Acceptable Meal Plan?

[mandyyy]

I have a large female veiled chameleon. I was feeding her only crickets dusted in calcium but several problems arose with that. My roommates were complaining of the sound, smell(I was keeping roughly 100 at a time, so you can only imagine), and the inevitable escapees! I would be lying if saying these things weren't bothering me as well. As much as I would love to feed her dubia, no one wants them in the apartment, so that out of the question. I recently ordered some super worms and I'm waiting on my shipment of horn worms to arrive any day now. My question is would a diet of mainly horns and supers be acceptable? With a few crickets thrown in as well? Maybe a dozen a week. The nearest pet store that sells crickets is about 30-40 minutes away so I couldn't run more than once per week, but I think I could keep everyone happy with having no more than a dozen in a small critter keeper. Of course I would continue dusting with calcium.


Second question I have, is how much should I feed her? Several breeders have told me no more than 3-5 bugs every other day, but the second she sees the bug container she goes nuts as if she hasn't eaten in her entire life. I feel like I'm starving her. There was one time in particular she ate about 15 crickets in one 5 minute sitting. How many worms should I feed her daily?

 

[sulfurboy1o3]

ok. Its tough that you have roomates. I rent a room and i too am always hoping none of the 10 species of bugs get to the wrong spot in the house.

Here is what i think you should do....
Your female is an adult, so feeding only 5 to 10 items every other day is recommended so that way they dont develope too many eggs. Helping their life expectancy a bit.
If you are able to raise dubia roaches in your room, that something that you can do that will smell less. less likely to escape, and just much easier to have reproduce. MUCH MUCH less hassle. Then you can feed that as 40% of your diet and then buy crickets or worms randomly throughout the week or however you want. So maybe 25 crickets a week, or a dozen silks and horned. Keep it light on the mealies and stuff.

 

[camimom]

She should eat no more than 6 every other day, she's not going to starve, honest.
No one bug should make up more than 40% of her diet. Supers can be hard to digest.
Silkworms can be a good staple feeder, but you'll need to breed them as sellers tend to get shortages of them.

 

[SarahcoadunatioZac]

I'd suggest the Dubia, just dont tell the roomies. Put them in a bin in the closet and they'll never know.

 

[VanessaS]

Haha... When my sister came over, I told her my two panthers were eating a type of Rollie pollie. I would not dare say dubias were a roach ; ) it worked for now ; ) but when they start eating the larger ones, who knows... : / try dubias, and good luck