I've always had good luck with Mori Feeders silkies. I buy them small and begin feeding off once they grow to a decent size. Reasonable worm and shipping prices.
It's not horrible of you for not trying harder, it's good. Handling should be at the chameleons pace to avoid stress. Mine was initially hesitant to come out but eventually started trusting me more and more and it's no problem getting him out anymore.
It's ok to let them walk on the grass to...
1) linear uvb light
ZooMed Reptisun T5 HO (High Output)
or
Arcadia D3 6% UVB T5
2) heat bulb that will give the right temperatures throughout the large tank.
Household bulbs work fine. For wattage it depends on the distance between bulb and branch. The goal is to have the temperature...
I bought my starter colony of around 25 females 10 males from dubiaroaches.com late 2018 which cost around $35 + S&H. I now have more than I know what to do with because my panther only eats them if I starve him for a 3-4 days. When I decided to start the colony, he would wake up in the morning...
Yeah, that's what I'm working on myself. That was my plan the first time not knowing that you cannot refrigerate purchased eggs unless the seller ships them chilled cold enough.
Another easy feeder is dubia roaches, if your chameleon will eat them. I can sell you a nice starter colony if you want.
Mori feeders has never let me down with live worms. They come in healthy, with a few extra as a buffer in case some perish in transit or die on you. Shipping charge is cheaper than most out there and they arrive fast.
For eggs, I've gotten them twice from Coastal Silkworms and had no issues...
You can slow the growth by keeping them cool, 50-55F, same as with BSFL's. Take the ones you want to feed off and place them at room temp or warmer with food and a few days later feed them off.
I think hornworms are one of the few insects that can hold a lot of gutload. I put mine in a container with repashy bug burger prior to being fed off. I can see the bug burger get squeezed out when he takes his bites.
With crickets, dubias, superworms, BSFLs I am not too sure about how well...
They need to be kept warmer than the fridge, 50-55F range, to be safe.
I have successfully kept one batch of BSFL in the refrigerator back before I knew any better, and I took them out as needed.
Then I bought a batch from Sympton, who's FAQ's say it's ok to refrigerate, and they all died...