Chameleon diet on a budget?

[capratt]

I was wondering what I should feed my 1 year ish old veiled. I’ve been struggling with crickets because I buy them and over half of them die the next day. But the dubia roaches stayed alive until he finished them which was awhile. But things are kinda tight right now. What should I do? Thanks everybody

 

[Beman]

Someone just posted about Dubia.com doing a special for customers where you get free dubia but you just pay the shipping. Check this thread. https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...ping-not-sure-how-long-the-sale-lasts.192553/

 

[ChameleonClem]

I struggled w crickets too. Idk if this will help but I learned that theyre much more dependent on water than food so i keep a dish with a saturated paper towel in there and just feed this different food scraps maybe once a week or flukers cricket cube food (just to keep them alive). Also i keep them in a 10 gal.

 

[elizaann2]

Maybe consider breeding some of your own bugs. Bsfl on dubia.com are dirt cheap the bulk of my bugs are bsfl.

 

[MikeyBen]

Maybe consider breeding some of your own bugs. Bsfl on dubia.com are dirt cheap the bulk of my bugs are bsfl.

Agree with Eliza. BSFL are easier to keep than crickets, healthier feeder too. The flies also provide great hunting enrichment.

 

[MissSkittles]

I have a small army of insect eaters so need to save wherever I can. It’s quite a big savings to start your own small roach colony. It can take a small investment to get started and a few months before it will be productive enough, but is so easy and well worth it. I have cricket problems too…when I buy domestic ones. Banded crickets are much hardier. Make sure to keep them in a well ventilated and large enough bin and you should have few die off. While the cost of shipping might seem to make buying feeders on line more expensive, in the long run it’s about the same or even less cost. Every time I’ve had to buy feeders from the pet store, they are either already dead or close to it (things like bsfl, wax worms, etc). To save a little on shipping, I order crickets/feeders a bit smaller than I need and more than enough to last a few weeks to a month. By the time I’m needing to order more, the few remaining crickets have grown but are still a good size for my animals.