The Most Nutritious Feeder?

[Canny Chams]

Hi, i was wondering what the BEST feeder is. Im talking, least problems, most nutritious. they dont have to be commonly used as feeders. Please Discuss

 

[gerrod85]

Crickets and silkworms are staple feeders. Crickets must be gut loaded. Not to sure about silkworms. Lots of people use Dubai roaches too.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

for my chams, I think variety is the best feeder
some have more water, some more calcium
others offer hunting instinct, mobility needed to catch
others stimulate and give them something to do
others might just taste better

variety, variety, variety

 

[Canny Chams]

i agree with variety but im looking at all in one package, i dont really have a huge variety available, id say hissers, but this is a guess.

 

[ataraxia]

my personal opinion. crickets or roaches = either of these feeders you can gut load very well.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

Im not sure I understand the thinking of just "an all in one" feeder. Your cham will be way more happy and less likely to go on a hunger strike if given a multitude of feeders.
I feed crix, horns, silks, butter, calci
and when I nudge them from Suzi dubias and once bananas

 

[Dave]

Variety is the perfect feeder.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

thank you for agreeing Dave, sometimes its tough to voice an opinion, but this is something I do for my own and it works, so thats what I go by
anne

 

[Canny Chams]

i agree, but im curious what insect has the widest variety of nutrition without gutloading, by no means would i use only insect, im just curious. Im not talking about a actual standpoint of feeding your cham on a daily basis

 

[jcarlo17]

heard something about phoenix warms

 

[Bradycham]

Well if you don't care if they are specific or common, i would say bees and grasshoppers. They seem to be a main staple in a lot of wild chams diets. My Chams during the the spring, summer and fall probably eat about 5-6 honey bees a day and they are very healthy and have had vet checks that show it (not proved to be from the Honey bees,but I believe there is a good chance). I have never had any Cham with a stinger in the tounge, that u am aware of. Do you know how nutritious bee pollen and and nectar (which bees eat) is? There is also another thread going on right now discussing a thread of similar questions.

Here it is:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/question-about-wild-chams-70593/

 

[AndrewWelch]

My little Jose is going on a hunger strike right now for crickets. The past 2 days he refuses to eat them, but at the end of the day he realizes that that's the only way he's going to eat lol. But sure enough the next day he won't eat em'. I just got him some super worms today and he only would eat 2 of them.

Anyone know how I can bring back his appetite?

 

[Pilotman800]

I'm pretty sure Phoenix worms (calciworms) contain the most calcium.

Let's wait for Sandrachameleon to give us her input. She'll give us a correct answer for sure.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I echo what others have already stated - go for variety.

There is no all-in-one miracle bug that will provide everything your chameleon needs (especially as chameleons get bored without a change in prey). It is my belief that People who provide limited choice have to supplement much more.

That said, I'd say the top choices for me, if I had to limit myself, would be locust or roachs (dubia or hissers). Both of these provide adequate protein, can be well gutloaded, can be dusted easily as needed, and are readily eaten by the majority of chameleons. Terrestrial isopods would also make this list except they are pretty small so in terms of volume not the most practical.

Add in some gutloaded silkworms, terrestrial isopods, maybe some gutloaded cabbage loppers and hornworms from time to time, some butterworms, the odd darkling larva or beetle, and the odd flying feeder like a blue bottle, etc and you've got yourself a good mealplan

These links will provide you with nutritional analysis of many of the commonly used feeders:
http://www.chameleonnews.com/02SepDonoghue.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/nutri...22/#post171073
http://chamownersweb.net/insects/nutritional_values.htm
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/Misc/insectnutrition.html
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html(scrolldown to mixed list of feeders, fruit, veggies)
http://doubleds.org/newfeederpg.html
http://bamboozoo.weebly.com/the-feeders.html


@pilotman - thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

[Hoj]

i would have to say the dubia, are the meatiest hold suppliments well and are very easy to efficantly gutload.
i agree there is no replacement for variety, but i belive the op understands that and is just wanting a discussion on the best bug..

 

[sdheli420]

for my chams, I think variety is the best feeder
some have more water, some more calcium
others offer hunting instinct, mobility needed to catch
others stimulate and give them something to do
others might just taste better

variety, variety, variety

agree 100 percent....

 

[DavidBuchan]

Because of gutloading, I suppose Crickets and Dubias are the best due to meatiness and ease of keeping and breeding (this assumes quality gutloading). They are surely the most common so if that's the criteria then that's the answer........
Again with the agreeing 100% with variety.......can't argue with Silkworms or Phoenix worms, lol

Chams love flying things more than anything else.........

 

[Kitro]

I have a weekly schedule
Sunday = Phoenix worms
Monday= silk worms
Tuesday= crickets
Wednesday=hornworms
Thursday=dubia
Friday= Phoenix and meal worm mix
Saturday=cricket and dubia mix