LukeTheLizard
Avid Member
@CasqueAbove, what happened to your chameleons tongue?
Thought on ripping the cricket’s hind legs off?
- Thread starter C0nwayy
- Start date
PabloTheCham
Chameleon Enthusiast
A bird bit off. Lol just kidding.... oh wait
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
It’s a good idea to remove the back legs because they can scratch the chameleons mouth and throat and the scratch can become infected. In my 15 years of keeping I’ve lost 3 chameleons from holes caused by infections in the back of the throat that were caused by feeders. I know a Parsonii keeper that also kept 30 plus panther and veiled chameleons along with his 15 + Parsonii that remove the back legs of the feeders for all of his chameleon. Imagine that. ?
We were able to find Padre’s hole before the autopsy.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/padre-my-parsonii-needs-your-thoughts-and-prayers.92744/
We were able to find Padre’s hole before the autopsy.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/padre-my-parsonii-needs-your-thoughts-and-prayers.92744/
Last edited:
CasqueAbove
Chameleon Enthusiast
Lol well basically yes.
Panther678
Member
Roaches are fine though right they dont have any sharp bits do they.
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
Patience
Learn hoe to gently interact
It
Needs time and oeactice
And sometimes wearing special clothes (or omitting eg red shirts, bright makeup or colored hair etc...) and allesrance as rhey can be aensitice to colors
It needs smooth and slow
Movements, not watching with wide opened eyes etc etc
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
Oh some do!
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
My understanding was that the main question was about what to do with spiky legs, not general feeding techniques.
While feeding jar is one of the good options, it does unfortunately solve neither the kriginal
Question of soiky legs removal nor the way how tomreach chams to accept dead food item...
Panther678
Member
What do you think they would eat in the wild my guess would be mainly flying insects.
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
Jann,
Thank you for that insight, that absolutely can happen!
I made the lesson very early in my career and since then:
No spiky legs fed at all!
Moreover, I try to explain again and again in the forums and groups and articles to all:
Do not feed big feeders (only big ones have dangerous spikes as a rule).
Chameleons feed In the wild on surprisingly small feeders not big ones like we think or like we simplify our situation to make it easy for us. Imagine that in more than 300 fecal samples of wild Miller’s chameleons that reach size ober 2ft, I have not found any sigle food Item longer than half inch!!! All tiny flies and bees and wasps and pollinatkr beetles. They do NOT eat big items as a rule, therefore, rhey are not equipped to solve spiky legs of big prey items from the Motjer Nature.
PetNcs
Chameleon Enthusiast
They eat Predominantly very small arthropods, dependent on soecies and season, the composition vary, but in general, flying insects are preferred
C0nwayy
Member
I changed the plastic cup to a ceramic jar and used crickets again and he’s eating them rn
)
C0nwayy
Member
Apart that insects don’t feel pain when losing their thicc legs, I’d rather pull some cricket legs off before having their legs hurt my baby cham’s throat, having him starve because he’s picky and loves crickets, or having them run around and kill/gang up on my cham while he’s unaware. My cham goes first, sorry crickets!
At least I do keep my crickets comfortable and feed them carrots, cucumber (i think it is), apple and potato with some calcium so they can carry the good stuff for my cham!
NashansCamos
Chameleon Enthusiast
hmm interesting thank you for this insight I may want to consider making some changes then.
I have fed locusts alive and without removing the legs for about 3 years with 3 different chams and am yet to have a problem with it but it could happen. Should I just remove locust and other spiky leg insects from their diet completely or should I just give him smaller locusts in the future.
Thank you for this I will be very aware of this in the future.
NashansCamos
Chameleon Enthusiast
a contreversial topic, but i think they actually do feel pain or at least irritation and it is still cruel and I would advise against it.
There are plenty of other options besides crickets/locusts, you should maybe try some other insects.
C0nwayy
Member
I know, I still feel bad about it painful or not, don’t get me wrong. I’m trying to find me some small dubias and silkworms in my area but on the meantime crickets are all I have. And it’s what my cham’s been eating since he was born. He tried mealworms (when I ran out of crickets) and it turns out he barely likes them as he keeps avoiding to eat them. I’ll just feed them to my turtle I guess.
Panther678
Member
Which insects would you say are soft bodied and wouldnt hurt a chemelon. I'm thinking roaches, flies, moths, slickworms.
C0nwayy
Member
I’d say silkworms, flies, hornworms (although these worm only as a treat), and I heard black soldier fly larvae are high in calcium. Dubia roaches are also a good alternative to crickets. They’re more nutritious and they don’t have barbs on their legs like locusts do.
Panther678
Member
In the UK I have access to dubia roaches, slickworms, crickets, locusts, mealworms, superworms, snails, flies, not sure about black solider fly larvae and definitely not allowed hornworms.
