Worm to the mother!

[SAYWIZARD]

hey people! i have a question that im sure is redundant and has been answered many times but i am new to caring for chams.

i have a 3 month old baby veiled and i want to start feeding him a wider variety of food, specifically worms.

when i went to a local pet shop to buy worms they recommended that i don't feed my baby cham worms yet until he is older.

i have gotten some questionable advice from them before.
they told me that at such a young age it isn't easy for their digestive system to process.

what do you guys recommend. i want to hand feed my boy some TREATS every now and then to develop some EARLY rapport. i am not down with touching crickets. no can do!

what do you guys suggest i do?

 

[mychamtini112012]

I do not believe that feeding worms to a three month old chameleon is frowned upon or bad for him, as long as you can get them small enough. General rule of thumb is no wider then the space between their eyes and no longer then their head. Worms would be easier to digest, I would believe, then a cricket or super worm or roaches, because they are soft bodied and do not contain chitin. Some GREAT worm feeders are butter worms, which are high in fiber. Silk worms give a great source of hydration and usually persuade those picky eaters. Hornworms are a great worm to add a little weight on the chameleon and are good for them. Silkworms and Hornworms grow EXTREMELY fast though and get VERY big, so you'll have to feed them off fast. Wax worms are high in fat, so should only be treats. Superworms, small ones, and meal worms are good but should not make up more then 10% of the diet and if fed the chameleon will need an equal amount of soft bodied feeders to help reduce impaction.

You'll probably have to touch crickets sooner or later, they can't just eat soft odied feeders. If not crickets then roaches.

 

[SAYWIZARD]

I do not believe that feeding worms to a three month old chameleon is frowned upon or bad for him, as long as you can get them small enough. General rule of thumb is no wider then the space between their eyes and no longer then their head. Worms would be easier to digest, I would believe, then a cricket or super worm or roaches, because they are soft bodied and do not contain chitin. Some GREAT worm feeders are butter worms, which are high in fiber. Silk worms give a great source of hydration and usually persuade those picky eaters. Hornworms are a great worm to add a little weight on the chameleon and are good for them. Silkworms and Hornworms grow EXTREMELY fast though and get VERY big, so you'll have to feed them off fast. Wax worms are high in fat, so should only be treats. Superworms, small ones, and meal worms are good but should not make up more then 10% of the diet and if fed the chameleon will need an equal amount of soft bodied feeders to help reduce impaction.

You'll probably have to touch crickets sooner or later, they can't just eat soft odied feeders. If not crickets then roaches.

thanks a lot for the feedback. yes he loves crickets right now and has no problem eating them at all. thats all he has been eating since i got him. he wont eat vegetables or fruit yet. i really dont know where to put the food cause he doesnt really explore the bottom of his cage at all yet. i clipped some to his vines but he was just scared of it at first then just walks on by the greens.

and i have had to grab a few crickets that escaped, it was no biggie but i dont know how to squeeze them correctly because i had a few legs breaking off and it seems they are too jumpy to sit in your palm to hand feed. the worm seems easier for hand feeding as they cant cover as much ground as fast as jumping roaches.

ok i will get some butter worms and silkworms to start off with. thanks again!

 

[jojothefirst]

What worms are you talking about?
meal worms are proberly what your pet shop are refering to and I think they are right.
Wax worms are fatty so only a treat. silk worms are very good though I think.

 

[SAYWIZARD]

What worms are you talking about?
meal worms are proberly what your pet shop are refering to and I think they are right.
Wax worms are fatty so only a treat. silk worms are very good though I think.

i think your right.. he was talking about the meal worms.. so is it difficult to keep the silk worms alive/fed? do you typically keep them in the same container you buy them in?

 

[mychamtini112012]

Meal worms are fine, if not fed more then 10% of the diet and followed by soft bodied insects. I already said that.

Silk worms can be kept the cup they come in for a bit, but will outgrow it. At that time you can just keep them in a regular tupperware container, size depends on how many you have. They eat mulberry food, which you can buy from a website or give them mulberry leaves.