Only eating super worms

[Holvure]

I've got a male panther about 9 months old and the only thing he wants to eat recently is superworms. He used to eat crickets, loved dubias, loved hornworms, but he refuses to eat any of those anymore! We live in Florida, so at first I thought that he was just stressed because of the hurricane. But weeks afterward when everything is back to normal, he still won't eat regularly. I've gone a couple days trying to make him eat something else (crickets, dubias) and I can tell he's hungry because he rushes to the door when I open it, but once he sees what I'm giving him he gets disappointed and walks away. Should I be concerned? My vet told me it's normal for them to get picky but my veiled never did this, and it's going on a lot longer than I thought. I know that superworms aren't the healthiest food option, so I'm just a little worried. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[jannb]

Gutload the superworms really well with some Cricket Crack, super load and don't worry to much about it. Just be happy that he's eating. I had a Nosy Be that would only eat supers for over two years. As long as they are gutloaded well he will be fine. I did continue to offer my boy a variety of feeders because variety is best and one day out of the blue he ate a Hornworm. Then later he started to eat silkworms too.

Where to buy Cricket Crack: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-buy-cricket-crack.146692/

 

[jamest0o0]

Superworms are addicting and high in fat. Worms also (from my understanding) don't hold much at all in their intestinal tract. Maybe I'm wrong as I'm no bug expert. What you are doing is giving into his hunger strikes, Panthers are much pickier than veileds. I've had this happen in the past, and personally I didn't want to only be feeding superworms. Variety is important and a Cham your age can holdout for awhile. I would just offer crickets or roaches everyday until he eats them and stop feeding the superworms. My cham has gone a week before accepting roaches, but is now back to happily eating orange heads and crickets. A healthy Cham won't starve itself. He's basically being a kid holding out on the chicken and veggies for the birthday cake.

 

[jannb]

My little man that would only eat supers was not a big well filled out boy anyway. I took him to the vets for a good check up, x-rays and blood work and he was healthy but just a picky eater. I has skipped 3 days without feeding him and the vet told me there was no need to do that because super worms were excellent feeders and not to worry about him only eating supers. They are a little high in fat but he was no where near being overweight.

Some chameleon just do not like roaches. They are like us and some like one thing while another may like something different.

 

[Tortdad]

Don't give in to the hunger strike. Once he knows you'll cave it's all over. Skip the supers all together and only offer roaches and crickets. He won't stave himself to death

 

[jamest0o0]

@jannb I don't think obesity is the problem, just the lack of variety and nutrients from different feeders. Just like people, we may love fast food and hate greens, but we should still eat our veggies and not eat greasy fast food everyday.

 

[jannb]

I'm not saying they don't need variety. As my vet explained to me a feeder is only what the feeder eats. So if you gutload a super worm very well it can be just as nutrious as a cricket, dubia or any other feeder and you don't want your chameleon to become weak and possiable have an illness set in just because he only wants one feed and you stopped feeding him. First I'd get a good check up to make sure he's not ill already and that's might be why he doesn't have a big appetite for all food. I know when I don't feel good my fravorit food it the last thing I stop eating. I have a really good chameleon vets too. My vet travels world wide and teaches other vets from many different countries how to give meds and preform surgery on Reptiles. He also writes the books that other vets use that try to work on Reptiles. So when he tells me something, then I believe it.

My highly respected chameleon vet: http://navc.com/newsletter/profiles-leadership-douglas-r-mader-ms-dvm-dabvp-cf-ra-deczm-herpetology/

 

[kelly_girl199]

I'm not saying they don't need variety. As my vet explained to me a feeder is only what the feeder eats. So if you gutload a super worm very well it can be just as nutrious as a cricket, dubia or any other feeder and you don't want your chameleon to become weak and possiable have an illness set in just because he only wants one feed and you stopped feeding him. First I'd get a good check up to make sure he's not ill already and that's might be why he doesn't have a big appetite for all food. I know when I don't feel good my fravorit food it the last thing I stop eating. I have a really good chameleon vets too. My vet travels world wide and teaches other vets from many different countries how to give meds and preform surgery on Reptiles. He also writes the books that other vets use that try to work on Reptiles. So when he tells me something, then I believe it.

My highly respected chameleon vet: http://navc.com/newsletter/profiles-leadership-douglas-r-mader-ms-dvm-dabvp-cf-ra-deczm-herpetology/

I can agree with Jan, however I had a chameleon who was acting this way. I started giving him a retinal Vit A supplement(One drop of the oil on one feeder per month) AND I stopped feeding him supers, plus I stopped feeding him everyday.Now he will eat whatever I offer again. Now I will say I think they DO have their favorite choices. Some things he will shoot at much much more quickly thenothers. Roaches seem to be the slowest reacation. EXCEPT when he is really hungry and if its the first thing I offer. For my guy I would have to say silkworms are his favorite. I will say I offer him the occassional superworm. Just may be a few a month. Their is a scientist in the UK (man who made ARCADIA products possible) and he studies nutrition. He made mention in one of the podcasts on chameleon breeder podcast that he does not believe animals become picky, but rather they are lacking something in the diet. I would have to go back and listen to it to understand exactly why it is. He makes some awesome supplements and insects feeds, which light your reptiles sells.John Courteney-Smith is his name. He has a few interviews on the podcast about nutrition, minerals, and vitamins.He also talks about MBD and lighting as well.

 

[jamest0o0]

I love John courtney Smith, but it's not so much about being picky as it is being offered his favorite food if he holds out for it. Worms just don't hold as much as roaches or crickets. I respect Jan 100%, but I just think it's a simple case of chameleon choosing the tastier snack. I feel some other people are afraid to come in here and agree with me, but we could find hundreds of threads on here talking about variety and superworm addiction. Now all of the sudden people are quiet? Id like to see some more experienced people give input on such a common subject.

 

[jamest0o0]

I just can't agree with everything there is on nutrition, that only feeding superworms would be okay. Even if gutloaded their gut is so small, it wouldnt make much difference. Sure you could do this, and he'd probably live a a decent amount of time. But would it be thriving? Different insects offer different benefits. These affect the colors our chameleons display, energy levels, and everything in between.

No disrespect it just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[jannb]

I've got a male panther about 9 months old and the only thing he wants to eat recently is superworms. He used to eat crickets, loved dubias, loved hornworms, but he refuses to eat any of those anymore! We live in Florida, so at first I thought that he was just stressed because of the hurricane. But weeks afterward when everything is back to normal, he still won't eat regularly. I've gone a couple days trying to make him eat something else (crickets, dubias) and I can tell he's hungry because he rushes to the door when I open it, but once he sees what I'm giving him he gets disappointed and walks away. Should I be concerned? My vet told me it's normal for them to get picky but my veiled never did this, and it's going on a lot longer than I thought. I know that superworms aren't the healthiest food option, so I'm just a little worried. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I would highly recommend a fecal. My little Ambanja's appetite recently slacked off and he stopped eating everything except a few super worms every couple of days. We did a fecal and he had some protozoan cysts. After three days of treatment he was back to eating anything I offered him.

 

[Holvure]

Wow, thanks for the input everyone! Once I get my next paycheck I'll have another fecal done. I had one done about a month ago, but right after that was about when she started getting picky so I'll do another just to make sure he didn't develop anything right after. I know there's been a lot of controversy on this post, but I am going to gutload the superworms very well and give him a couple for good along with crickets and others. I'm just a little scared because of my last chameleon who was a veiled. He passed away from a combination of gout, malnutrition (he only wanted superworms and I tried to hold out and make him eat other things), and some internal failures due to the medicine my old vet prescribed. (Obviously I go to a different one now!) so thank you for all your input, I'll try this my way and in a month or so I'll try to remember to post an update on how everything is going. Thanks!