OPINION: Why I don't feed crickets

[jamest0o0]

Well shoot. Your right I been sexing these things wrong haha.

I thought the Males had the wings. And the large dark ones were Females those are just final stage nymphs? Good to know.

Yessir, lol when I first had them years ago. I was freaking out like why do I have all males!?!?!?

 

[jamest0o0]

Nice, thank you. I didn't think they did but man do they flap!!! Craig held it by its butt and moved it around on the tongs like it was hovering like a dragonfly. His cham looked pretty excited about it!

Yup they flap like crazy when you do that, but they're so bulky they just fall straight down like rocks lol

 

[Lucinda]

my chameleon only want to eat meal worms. and horn worms, cant get him to eat dubia,s and i have a very very big colony of them

 

[PetNcs]

One more thing, and I’ll probably get crucified for saying this, but I don’t worry about feeding later in the day. There is literature that suggests wild chams wake up, bask to get warm, then hunt—all in the morning. Then they retreat to the shade in the afternoon, maybe tag a bug or two, before heading out for an early evening meal when temps are cooler. So, all popular advice to the contrary, Wild chams don’t appear to sweat eating before bedtime.

Please where have you read this?

i mean soecifically that feeding is limited to morning hours?

I have heard this from VETs, from keepers bur I have never read anything like this in any serious literature.
My field observations are absolutely contradictory. There is no limitation of feeding to the morning hours, absolutely no.
I consider it a myth, rumor and it is IMHO totally wrong...

 

[PetNcs]

I consider the video very problematic and do not understand what is the motivation to share something like this...
Most of the issues raised, are made very relative.
For beginners, this is nit a good advice to advocate against (and state many times that itnis not like that) the widely available stapple feeder, that is cheap, wash to breed and obtain etc etc is a message that I really consider has a problematic value and cause more confusion than clarity.

for experienced keepers sich informational chung is redundant and worthless...

no offense, but what I stated the beginning, I do not get the purpose of such a video

 

[cloverthechameleon]

Well shoot. Your right I been sexing these things wrong haha.

I thought the Males had the wings. And the large dark ones were Females those are just final stage nymphs? Good to know.

Correct, If you flip them on there back males have 2 or 3 smaller scales on the bottom of there abdomen while females have one larger one. Only way i know of to sex them.

 

[cyberlocc]

Correct, If you flip them on there back males have 2 or 3 smaller scales on the bottom of there abdomen while females have one larger one. Only way i know of to sex them.

Yep, similar to Halloween Hissers then, Halloweens have other visual clues, but that is the most foolproof way.

 

[jamest0o0]

Exactly, I believe most roaches can be sexed that way if the adults look similar. For orangeheads and others, the females are usually noticeably larger, but not guaranteed.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

For me, crickets are a necessary evil.
I use them, Superworms and occasionally Hornworms.
Most roaches and other bugs are NOT legal to purchase here in south Florida.

 

[kinyonga]

I don't think I will ever not use crickets...they are easy to keep and breed and feed/gutload...the smell can for the most part be controlled by proper cleaning of the cricket cages....and you can buy noiseless crickets...but being that I was born and raised in the country it's not an annoying noise to me....it's kinda comforting.
Sorry @Gingero

 

[Kaizen]

Please where have you read this?

i mean soecifically that feeding is limited to morning hours?

I have heard this from VETs, from keepers bur I have never read anything like this in any serious literature.
My field observations are absolutely contradictory. There is no limitation of feeding to the morning hours, absolutely no.
I consider it a myth, rumor and it is IMHO totally wrong...

Petr,

Honestly, I can’t remember where I heard/read this. In any case, I too doubt its veracity. I have no doubt that wild chams feed throughout the day, whenever they can. My point was merely that I don’t stress too much about feeding my chams later during the day. My apologies for the misinformation.

 

[PetNcs]

Petr,

Honestly, I can’t remember where I heard/read this. In any case, I too doubt its veracity. I have no doubt that wild chams feed throughout the day, whenever they can. My point was merely that I don’t stress too much about feeding my chams later during the day. My apologies for the misinformation.

nono,
No misinformation, you just mentioned one of the common beliefs and myths, that IMHO need to be rectified...
Chameleons eat throughout the entire day

 

[CasqueAbove]

On the basis of roaches, If we are talking specifically about available feeder roaches.
Given that they are going to be raised buy humans as we dictate, is there a serious advantage of one over the other, in terms of nutrition.

 

[Ramrod]

nono,
No misinformation, you just mentioned one of the common beliefs and myths, that IMHO need to be rectified...
Chameleons eat throughout the entire day

Just like me

 

[Kaizen]

On the basis of roaches, If we are talking specifically about available feeder roaches.
Given that they are going to be raised buy humans as we dictate, is there a serious advantage of one over the other, in terms of nutrition.

I think the general opinion here is going to be that there is no difference, nutritionally. However, in all fairness, we are talking about dozens of species that span the globe. Intuitively, it would be surprising if there was no nutritional difference. More importantly, insect digestion is, so I read, complex, and it would be startling to learn that a roach from the Arabian peninsula has adapted the very same digestive enzymes and nutrient uptake mechanisms as a species from South America. Not to muddy the waters here, but this could turn out to be a very complicated question. Until someone does some serious research, I think the part of prudence is to include as many feeder options as possible. That includes several roach species.

 

[Kaizen]

In @Gingero ’s defence, most of the common feeders we feed are nocturnal insects from very different environments than those of our captive charges. In North America, the two popular cricket species are brown and banded; both of which are nocturnal, and the latter is a cave dwelling species. The common feeder roaches are also almost exclusively nocturnal. The hornworms we feed are toxic in the wild as they eat tomato and tabbacco, the silks are from China, the supers are from South America, and I doubt whether any Cham ever ate a bsfl in the wild. Waxies and butters are new world insects too. So, when it comes to the commonly available feeders, none are natural, none figure regularly in the Wild diet of our pets, and if some are gross to some people, then I don’t see why expressing that fact is problematic.

 

[CasqueAbove]

I think the general opinion here is going to be that there is no difference, nutritionally. However, in all fairness, we are talking about dozens of species that span the globe. Intuitively, it would be surprising if there was no nutritional difference. More importantly, insect digestion is, so I read, complex, and it would be startling to learn that a roach from the Arabian peninsula has adapted the very same digestive enzymes and nutrient uptake mechanisms as a species from South America. Not to muddy the waters here, but this could turn out to be a very complicated question. Until someone does some serious research, I think the part of prudence is to include as many feeder options as possible. That includes several roach species.

I see what you are saying, that is why I say significant. Clearly in the wild wherever the live there is likely more diversity.
I use dubia as my primary source, but will be expanding. So really I am trying to see if it is worth id to get a second type of roach.

 

[Kaizen]

I see what you are saying, that is why I say significant. Clearly in the wild wherever the live there is likely more diversity.
I use dubia as my primary source, but will be expanding. So really I am trying to see if it is worth id to get a second type of roach.

Unfortunately, I am not an expert by any means. That being said, I think there’s always a benefit to adding a new feeder species. Even if orangeheads and dubia have the exact same nutritional makeup, they behave differently, and that seems like a substantive difference in terms of a chameleon’s cerebral stimulation. Anecdotally, many chams appear to have a preference for one type of roach over another. Even if this difference is solely a visual one, that still counts as variety.

 

[PetNcs]

On the basis of roaches, If we are talking specifically about available feeder roaches.
Given that they are going to be raised buy humans as we dictate, is there a serious advantage of one over the other, in terms of nutrition.

the unanswered question is whether a higher nutritious food
Packed in such hard shell
Is a real positive for rhe chameleon or it is actually not better.

i am hesitant both to accept as well as deny. But as advocate diaboli, i tend more to say: poor and low nitrition food is more natural, lots of undihestable but soft remnants are better than what stays after roaches...
The poop is NOat same as in the wild in captovity especially if we feed roaches (not so crickets, in their case it is macroscopically identical)

 

[jamest0o0]

Unfortunately, I am not an expert by any means. That being said, I think there’s always a benefit to adding a new feeder species. Even if orangeheads and dubia have the exact same nutritional makeup, they behave differently, and that seems like a substantive difference in terms of a chameleon’s cerebral stimulation. Anecdotally, many chams appear to have a preference for one type of roach over another. Even if this difference is solely a visual one, that still counts as variety.

Why would people think that all roaches have the same nutrition? Maybe similar, but different species have their own food preferences, colors, textures, etc.