panther diet

[carol5208]

I will say yes it does happen, is because they are high in chitin
My vet agrees.

Harry

I guess because I have fed them alot and it is never happened I base on this and I only have 2 chameleons and not 20 like some of you! But Harry, I still ask the question if you vary the diet with other feeders that are more soft bodied and no chitin, can you still get impaction.? I guess this is the confusion for me.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Sandra, I just see it posted on here so much but do we really have proof of it? I mean how do you know that caused your chameleon to become impacted? Was it determined by a vet?.

yes. vet confirmed. the imapction and resulting prolapse was caused by a diet high in mealworms. this was over a decade ago, before I knew what I know now.

Mealworms can still form part of a chams diet, I still offer them. To be safe, I recommend they form only a small part of the diet. Plus they arent very nutritious anyways.
and honestly I believe we should all aim to provide a varied diet, with NO single prey item forming more than 20% of a chams diet.

Yes, if you are using a large number of soft bodied feeders, you can use more mealworms or other chintonous feeders - it balances. indeed, some chinton /roughage is necessary.

 

[sandrachameleon]

. Am I correct in saying that they cannot live without Mulberry for a long length of time? Can they be sustained on those items you mentioned alone.?

they can be sustained for a week or two exclusively on dandelion leaves.
but if you want to breed them, you should include mulberry leaves (or chow). I found offering 50% mullberry and 50% other was the way to go, when I was breeding them.

 

[warpdrive]

I guess because I have fed them alot and it is never happened I base on this and I only have 2 chameleons and not 20 like some of you! But Harry, I still ask the question if you vary the diet with other feeders that are more soft bodied and no chitin, can you still get impaction.? I guess this is the confusion for me.

Yes, if fed other insects often, then impacting should not occur...but it can still happen and i fear that egg bound females are partly due to high chitin and lack of water, but have no proof.

Harry