Really dumb feeding questions

[jajeanpierre]

I'm pretty new to chameleons and have pretty much zero practical experience.

I just bought my first container of Dubia roaches.

How do you feed them?

I have just put my dusted feeders and then put into the cage to force the chameleons to hunt their food. I'm big on natural behaviors and enrichment for all captive animals.

Do you experts just throw them in the cage loose? Do they hide so my chams can't find them if I just let them loose in the cage?

One other dumb question: what is "lightly dusted"? I put my bugs in a bag with a bit of calcium, shake, and put in the enclosures, but to me, they are heavily dusted. Maybe my humidity levels in my house are on the high side. Is this a problem? Maybe I should put in a shake of calcium, shake the empty bag, empty the powder and then add the bugs???

 

[JamesBryan]

Lightly dusted means a bit of dust on them and not so they look like ghosts running around.

 

[laurie]

I would do the calcium in the bag, shake, calcium out of bag and feeders into bag.

I have a real thing about roaches lose in my home - hubby would toss my bin outside if he ever saw a loose one.

I take zip ties, thread the dubia on the zip tie and offer it to my chams. Almost all have learned to grab them as soon as they see them. It takes time to do it this way, but I get to watch the chams eat, I know exactly what the eat, and how much, and best of all, if a dubia gets off the zip tie I don't think they would live long after having something shoved all the way into their body.

 

[junglefries]

If you have potted plants, they will DEFINITELY bury themselves in it. And in 6 months when you repot the plant, they all will scatter!

 

[Lazy Boy]

I cup feed roaches. Help me keep a eye on how many he is eating and they aren't just hiding in the cage.