Only eats superworms

[davidg88]

Hey,

I have an 8month old panther chameleon. I used to feed him a wide variety diet crickets, butters, silk, and the odd superworm. Eventually he refused to eat anything but superworms, its all I had for 2 days and since that he doesnt eat anything else besides the odd cricket. Are superworms alright for a staple? how to I get him off the supers, if i dont feed them to him he wont eat and goes to the bottom of the cage and eats leaves.

 

[mwebb]

Only superworms

The cham in my avatar has only eaten superworms for a year. when he turned about a year old he stopped eating everything but supers. he will now eat a silkworm here and their and a butterworm but not very offton. just make sure you gut load your supers with a variety of things and powder them. I have had no issues with my cham.

 

[draetish]

Some chams especially panthers do become addicted to superworms and won't eat anything else and that's okay. As long as you are gutloading the supers just as you would crickets with fresh collard, turnip greens, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. Be sure to dust them as you would your other feeders. My panther was on a super worm binge but also loved hornworms and silkworms, so try those. He has eaten a few adult male dubias here and there.

 

[carol5208]

I have heard they are not a good staple but look at the gorgeous cham in the avatar of mwebb! He seems to be doing fine! I have an 8 month old sambava panther as well, and I am having a similar problem! not quite to the degree of yours though. He will eat crickets but not as enthusiastically as before. He loves the superworms also, and will never turn one down! I free range the crickets and cup feed also. i find I can get him to eat the crickets better if I take him outside in the sun and the hold the cup in front of him. He just started this cricket thing about a week ago. He will eat free range here and there but nothing like before. Good luck!!!

 

[draetish]

Actually supers have less chitlin than crickets and if they are gutloaded properly, make excellent staple feeders. You always want to "offer" other feeders at all times, but there are those picky chams.

 

[joeandsoph]

Probably not relevant...but my beardie stopped eating hoppers and would only touch crickets for a while. This lasted about 6 months then all of a sudden he ate hoppers again!

 

[Monkeykungphu]

Actually supers have less chitlin than crickets and if they are gutloaded properly, make excellent staple feeders. You always want to "offer" other feeders at all times, but there are those picky chams.

Nothing like chitlins & collard greens!

(I know you meant chitin, just poking fun! lol )

 

[draetish]

Nothing like chitlins & collard greens!

(I know you meant chitin, just poking fun! lol )

LMAO - at least someone is awake this morning!

 

[Clifford]

While some people have had chameleon survive well on only superworms, it is far preferable to ensure the chameleon eats a wide variety of bugs. So just stop giving him superworms for a few weeks, and only offer other bugs. He will eat the other bugs eventually, breaking his habit. Superworms are very fatty. Its easy for them to get hooked on fatty bugs, kinda like I enjoy burgers and gravy more often than is good for me.
This topic comes up frequently - use the search button to find other threads with lots of opinions on the matter

 

[draetish]

While some people have had chameleon survive well on only superworms, it is far preferable to ensure the chameleon eats a wide variety of bugs. So just stop giving him superworms for a few weeks, and only offer other bugs. He will eat the other bugs eventually, breaking his habit. Superworms are very fatty. Its easy for them to get hooked on fatty bugs, kinda like I enjoy burgers and gravy more often than is good for me.
This topic comes up frequently - use the search button to find other threads with lots of opinions on the matter

Just curious if you have had personal experience with this. This is said over and over by forum members, but I doubt they actually have had to do this and it works. When my panther was so hooked on supers, I would only give him 1-2 a day. Then I switched to hw and sw only and he ate those. I think it is a phase they go through and you do not want to starve the cham, that's just cruel. I know they can go a week without eating by their choice. There is one senior member I can think of off hand, that had a veiled that lived on sw for two years and then one day decided he wanted crickets. Use good judgement on this issue.

 

[Clifford]

Just curious if you have had personal experience with this. This is said over and over by forum members, but I doubt they actually have had to do this and it works. When my panther was so hooked on supers, I would only give him 1-2 a day. Then I switched to hw and sw only and he ate those. I think it is a phase they go through and you do not want to starve the cham, that's just cruel. I know they can go a week without eating by their choice. There is one senior member I can think of off hand, that had a veiled that lived on sw for two years and then one day decided he wanted crickets. Use good judgement on this issue.

Yes, my chameleon got hooked on superworms, and it took 8 days before he gave in and began eating other things. Now I take care to ensure to only offer superworms once a week, so he doesnt get stuck on them again.

It is commonly done, for those like me who were ignorant of the problem until it was too late. Many people have had to stop offering superworms, or waxworms, until other bugs were accepted again.

Chameleons are lizards, not mamals - they do not "starve" like we do - they just slow down. It takes a very long time for them to feel deprived. Not to mention, you are offering other bugs the whole time. So it has the opportunity to eat whenever it chooses.

Even the person you are referring to with the veiled has said variety is preferable.

 

[draetish]

Yes, my chameleon got hooked on superworms, and it took 8 days before he gave in and began eating other things. Now I take care to ensure to only offer superworms once a week, so he doesnt get stuck on them again. What other things did he start to eat?

It is commonly done, for those like me who were ignorant of the problem until it was too late. Many people have had to stop offering superworms, or waxworms, until other bugs were accepted again.

Chameleons are lizards, not mamals - they do not "starve" like we do - they just slow down. It takes a very long time for them to feel deprived. Not to mention, you are offering other bugs the whole time. So it has the opportunity to eat whenever it chooses.

Even the person you are referring to with the veiled has said variety is preferable.

Kinda confused about your post. I'm not saying don't offer variety, I'm just saying eating only SW is not that big of a deal if that's what the cham wants. I don't agree with the arguement that eating only supers is a horrible thing and starve your cham to make him eat something else. I'm done on this thread.

 

[sandrachameleon]

This is said over and over by forum members,...

There's a reason why this advice is repeated - its good advice.

I agree with Clifford. Try to keep your chameleons from getting addicted to superworms (or anything else) and instead provide a varied diet. Nothing at all wrong with ceasing to offer superworms for a few weeks in order to help a chameleon kick the superworm habit - assuming that chameleon is not a baby and is otherwise healthy.