Zoo Med Bug napper, Victor M380 Fly Magnet - serving flies as treats

[unixmiah]

Hi,
I wanted to always have some backup food available for my two chameleons and wanted to get a Zoo Med Fly Napper but this product is discontinued. However it's for sale on eBay but I'll get it next month with I'm good with $$$$.

I ended up getting something way cheaper from amazon, I got Victor M380 Fly Magnet 1-Quart Reusable Trap With Bait and I stuck a fish in there and now there are a lot of flies.

I feed my Chameleons only the best-- when I saw the flies I got grossed out. I live in a very heavily wooded forested area near James River Park, Richmond Virginia- all these flies are from the river/forest area, there aren't any fast food places or anything busy nearby so I'm not sure if the flies are good quality.

Is it safe to un-leash the flies to the Chameleons? will they get sick? I only gave the flies to my older Chameleon vs. me giving it to my 6 weeks old Panther. I did get few fruit flies but I want to know for sure.

Will they get sick? stomach issues from eating flies? should I dust it? I'd only feed it for a treat because yesterday when I fed my 4 month Veiled he loved it. He was super active, going from one corner of the cage to other back and forth until all of them were gone, he may have eaten about 25-30 and still wanted more.

Now I'm getting worried if he's going to be ok. He looks normal to me this am before I left to work but looking for comments or any previous experience with his from anyone.

 

[MarieMc44]

My two cents is... realistically, it's always a gamble with wild caught bugs, but Chameleons can get parasites from even captive bred so it's a gamble either way (granted there's a slimmer chance with captive feeders). The good thing with wild caught insects is that they're gut loaded with an endless amount of resources, and in your case, from where you live, their gut loaded bodies would be highly beneficial... So I think the rewards are greater than the risk when dealing with wild bugs...

Personally, if I find a moth that I can easily capture, I don't hesitate to give it to him.

 

[unixmiah]

I really enjoyed him eating them. Chameleons love things that fly (learned from observation only), each time I gave him something that flies that absolutely loves chasing them down. I give him Cricket all the time, but I wanted to diversify his diet.

I did not have good luck with superworms and 0 luck with wax worms. I wanted the entire case of wax worms. I gave him super worms the first 2 days he loved it, ate them in less few seconds each, basically just swallowed them and I thought yay, since he eats it so quick maybe I'll use that as a treat. After the second day when I gave him the super worms he just looked at them, didn't even eat it and they ended up escaping from his feeder container.

When I showed him the wax worms, no re-action, he looked at it and left it alone. He loves crickets, I guess they move quicker and I hope they eat the Dubia roaches i've been colonizing, noting being born yet, but hopefully he will eat them.

 

[Carlton]

Hi,
I wanted to always have some backup food available for my two chameleons and wanted to get a Zoo Med Fly Napper but this product is discontinued. However it's for sale on eBay but I'll get it next month with I'm good with $$$$.

I ended up getting something way cheaper from amazon, I got Victor M380 Fly Magnet 1-Quart Reusable Trap With Bait and I stuck a fish in there and now there are a lot of flies.

I feed my Chameleons only the best-- when I saw the flies I got grossed out. I live in a very heavily wooded forested area near James River Park, Richmond Virginia- all these flies are from the river/forest area, there aren't any fast food places or anything busy nearby so I'm not sure if the flies are good quality.

Is it safe to un-leash the flies to the Chameleons? will they get sick? I only gave the flies to my older Chameleon vs. me giving it to my 6 weeks old Panther. I did get few fruit flies but I want to know for sure.

Will they get sick? stomach issues from eating flies? should I dust it? I'd only feed it for a treat because yesterday when I fed my 4 month Veiled he loved it. He was super active, going from one corner of the cage to other back and forth until all of them were gone, he may have eaten about 25-30 and still wanted more.

Now I'm getting worried if he's going to be ok. He looks normal to me this am before I left to work but looking for comments or any previous experience with his from anyone.

I also feed some wildcaught insects but flies are not one of them. They feed on feces, carrion, rotting garbage, and could even get into spilled chemicals such as antifreeze (the sweet smell probably attracts them) as well as a lot of other nicer things. You can buy houseflies and blue bottle flies and raise them yourself. Most chams love flies so it is worth some trouble.

 

[MarieMc44]

I really enjoyed him eating them. Chameleons love things that fly (learned from observation only), each time I gave him something that flies that absolutely loves chasing them down. I give him Cricket all the time, but I wanted to diversify his diet.

I did not have good luck with superworms and 0 luck with wax worms. I wanted the entire case of wax worms. I gave him super worms the first 2 days he loved it, ate them in less few seconds each, basically just swallowed them and I thought yay, since he eats it so quick maybe I'll use that as a treat. After the second day when I gave him the super worms he just looked at them, didn't even eat it and they ended up escaping from his feeder container.

When I showed him the wax worms, no re-action, he looked at it and left it alone. He loves crickets, I guess they move quicker and I hope they eat the Dubia roaches i've been colonizing, noting being born yet, but hopefully he will eat them.

Same here, Spike LOVED superworms but after a few days, he was already over them... He won't even touch dubias considering they don't move very much... He's been over crickets since he was 5 months... He loves silkies and hornworms and anything that flies... Variety is key so you're on the right track, but I do agree with Carlton about the flies...

 

[CarlC]

One of the sponsors here Mantis Place sells two types of flies. Give Rebbeca a call. She'll hook you up with a safe clean source of flies.

Carl