Variety

[chameleon guy]

hi i Want my chameleon to get a huge variety of food so i was wondering if I can feed her small spiders, little black ants, mantids, grass hoppers, locusts, lady bugs, painted lady butterflies, beetles, millipedes, and dragonflies. Sorry for the huge list but i would be grateful for any advice.

 

[Sporkthedork]

small spiders - I wouldn't cause they could hurt your cham
little black ants - I would think they would become a problem. Some members have posted on ant infestations killing off their feeders.
mantids - aren't they a little expensive for a feeder?
grass hoppers - I've seen pics of European members feeding them to their cham.
locusts - same as grasshoppers
lady bugs - NO they're toxic
painted lady butterflies - there was a thread saying they're ok
beetles - depends on the type
millipedes - most are toxic, some can kill humans
and dragonflies - I've seen a pic of a cham eating one (a very funny pic with captions). I've wanted to feed them myself, but they're hard to find and their life cycle requires a pond (or body of water), so that's hard to breed.

 

[dodolah]

hi i Want my chameleon to get a huge variety of food so i was wondering if I can feed her small spiders, little black ants, mantids, grass hoppers, locusts, lady bugs, painted lady butterflies, beetles, millipedes, and dragonflies. Sorry for the huge list but i would be grateful for any advice.

Here's a big no no insects to feed :

small spiders -> Can be poisonous. Something small like a black widow spider can give huge problem to your chameleon. So, avoid feeding spiders to your
chameleon. Unless, you knew for sure it is non poisonous and cannot put up
a fight.

little black ants -> ants are acidic in nature. I doubt your chameleon will like them. They can also gang up on your chameleon and probably kill him in the process.

lady bugs-> poisonous

beetles -> some beetle has defensive odor such as stinkbugs. Not a good idea. On op of that, the shell might be too hard to digest.

Other than that: check mulberryfarms.com, coastalsilkworms.com, mantisplace.com, ken the bug guy (our sponsor), etc etc..

Millipede is not toxic. Centipedes are the toxic one..

 

[lrg83caleb]

I am nervous about feeding my cham anything wild caught. It isn't worth the risk. I'm assuming the insects that you listed were going to be wild caught.

 

[chameleon guy]

what about a daddy long legs spider? and what about a single ant no bigger than half a centimeter?

 

[lrg83caleb]

Not for my guy, I've invested far too much to have something I can control potentially harm him. That's my philosophy though and I am sure that others on this forum have done it and it has been just fine.

 

[Pieces]

my cham is afraid of spiders i had one like a yo-yo with its web and hung it infront of pieces and he freaked right out ive never seen him run away so quick.

 

[sandrachameleon]

A wide variety of feeders is an excellent way to go. But you do have to be careful about what you offer, especially if its wild caught.

For a good list of feeder options, click here
and here
and also have a look at the feeder db on this forum

 

[chameleon guy]

A wide variety of feeders is an excellent way to go. But you do have to be careful about what you offer, especially if its wild caught.

For a good list of feeder options, click here
and here
and also have a look at the feeder db on this forum

Thanks this was really useful. I didn't know chams can eat cabbage butterflies.

 

[liquidsweetness]

little black ants -> ants are acidic in nature. I doubt your chameleon will like them. They can also gang up on your chameleon and probably kill him in the process.

I had a problem with little black ants for a few days (until i found out that if you feed them uncooked grits, they swell and die. Nice organic way to kill them for anyone who ever needed one...) and the ants found the little bit of food I leave in the chameleon cages to sustain the fruit flies... My male loved eating them, but I had to take them away, poor guy. There were just too many for him to keep up with, and the threat to him they potentially posed, just wasn't worth it, not to mention I really didn't care for them marching all over my house...

 

[lizardlover15]

dont own a cham (YET) but i believe daddy long leggers are one of the most deadliest creatures in the world. just the fact that they cant bite as their mouths are too small. im sure the venom is in them somewhere so i would definitely avodi them. not completely sure about this so maybe someone can back me up if this is true

 

[Sporkthedork]

Yes, daddy long-legs spiders are one of the most poisonous (I think it's actually venomous because it's injected rather than eaten) spiders in the world. However, most people can't tell the difference between a daddy long-legs and a daddy long-legs spider. They can't inject their toxin to humans because their fangs are too small to penetrate human skin. I'm not sure how chameleon skin compares to humans, so I wouldn't try experimenting with those. Either way don't try feeding them.
Here's a really cool link:
http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html