What is considered a good ‘low protein’ diet for veileds?

[Nal0114]

So I have a veiled chameleon she’s about 1.5 YO now.

When I got her she had a potential history of possibly having gout. Her uric acid in her blood was high.

Since then she’s been living in a bioactive set up with a wide variety of bugs some of them just there because they are she’s a picky thing.

She will eat crickets, mealworms, hornworms, grasshoppers.

She will not Dubai’s, calciworms.

I am just looking to expand her food for her give her more of a variety.

 

[MissSkittles]

It’s not so much what you feed to your chameleon…as long as you’re giving a variety. It’s much of what you are feeding to your feeders. For example, if you are giving your feeders pet or other animal food, they will be higher in protein and increase risks for gout. You want to give your feeders primarily a plant based diet. Graphics below to help. I will give to my adult breeder roaches a small bit of protein and calcium (in the form of fish flakes or a couple of pieces of dog kibble and either crushed egg shells or calcium bird/turtle block) but only maybe once a month or so and it is after I’ve removed the nymphs to a separate bin. Then the nymphs, which are my feeders, get only fresh organic produce and a little bit of bug burger. All other feeders have a plant based diet.

 

[Nal0114]

They eat the plants and everything that’s in the cage itself I buy them from a small business place.

When I asked what he fed them he said because it’s a pattoned formula made up by the breeder he buys them from he can’t share it.

 

[MissSkittles]

They eat the plants and everything that’s in the cage itself I buy them from a small business place.

When I asked what he fed them he said because it’s a pattoned formula made up by the breeder he buys them from he can’t share it.

What feeders specifically are you getting from that person? It’s great that they have their own food formula, but I would want some assurance that there isn’t an animal protein in it. I don’t know the amount of time it takes for each feeder to fully digest food, but if you have your feeders for at least several days before giving them to your chameleon, and you are feeding them healthy produce/plant matter, I would think they would have already passed what was fed to them before. I do know that crickets have a very short digestion time and roaches are much longer.
Back to your original question, I would add some silkworms, eliminate the mealworms and instead give superworms as a treat. One of my favorite treats to give is pupated black soldier flys. My chameleons love being able to hunt down flying bugs. Even one of my bearded dragons loves it. You could also let wax worms pupate into moths. Silkworms pupate into the cutest little moths, but they don’t fly. They still make fun and tasty treats for chameleons though. Speaking of flying treats and feeders, you could get some bottle fly spikes, or larvae to hatch out.
I try to rotate my staple feeders to keep things as interesting as possible. One week the main staple will be crickets and I’ll add in maybe a few bsfl or other feeder. The next week the main staple might be silkworms with a different addition. Then roaches as primary, etc etc.

 

[nightanole]

To piggy back off of MissSkilles:
silkies are a low protein low uric acid feeder
black soldier anything would be low uric acid if fed just veg, same with wax worms

As for bought feeders, ALOT of suppliers feed them a high protein diet because they grow exceptionally fast on it, and its very cheap. It might be a very healthy diet/gut load, but i have seen them as high as 35-40% protein.

"growing" feeders you are safe to feed 5-7 days after shipping, so they may only have a 2-3 day wait at your house. Full grown feeders i would wait at least a week at the house, as they may have stored up alot of protein as uric acid, so you have to wait for the both the gut load to pass, and for them to burn through their protein stores.

 

[Nal0114]

I

What feeders specifically are you getting from that person? It’s great that they have their own food formula, but I would want some assurance that there isn’t an animal protein in it. I don’t know the amount of time it takes for each feeder to fully digest food, but if you have your feeders for at least several days before giving them to your chameleon, and you are feeding them healthy produce/plant matter, I would think they would have already passed what was fed to them before. I do know that crickets have a very short digestion time and roaches are much longer.
Back to your original question, I would add some silkworms, eliminate the mealworms and instead give superworms as a treat. One of my favorite treats to give is pupated black soldier flys. My chameleons love being able to hunt down flying bugs. Even one of my bearded dragons loves it. You could also let wax worms pupate into moths. Silkworms pupate into the cutest little moths, but they don’t fly. They still make fun and tasty treats for chameleons though. Speaking of flying treats and feeders, you could get some bottle fly spikes, or larvae to hatch out.
I try to rotate my staple feeders to keep things as interesting as possible. One week the main staple will be crickets and I’ll add in maybe a few bsfl or other feeder. The next week the main staple might be silkworms with a different addition. Then roaches as primary, etc etc.

strictly get crickets and super worms. Crickets being what has a the secret food.

 

[Nal0114]

What feeders specifically are you getting from that person? It’s great that they have their own food formula, but I would want some assurance that there isn’t an animal protein in it. I don’t know the amount of time it takes for each feeder to fully digest food, but if you have your feeders for at least several days before giving them to your chameleon, and you are feeding them healthy produce/plant matter, I would think they would have already passed what was fed to them before. I do know that crickets have a very short digestion time and roaches are much longer.
Back to your original question, I would add some silkworms, eliminate the mealworms and instead give superworms as a treat. One of my favorite treats to give is pupated black soldier flys. My chameleons love being able to hunt down flying bugs. Even one of my bearded dragons loves it. You could also let wax worms pupate into moths. Silkworms pupate into the cutest little moths, but they don’t fly. They still make fun and tasty treats for chameleons though. Speaking of flying treats and feeders, you could get some bottle fly spikes, or larvae to hatch out.
I try to rotate my staple feeders to keep things as interesting as possible. One week the main staple will be crickets and I’ll add in maybe a few bsfl or other feeder. The next week the main staple might be silkworms with a different addition. Then roaches as primary, etc etc.

From everything I’ve read in gut loading once the cricket is gut loaded it says wait 24 hours to feed. So