What do I feed my new chameleon?!?!?!

[Dmcugy]

Soo im not totally stupid i jus did that to get your attention. Anyway i got my baby veiled cham friday morning and he has been gobbling up crikets but i just wanted some advice as to what are the best additives to crickets to get a more diverse diet. I have read that silk worms are some of the best insects you can feed with?

 

[carol5208]

yes silks are great. Just make sure you order the small ones if your cham is a baby as you stated. Hornworms are good feeders also but they grow at an alarming rate and will probably get too big too fast so I would wait until your cham gets bigger for that. Mealworms and waxworms could be fed more as treats. Most love the supers but I am not sure how small you could get them. I did not start feeding supers until about 6 months. All the supers I buy at the reptile store are far too big for a baby.

 

[sdheli420]

ya i would go silkies..its true about the hornworms, they grow like they are on steriods!! lol

 

[Dmcugy]

yes silks are great. Just make sure you order the small ones if your cham is a baby as you stated. Hornworms are good feeders also but they grow at an alarming rate and will probably get too big too fast so I would wait until your cham gets bigger for that. Mealworms and waxworms could be fed more as treats. Most love the supers but I am not sure how small you could get them. I did not start feeding supers until about 6 months. All the supers I buy at the reptile store are far too big for a baby.

ok great i found a website that grows and sells silk worms. http://www.silkwormshop.com/index.html
Have u heard of them at all? I think i could buy the small ones and they should work. My cham is prolly about 4-5 inches nose to end of tail.

 

[mreinsteiner]

Soo im not totally stupid i jus did that to get your attention. Anyway i got my baby veiled cham friday morning and he has been gobbling up crikets but i just wanted some advice as to what are the best additives to crickets to get a more diverse diet. I have read that silk worms are some of the best insects you can feed with?

I use three different supplements with my cham. Calcium with out D3 5 times a week. Calcium with D3 2 times a month. And a multi vitamin 1-2 times a month. I picked all these things up at Petco, and something called repti safe which is a water treatment.

I really like mixing up my cham's diet, crickets are the main staple, but I like mill worms, wax worms and silkworms. You might be careful feeding silkworms to your baby cham, the ones you can order/buy from pet stores are usually too big for a baby cham. I'd get them from eggs and raise them till they are the right size.

 

[lilwish]

I ordered 2 things of small silkworms and the ones i got were all over an inch WAY to big to feed to my chams I was very upset since they are not cheap and i was planning on using them as feeder so i didnt get as mamy crickets, so becareful if they have xsmall order that! I feed my panthers pheonix worms they love them!! and from what i have ordered and kept of them they dont GROW to fast!

 

[carol5208]

yes, you also got Mulberry Farms in Cali, Coastal Silkworms in Cali and they are in Florida too. That is where I get my silks, horns, and phoenix worms. Oh, phoenix worms are good too and they turn into flies. They come small enough for your cham to eat. I know Coastal sells them. With the silks, you are gonna have to buy the chow or unless you have access to a mulberry tree, that is basically all they eat!!! You can buy the pods with the worms and chow all in one which are nice but the poop does tend to get caught up in all the silk(or whatever it is) they string. They say "easy cleaning" all the poop falls to the bottom. Well not exactly!!!

 

[Picasso123]

DONT feed just worms. They need stuff from the crickets, ie the veggie nutrients they eat before being fed to the cham. Oranges are great to feed crickets as a water source. When the the rind is left toss it and give them new ones. Try to use a different fruit and veggie every week and use the repical and repical w/ D3 powders too.

 

[carol5208]

DONT feed just worms. They need stuff from the crickets, ie the veggie nutrients they eat before being fed to the cham. Oranges are great to feed crickets as a water source. When the the rind is left toss it and give them new ones. Try to use a different fruit and veggie every week and use the repical and repical w/ D3 powders too.

I basically feed my cham a variety of worms. Not by choice. But by his choice!!! I feed him supers which can be gutloaded and they add some chitin to his diet unlike most of the worms. Also you can let the silks cocoon and feed off the moths.

 

[lilwish]

I basically feed my cham a variety of worms. Not by choice. But by his choice!!! I feed him supers which can be gutloaded and they add some chitin to his diet unlike most of the worms. Also you can let the silks cocoon and feed off the moths.

I have a hard time getting one of mine to eat crickets she eats one here and there but really likes her pheonix worms the other prefers crickets! they are worse then kids with having a mind of their own!!

 

[Texas Ranger]

I recommend Dubias over crickets. They can be used as a staple along with silkworms. Dubias are the way to go for weight and growth. They come in all sizes. Way more size choices thatn other feeders. And they will eat anything so they are great for gutloading. As for the Silkworm shop.com I have used them in the past. But now I just order bulk eggs and hatch them myself. It is alot cheaper in the long run.

Good luck with your new cham. Your in the right place for advice.

 

[Dmcugy]

Awesome advice guys!! I really appreciate it!

 

[Kansascity]

I also include organic Kale or collards which they love to eat I just cut them up according to their size and they munch away! There are other fresh fruits and veggi’s you can feed as well. Everyone else covered the insects.

 

[krknieriem]

Here is a site you can order Superwaorms down to 1/2 an inch, my cham loves the supers and still eats the crickets, although the supers do get eaten first he doesnt go on a hunger strike if he doesnt have them

http://www.greatlakeshornworm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=64

 

[RayneFeather]

I also include organic Kale or collards which they love to eat I just cut them up according to their size and they munch away! There are other fresh fruits and veggi’s you can feed as well. Everyone else covered the insects.

I never knew chams eat fruit and veggies (I'm very new to this, busy reading up on everything now) I thought they strictly ate insects. Do you maybe have a list or know of a link where i can find additional info on this please? Would be much appreciated =)

 

[heather1]

i agree it would be nice to have a cheat sheet of what they can have and how good it is for them something printable to put on frig or if thier is one on here were is it?