Sustainable Food? Questions from a new guy...

[clayw]

Im curious as to how many people actually keep the insects they feed their chams in their homes? Do you guys have a second tank somewhere to hold these foods? How are they set up and what do you keep in them?

I would rather do this than continuously driving to a store to by different things for my cham.
could you guys provide me with a list of healthy things the cham should eat and how you keep them alive in your homes...thank you!
-clay

 

[Monkeykungphu]

Dubia roaches can take a good while to get a colony going, but once you do, they are easily sustainable & great for your chameleon. You want to feed them a good gutload before you feed to your chameleon. They say a heat pad promotes breeding, although at them moment, they're on my porch outside where the daytime temps in Dallas have been 103 deg, so I skipping the heat pad at the moment. The plastic tub that I keep them in is not in direct sunlight & the top is well ventilated with screen.

I buy my crickets by the 1000 through mail order & breed my roaches. I may try keeping a colony of isopods (rolly pollies) soon as well.

Good luck!

 

[clayw]

Ok let me ask you this...so if you purchase 1000 crickets. about how long should that last for a baby panther, and on top of that, do i just put them in their own enclosure and theyll live? I always see them at the petstores with cardboard, what should I really have in a tank that is holding crickets? Id rather not be keeping roaches in my house...
-clay

 

[Jonasburns]

I am not so sure of daily feeding yet, still to new. But i do know you would not want to release them into the same enclosure. Most of the time people build there own feeder cages out of things like totes and such or spare aquarium. Then food is introduced as needed. This way you can gut load your feeders, then dust them before feeding time.

 

[sandrachameleon]

According to a pole on this forum, 18% of us breed insects as the PRIMARY source of food for our chameleons. Many others both breed and purchase bugs.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/primary-feeder-source-31588/

Some of the easiest to breed are roaches, stick bugs and superworms. Crickets, terrestrial isopods and silkworms are also not too hard. There are "how to" links from within this blog entry:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

Its a very good idea to breed at least one type of prey, so that you never find yourself in the position of being unable to minimally feed the chameleon. I've been on this forum long enough to hear all sorts of reasons,from postal strikes to snow storms, for bugs unexpectedly not being available to buy.

 

[Jonasburns]

those are all def worth the read.

thx sandra

*EDIT EDIT* lol


So would you say that the primary reason many go to breeding is amount of reptiles? I am currently trying to decide to breed B. Dubia or not based on the fact I will only be keeping one chameleon to start. And i dont like crickets ever since my Arowana ate like a million a week

 

[sandrachameleon]

thx sandra

You're welcome.

So would you say that the primary reason many go to breeding is amount of reptiles? I am currently trying to decide to breed B. Dubia or not based on the fact I will only be keeping one chameleon to start.

Id say go for it.

I would guess the reason most people breed bugs is to save money, and for convenience. This applies even if you've only one chameleon. But for those with multiple reptiles (or other insect eating pets), the savings would be greater.

I breed bugs primarily because I like bugs, with money and constant availability being secondary. I started keeping bugs before I had even just one chameleon. Its also nice to know exactly what my bugs have been raised on their whole lives, thus ensuring I am in control of what ultimately gets into my chameleon (although I also use certain wild caught bugs so control goes out the window on that!) And no matter the time of year, no matter what the pet store hasnt got, no matter if an online supplier is out of stock, I have a selection of prey to offer my chameleons.

ps - arowana are KEWL fish. I used to have one, with some Oscars and knives, and it was a favourite.

 

[nick barta]

With a baby panther, buy crickets from a local store and feed them fruits and vegetables and Cricket Crack before you feed them (Cricket Crack can be found by using the SEARCH feature). They only have a 6 week life, so buy them small enough for your Panther, I'd say 100 or so at a time, tops.

Super Worms are available at most pet shops, and take virtually no care, if you buy 1,000 from Great Lakes horn worms, you can get some small ones, which will grow with your Panther, so you won't waste them like 1,000 crickets.

Bugs can take a lot of time, rather than setting up breeding enclosures right now, I would suggest you order in some silk worms (Coastal Silkworms), Small horn worms & small Super Worms (Great Lakes Horn Worm). Also try some small Dubia Roaches from a local pet shop.

Nothing worse than investing money and time in a feeder the Panther won't eat...

Nick

 

[Jonasburns]

That sounds like a wise plan for starters TYVM Its good to get them on a varied diet early anyway correct?

 

[sandrachameleon]

Ok let me ask you this...so if you purchase 1000 crickets. about how long should that last for a baby panther.

well, a cricket lives about 6 weeks. Sometimes a little longer if kept cool and not over fed. If the chameleon is very small, it wont be able to eat larger crickets, so you'd only have about 3 or 4 weeks to use up the crickets (unless you keep the rest to breed).

 

[sandrachameleon]

Its good to get them on a varied diet early anyway correct?

I think so, yes.

 

[clayw]

I think that is a good idea to see what the cham likes to eat. Id like to keep crickets but i dont want the smell, roaches, it seems like ill be trying to keep a small colony of them. crickets, ill order by the hundred, and how about those worms described? can those stay alive for awhile as well in a seperate tank?