Staple other than Dubia and crickets?

[Acham]

No dubia because I already have those and he doesn't seem to like them too much.

I breed chameleons and starting the babies on dubia roaches contributes to their health. I've had great sucess feeding dubias with the following method:

[1] Introduce small dubias around 1.5 months. Place them in a small container and just let the chameleon observe them. You will throw out many at this stage.
[2] When the chameleon is around 2.5 months I begin placing dubias on the enclosure's screen. The chameleon will observe them running up the screen and will begin to recognize them as prey.
[3] Once the chameleon begins eating the dubias that are running up the screen you can present them in a container.

Since your chameleon is older try starting at step 2.

 

[jamest0o0]

@Acham that's basically what I do with dubia, but damn does it take long. Especially if you have a bunch of babies

 

[Tkkaplan]

I breed chameleons and starting the babies on dubia roaches contributes to their health. I've had great sucess feeding dubias with the following method:

[1] Introduce small dubias around 1.5 months. Place them in a small container and just let the chameleon observe them. You will throw out many at this stage.
[2] When the chameleon is around 2.5 months I begin placing dubias on the enclosure's screen. The chameleon will observe them running up the screen and will begin to recognize them as prey.
[3] Once the chameleon begins eating the dubias that are running up the screen you can present them in a container.

Since your chameleon is older try starting at step 2.

Actually I've just recently been trying this, I think he finally ate one but I'm not 100% sure. Either way I'd like to add a bit more variety to the food I offer.

 

[Tkkaplan]

So why not orange heads as a staple?

Actually nothing, I saw them on a website for a ridiculous price so that immediately turned me off but looking on other sights to don't seem that bad.

 

[jamest0o0]

I highly recommend orangeheads, care is same as dubia just need a little more space

 

[Acham]

I highly recommend orangeheads, care is same as dubia just need a little more space

Do you have any problems with them escaping from the breeding tub or when feeding them? What techniques do you use to prevent this?

 

[Tkkaplan]

Do the orange heads breed at the same pace? Faster? Slower?

 

[Tkkaplan]

The same pace as dubias

 

[jamest0o0]

@Acham I haven't bred Chams yet I'm still looking for a nice Ambanja female too. I plan to start breeding all of my animals in the future when I have room, but atm I'm stuck waiting. I just meant for my young Chams I have now, it takes forever(sometimes hours a day) to get them to eat dubia. Wondering if you experienced this?

The orange heads in general can't climb any better than dubia, but they are more persistent and are pretty smart. They know to climb to the one corner of my feeding cups and slightly jump to grab on the side and climb out. It's pretty impressive actually lol. Their activity makes them more enticing for Chams though, and they're meatier.

I'd love to replace crickets with roaches, but crickets are so much more convenient for regular feedings.

 

[Longhorn1234]

Can you use a cleaner feeder in a cricket bin to reduce the smell? If so, that could help OP's problem with crickets

 

[Katacara]

@Longhorn1234 "cleaner feeder"?? Do you mean cleaning beetles or a cleaner kind of cricket?

 

[Longhorn1234]

@Longhorn1234 "cleaner feeder"?? Do you mean cleaning beetles or a cleaner kind of cricket?

I actually meant to say clean up crew, I don't know why I typed cleaner feeder haha. Sorry for the confusion

 

[jamest0o0]

The thing with a clean up crew is you'd end up throwing them all out every time you got new crickets to clean the bin.

 

[Acham]

@Acham I haven't bred Chams yet I'm still looking for a nice Ambanja female too. I plan to start breeding all of my animals in the future when I have room, but atm I'm stuck waiting. I just meant for my young Chams I have now, it takes forever(sometimes hours a day) to get them to eat dubia. Wondering if you experienced this?

The orange heads in general can't climb any better than dubia, but they are more persistent and are pretty smart. They know to climb to the one corner of my feeding cups and slightly jump to grab on the side and climb out. It's pretty impressive actually lol. Their activity makes them more enticing for Chams though, and they're meatier.
It takes weeks for the 1.5 month old chameleons to notice the dubias and many small roaches are just wasted. More interest is shown when they are about 2.5 months old. When they are older and dubias are placed on the screen it doesn't take long before everyone hunts down most of the food. Quite possible that exposure to dubias at a young age encourages their enthusiasm when they see the dubias scurrying up the screen. I do spend many hours training them! I consider this time well spent since they will be adopted by people with less experience and patience. My babies and their adoptive families deserve the best.

 

[jamest0o0]

Good point, I like that. Have you ever thought of using Kenyan roaches for babies? I know many use bean beetles, fruit flies, pinhead, etc. Never hear of people using the small Kenyan roaches though.

 

[Acham]

Good point, I like that. Have you ever thought of using Kenyan roaches for babies? I know many use bean beetles, fruit flies, pinhead, etc. Never hear of people using the small Kenyan roaches though.

Haven't tried Kenyan roaches. Use H & D fruit flies and 1/16" crickets to begin with, then newly hatched dubias are added when the chameleons are 1.5 months old. Bean beetles were fed in past years but I grew tired of dealing with the escapies and mites. If the babies chameleons were kept outside the bean beetles would be less of a problem.

 

[jamest0o0]

Beetles bring mites? Didn't know that.

 

[Andee]

Kenyans are amazing for juveniles and neonates

Super tiny for all ages (the adults are the smallest roaches in the hobby and don't get bigger than half an inch) I love Kenyans

 

[jamest0o0]

@Andee surprised people don't mention them more for breeding. I plan to get a colony of those, giant green banana(if I ever find them damnit), and discoids in the future.

 

[laurie]

Update: Im strongly considering red runner roaches and green banana roaches. If anyone has anything positive or negative about these roaches they'd like to share it is appreciated.

I kept green banana roaches for years! They were an excellent feeder, but I did have a couple get out. Not many and they usually stayed downstairs where all my feeders are. Hubby was not happy with the few that made it up stairs. I only quit keeping them when I got rid of all my reptiles, bought a parsoni as my only reptile. Split my gbr to a couple friends. Lol now I will most likely buy more for all the reptiles I have bought in the last 2 months. Husband said I was the only person who believed I would only have my parsons.