds dumb but these are the kinds of logistics I think about!!! All I can picture is all these crickets escaping into my apartment and driving me crazy!!! lol

plastic bins and tupeprware become your best friends. the stores sell them buy dozens or milestone amounts 50, 250, 500, 100 etc. with crickets keep them in a taller tote they wont get out shake the pieces of egg carton i use a cup crickets fall in i swirl them around with my calcium and dump in the cage. trust me it is next to impossible not to have escapees. with just one cham you shouldnt have too many. just sounds to me you have a fear of bugs which hopefully will curb once you get a cham. you'll learn to love the bugs

 

[alpha1wlf]

Ok, it doesn't sound too horrible! LOL I'm not necessarily afraid of them.. just didn't really want them roamin around..
But it sounds manageable I think. What's the best way to gut load the crickets?
Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it!! I wanna make sure I know what I'm getting myself into first!

 

[Sanababit]

Ok.. so.. where do you "keep" the crickets?? And how do you only get a certain amount out at a time??! It sounds dumb but these are the kinds of logistics I think about!!! All I can picture is all these crickets escaping into my apartment and driving me crazy!!! lol

Hi, i keep the crickets in a cricket bin or storage bin, they sell them where you buy the crickets, just put your crickets in, some food, some water crystals, places to hide, thats it, when you are ready to feed just grab as many as you need and feed

Sana

 

[laurie]

There are cricket keepers sold at the pet stores or on ebay. They will hold a fair number or crickets. They are made with tubes on each end. The crickets go up the tubes, you shake out the amount you want, put the tube back end and you are finished. Just make sure you get a keeper that will hold the amount of crickets you are buying.

 

[alpha1wlf]

Awesome!! Just went on Amazon to look at the cricket keeper - that's perfect! Thank you so much for all your help everybody!! I'm feeling much better now. Whew!

 

[jamjam]

gut loading just use any safe fruits and veggies, any scraps cores and stuff you have can give them to the bugs. i go shopping deliberately for my bugs though. check out sandra chameleon's blogs on the forums for gutloading shes a guru

 

[xraygirl]

I use a bin that looks like a cricket keeper and just toss toilet paper tubes in whenever I get more crickets. I get about 25 a week, because some die off. They are running about 13-14 cent per cricket from Pets Smart. There are places online you can buy but unfortunately only in bigger amounts (100+). I breed dubias, they are super easy and low maintenance. I keep them in my closet and check them about 3-4 times a week. And they are way better than crickets!
I also get silkworms, I'll get them when they are super, super tiny. I used Pigglett's blog on raising silkworms and it's perfect! I'll order "50" from coastal silkworms (but they'll actually send you about 100) and I can feed every one of them off to my one chameleon.
Hornworms are great too. You can get them in cups (silkworms come in these cups too but not the greatest for their health cause of their weak immune systems) with their food in it (just have to be careful of any mold forming).

I only have one reptile, so I have to be careful with feeders because I don't want any to die off or get too big (hornworms) before I can feed them off. You should look into the dubia thing. Roaches used to FREAK me out, but these don't.