Silkies for chameleon

[dodolah]

Hey guys...
Sorry sorry for being redundant..
But i try searching the forums and so far no luck in answering my question.

My pod from coastal silkworms has arrived.
I fed 3 very small silkies today to my 3.5 months old cham.. and he absolutely loving it.
He even forget that he's on hunger strike.
and rushes in toward me as if asking "gimme some more"

1. How many should i feed him silkies a day? (he used to eat about 20 crix a day.. but now he absolutely refuses to eat crix)

2. I do not dust my silkies (as they contains a lotta calcium already.. is that correct?)

3. I purchased the pod with ready made food already thrown in the tub.
Any thing I should do or keep to avoid the silkies dying?
i live in SoCal.. so the temp never drops to low.
how bout humidity?

4. At the end of the day, i know crix is still beneficial to be his staple diet..
at what time i should reintroduce crix again to him? For now, he just hate it.

5. Do you cupfeed your cham with silkies or do you let the silkies roam free?
I used biovine.. and kinda shocked to see the crix and the silkies start gnawing the vine..
That's why i start cup feeding my cham.

 

[davider]

okay silkies are great they can be a staple as a part of the chams diet...
but i think that u should put in crickets..

i let my silk worms free roam just put them on the vine and your chameleon will grab it not like the silkies can get too far.
goodluck

David

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I agree ....but...give him a break from crickets for at least a week or so.
This way when you re-introduce them they will be new again.

-Brad

 

[dodolah]

Hey guys...
Sorry sorry for being redundant..
But i try searching the forums and so far no luck in answering my question.

My pod from coastal silkworms has arrived.
I fed 3 very small silkies today to my 3.5 months old cham.. and he absolutely loving it.
He even forget that he's on hunger strike.
and rushes in toward me as if asking "gimme some more"

1. How many should i feed him silkies a day? (he used to eat about 20 crix a day.. but now he absolutely refuses to eat crix)

2. I do not dust my silkies (as they contains a lotta calcium already.. is that correct?)

3. I purchased the pod with ready made food already thrown in the tub.
Any thing I should do or keep to avoid the silkies dying?
i live in SoCal.. so the temp never drops to low.
how bout humidity?

4. At the end of the day, i know crix is still beneficial to be his staple diet..
at what time i should reintroduce crix again to him? For now, he just hate it.

5. Do you cupfeed your cham with silkies or do you let the silkies roam free?
I used biovine.. and kinda shocked to see the crix and the silkies start gnawing the vine..
That's why i start cup feeding my cham.

lol..
since nobody answer my question.. perhaps i shall try to answer it myself and tell me if i make a mistake

1. 20 silkies a day
2. dust a third of the silkies only
3. I pretty much don't have to do anything. just put the pod in the closet
4. give only silkies for at least a week
5. Since for some reason the silkies seems to fall off here and there, I'll cupfeed them to my cham instead.

Any mistakes?
thanks

 

[BigTex]

that sounds good to me, i dont think you need to feed 20 silkies tho, they have more calories than crickets so that something to keep in mind. experiment and see how it goes.

 

[Dyesub Dave]

I only feed a couple silkies every day or two along with crickets and occasionally butter worms for a treat. Larger silkworms are OK to feed since they are soft and bendable. I never dust my silkworms because they are already full of calcium and other nutrients. I handfeed my chams the silkworms or if they're acting a little shy I'll put the silkworms on a branch near the cham. I have no idea about the pods as that's not what I use.

Hope this answers a few of your questions!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[Smitty]

I don't know a lot about silkies myself, but from what I know:

6 or so/day depending on size (because chams can eat bigger silkies)
No dusting as they are full of calcium already
Humidity can be a BIG problem with the pod. The one time I got them I had a problem with mold because of the humidity.
Give him a week or so without crix then start putting a couple in with the silkies.

The one time I got silkies I would put 4-5 in the cage around on branches, and then 5-6 crix in there too. All the crix would be eaten and all the silkies (except for the occational one that would fall). Toward the end my cham stopped eating the silkies though, I think they got too big for him, so I just let the survivors make themselves into cocoons (waiting for them to pop out now!).

 

[dodolah]

cool! thanks a lot guys!
O also,, i thought silkies weren't supposed to eat anything but mulberry tree.
This morning i saw them munching my ficus. I have 2 small ficus, and one of the ficus has about 1/4 of the leaves poked with holes
they ate it voracious too! i just took the little guy back to the pod.

and feed my cham with a fresh batch.
Today my cham finally start eating after the strike. phewww..
poor guy.. he tried to shoot the silkies from a far.. but the worm sticks to the vine.. so he's forced to yank it.. i was wondering if that is ok and won't hurt his tongue.

 

[Dyesub Dave]

From what I've heard silkworms will eat a variety of things but they won't last long after they do. I think that the only thing that sustains them is mulberry leaves or mulberry chow!

Glad to hear your cham is eating again!

Dyesub Dave.

 

[lele]

You can actually feed your silkies on raw butternut squash for a while if you run out of food, but be careful because they can get mushy. Be sure they have good ventilation so mold does not develop. This should only be done for short term and with older caterpillars (early instar succumb too easily to the moisture). The nice thing is that squash is a great gutload b/c it is loaded with Vit A, but again - short term. Just cut them into strip like you would with chow. I like to keep the rind on for easier handling.

As for dusting, yes, even though they are high in calcium you should still stick to your regular dusting schedule, just be sure to dust lightly AND keep in mind that dust is more likely to clog the spiracles, which are the little breathing holes that you see along the sides of caterpillars (9 pair), than on other insects so if your cham doesn't eat ones that have been dusted they may die. I will just put a little bit of dust in bowl and gently press the legs into the dust so as not to get any into the spiracles, thus avoid that problem (and avoid overdoing the dust

lele

 

[lonomac]

cool! thanks a lot guys!
O also,, i thought silkies weren't supposed to eat anything but mulberry tree.
This morning i saw them munching my ficus. I have 2 small ficus, and one of the ficus has about 1/4 of the leaves poked with holes
they ate it voracious too! i just took the little guy back to the pod.

and feed my cham with a fresh batch.
Today my cham finally start eating after the strike. phewww..
poor guy.. he tried to shoot the silkies from a far.. but the worm sticks to the vine.. so he's forced to yank it.. i was wondering if that is ok and won't hurt his tongue.

They will eat whatever you give them, but they will not pupate correctly if your feeding them anything other than the chow or mulberry leaves. I found this out by experimenting on a few of my currently pupating colony (plus Brad told me).

 

[dodolah]

lol i was wondering.. does any of you have a cham that get nervous everytime he sees a silk worm eventhough he has been eating silkies?

My cham burst with angry pattern whenever he crossed a silkworm during his morning walk around the enclosure.
The weird thing is he pinch some of the silkworms off the vine and literally throw them to the ground

I've seen this over and over..
but i also seen him shoot and eat them even though he will be eating them while displaying an angry pattern.
Weirrrdddd!!!

Is that mean he hates silkies?