what to feed my chameleon & when!!

[Kaylatuffy]

I am preparing to own a 2-4 month old panther chameleon so i started making a feeding schedule..

thing is..I dont know what else to feed him/her! I already have written down 8-12 crickets (not sure if thats enough)

Help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[DarinD]

I feed my chameleons crickets, hornworms, dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae, superworms, and silkworms when I can find them. At that age, I'd feed as many as your chameleon can eat in the time span of 2-3 minutes. As they get a bit older you can do 10-12 daily. A varied diet is important. Also, make sure you have your supplements in hand BEFORE bringing your animal home. A good diet means nothing without proper supplementation.

 

[Kaylatuffy]

I feed my chameleons crickets, hornworms, dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae, superworms, and silkworms when I can find them. At that age, I'd feed as many as your chameleon can eat in the time span of 2-3 minutes. As they get a bit older you can do 10-12 daily. A varied diet is important. Also, make sure you have your supplements in hand BEFORE bringing your animal home. A good diet means nothing without proper supplementation.

Great to know! I was researching a bit & I have already ordered Multivitamins, Calcium w/ vitamin D3 & Calcium without..Is there anything else I should order?

 

[DarinD]

You'll need deli cups to dust your feeders with and some small tanks or tubs to hold your feeders.

 

[Kaylatuffy]

You'll need deli cups to dust your feeders with and some small tanks or tubs to hold your feeders.

Alright ill add it to the list, thanks for the help!

 

[DarinD]

Of course. Make sure to research thoroughly, and ensure your enclosure is up and running BEFORE the animal arrives. There's a lot of knowledge on here to help you be successful the first time.

 

[kinyonga]

Are you getting a male or female?

 

[Kaylatuffy]

Are you getting a male or female?

Most likely a female

 

[Katacara]

You'll need deli cups to dust your feeders with and some small tanks or tubs to hold your feeders.

I use a mason jar for dusting and it works great! ;-)

 

[Katacara]

Most likely a female

If you are getting a female make sure you do your research on laying bins because she will need on right away

 

[Kaylatuffy]

If you are getting a female make sure you do your research on laying bins because she will need on right away

Yes, I did a bit of reaserch about that. My dad is going to go to Home Depot to find a bucket big enough

 

[Katacara]

I think laying time can be way more stressful on cham parents than the cham from what I have seen. So if you have questions you can't find answers to on a search feel free to ask away!

 

[Kaylatuffy]

I think laying time can be way more stressful on cham parents than the cham from what I have seen. So if you have questions you can't find answers to on a search feel free to ask away!

well honestly my only question is: Once she lays her infertile eggs, do i just throw them out in the garbage or should i keep them?

 

[Katacara]

I would toss them but that is because I do not have any other pets (right now) that would eat them

 

[NickTide]

Chams are well known for getting tired of crickets and going on hunger strikes. Plus keeping crickets gets to be expensive. You either buy a dozen at a time which is pricey and you have to go to the store every day or two, or you buy 200 crickets (buying more than 200 for 1 cham tends to be a waste), pay shipping and hope that half of them live long enough to be fed off. I personally use crickets as a treat. My main feeder is dubias but as they get older panthers tend to get bored with them as well so I also started a colony of orange heads and green bananas. Even if you don't want to raise roaches, you could buy dubias like 500 at a time and have very few dead. I also I raise Vietnamese stick insects which I got from Andee, a member here.

To keep them from getting too bored I do a bug order about once a month. last order was 200 crickets which I feed off first. I got 100 Black soldier fly larvae (aka BSFL, Calci Worms, Repti Worms, Phoenix Worms) They last a few weeks before pupating, but if you can get a dorm fridge set on the lowest setting and put on a proper timer you can adjust the fridge to to 50 - 60 degrees and they last for months. I bought blue bottle fly larvae but did not get very many to hatch into flies. Some times I get horn worms but they are pricey and grow way fast... get smaller size than you think you need.

I know.. I get long winded.... I have as much fun with my bugs as I do my chams.

 

[kinyonga]

If you get a female once she is sexually mature you need to make sure you don't overfeed her or she will produce larger clutches and can have health issues. Before you throw away infertile clutches, count how many eggs she laid because it gives you an indication of whether you're feeding her too much or not.

When a female is digging to lay the eggs do not let her see you watching her because it usually makes her abandon the hole and if it happens enough she can become eggbound.

 

[Kaylatuffy]

Chams are well known for getting tired of crickets and going on hunger strikes. Plus keeping crickets gets to be expensive. You either buy a dozen at a time which is pricey and you have to go to the store every day or two, or you buy 200 crickets (buying more than 200 for 1 cham tends to be a waste), pay shipping and hope that half of them live long enough to be fed off. I personally use crickets as a treat. My main feeder is dubias but as they get older panthers tend to get bored with them as well so I also started a colony of orange heads and green bananas. Even if you don't want to raise roaches, you could buy dubias like 500 at a time and have very few dead. I also I raise Vietnamese stick insects which I got from Andee, a member here.

To keep them from getting too bored I do a bug order about once a month. last order was 200 crickets which I feed off first. I got 100 Black soldier fly larvae (aka BSFL, Calci Worms, Repti Worms, Phoenix Worms) They last a few weeks before pupating, but if you can get a dorm fridge set on the lowest setting and put on a proper timer you can adjust the fridge to to 50 - 60 degrees and they last for months. I bought blue bottle fly larvae but did not get very many to hatch into flies. Some times I get horn worms but they are pricey and grow way fast... get smaller size than you think you need.

I know.. I get long winded.... I have as much fun with my bugs as I do my chams.

Thats great to know but since I live in Canada i'm 99.9% sure dubia roaches are illegal where I live

 

[Kaylatuffy]

If you get a female once she is sexually mature you need to make sure you don't overfeed her or she will produce larger clutches and can have health issues. Before you throw away infertile clutches, count how many eggs she laid because it gives you an indication of whether you're feeding her too much or not.

When a female is digging to lay the eggs do not let her see you watching her because it usually makes her abandon the hole and if it happens enough she can become eggbound.

how many eggs do females lay normally?

 

[kinyonga]

Under two dozen is likely considered normal. That's about what they would lay in the wild...so I consider that to be what we should aim for in captivity.

 

[Kaylatuffy]

Under two dozen is likely considered normal. That's about what they would lay in the wild...so I consider that what we should aim for in captivity.

Okay, thanks!