No more feeders...

[birthnugget]

Ok so in south western Virginia right now, there is like 3ft of snow outside. I bought 30 crickets two days ago, and half of them died because I forgot to give them a wet paper towel. I am now out of crickets and panicking because I have a 3mo panther who has no food as of about 15 minutes ago. I have no other food sources for him yet, as I have only had him for a week and his hornworms are in transit. Is there anything I can do, or am I going to have to neglect feeding him for a couple of days. I probably will not be able to get out of the driveway until Tuesday. Thank you for any input or advice!

Here's some pictures of him just for the sake of it. His name is Louie, and he is a Nosy Be Panther from Kammerflage Kreations/Chameleonsonly.com

 

[jannb]

Maybe there's someone close to you with feeders. If he were an adult skipping 3 days would not be a problem but I wouldn't do it with a 3 month old.

He is a real little cutie!

 

[birthnugget]

Maybe there's someone close to you with feeders. If he were an adult skipping 3 days would not be a problem but I wouldn't do it with a 3 month old.

He is a real little cutie!

There is a family up the street from me that actually owns ~30 pets in total. I know for a fact they don't have chameleons, because they asked to see mine to see whether or not they should get one! However, they do have multiple other lizards and tree frogs, so that's a great idea! Thank you so much! Also, your free ranges are absolutely amazing, and all of your chams are especially cute- Cooper is my favorite

 

[urawrath]

With that many pets they may breed supers or dubias or many other things! Get your snow shoes on looks like your going for a trek!

 

[distortionz]

Hopefully the neighbor idea works out.. 3 days without feeding isn't going to kill him or anything.. But I wouldn't recommend it he's still very young and in his growing phase.. He needs as much food as he will take.. But worst case scenario it's not going to kill him.. But he will be very hungry

 

[birthnugget]

In the event that the neighbor has none to spare, should I feed him more than normal when I can get him food, or should I just go back to the normal 5 a day?

 

[distortionz]

At that age to be honest Id be feeding way more than 5 a day anyways.. The first 8 months or so in a Cham's life are essential to their growth.. I feed them until they won't eat any more.. My adults I usually feed about 5-10 bugs every other day..

 

[MelissaB]

I hope your neighbor has some crickets they can share with you.

If you can, I would start a dubia roach colony. There have been a number of times that it really came in handy for me, when the place I buy crickets from was out of the size I needed. Some chameleons don't like them, one of my panthers love them, and the other rarely eats them. The best part. is that you end up with all different sized roaches, once your colony has established. That way I can feed them to my pygmies, baby geckos, adult geckos, etc.

 

[Leo Chance]

Good luck. I ordered flightless fruit flies from a place called Snailtail the 6th of this month because we knew we had panther eggs hatching soon. They finally answered an email a couple of days ago. I have eggs hatching right now, but unless i can find a local pet store that has them in stock I won't be able to feed them until sometime next week. I guess what I am trying to say is that I understand your problem. Also to warn others about Snaltail.

 

[distortionz]

Leo use joshsfrogs.com for fruit flies.. They are the best in my experience.. You can buy some producing cultures and get them shipped out Monday.. Sorry about your troubles hope the babies are alright

 

[Leo Chance]

Leo use joshsfrogs.com for fruit flies.. They are the best in my experience.. You can buy some producing cultures and get them shipped out Monday.. Sorry about your troubles hope the babies are alright

You are right, thanks. I think the Snailtail is the best advertising that Josh's could have gotten. We found some at the pet store this morning, but I really like to make sure these little critters have an abundance of food for the first few weeks.

 

[birthnugget]

Good news and bad news- Bad news is that the neighbor was as dry on crickets as I am! Good news is that I will probably be able to get out tomorrow. Unless it begins blizzarding again, I should have plenty of food for him. I'm going to by ~200 instead of the normal 30. As far as how much I feed him, I was recommended 5 items per day by a caresheet Kammerflage sent me. I guess theirs might be a little outdated, because their chams are beautiful. I'll slowly fade him into more and more until he doesn't want anymore. As far as starting a colony goes, I want to, but my mother and sister would drink bleach if I brought even 1 roach into the house. In the summer, I am going to buy Mantis ooths, and probably catch a wide variety of grasshoppers and crickets/other insects-just not fireflies Thank you for everyone's advice!

 

[carol5208]

I am shocked that their caresheet says to feed only 5 a day. Are you sure that is not for an adult? I got my first chameleon from them almost 6 yrs ago and I was feeding mine like 20 crickets a day from what they told me to do. I had a caresheet from them, but I remember Liddy Kammer telling me I could feed that many with no problem. I have always fed my babies about 20 feeders a day or as much as they want to eat, which could be much less on some days. BTW he is a little beauty, but aren't they all?

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I agree with some of the others who have mentioned that you need colonies of feeders! Plan for the future!

 

[birthnugget]

I am shocked that their caresheet says to feed only 5 a day. Are you sure that is not for an adult? I got my first chameleon from them almost 6 yrs ago and I was feeding mine like 20 crickets a day from what they told me to do. I had a caresheet from them, but I remember Liddy Kammer telling me I could feed that many with no problem. I have always fed my babies about 20 feeders a day or as much as they want to eat, which could be much less on some days. BTW he is a little beauty, but aren't they all?

I just checked the Kammerflage one deep in my inbox, and it appears that you are right. They recommend 8-12 per day. I must be thinking of a different care sheet, it might have been one from another company I looked at before finally finding a genuine one- Kammerflage. Thank you also for the compliment. Here is the caresheet I was think about