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Robo

Robo

New Member
This is a great example of why You NEVER should feed outside wild caught insects to your reptiles!

 
It all depends on the parasites life cycle on if it would survive inside the the cham or not. Using wild caught bugs is a risk vs benefit equation and I think the benefit outweighs the risk. I use wild caught insects whenever I can.
jamest0o0 said:
You people that take these risks must have never grown up in cities
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I was thinking the exact opposite because you city Folk are a bunch of wusses. Afraid of a few parasites that may infect your chameleon but can be easily diagnosed was a fecal and treated with some medication from the vet. I know the city has its fair share of roaches and some bed bugs but you should see the insects out here in the country and wood roaches are no joke. Some are 3 or 4 inches long and they fly.
 
I've been to both city and country, rather have big bugs in the country than getting my house broken into in the city lol. As for bugs, sorry I don't want to feed bugs that have eaten trash, live in polluted water, air, etc. Which benefits are we talking about? What have you noticed thats better? Im curiois... My Chams are beautiful I've had reptiles live for 15+ years(still new to Chams though) and I don't feed wild bugs.
 
Btw I'm not trying to argue, I'm just genuinely curious people keep saying the risks outweigh the benefits, which benefits are these? Are you Chams larger, more colorful, long lived, etc? Not saying they aren't, just wondering what you guys that feed wild have noticed is all.
 
You all both have great points But. The benefit of the doubt is These vet visits and special medications from the vets cost money, And some people dont even have exotic vets in their area, Its really a matter of 50/50. Wild caught insects could be eating on hell, anything..we dont know what they may have eaten before you've caught them and fed them to the cham, it could've been stuff that may be toxic to the cham, poison them and kill them..its a risk that I personally will not take just because i DONT know what they've eaten on beforehand.
Some people have other opinions and might go along with it, but ultimately its their choice to take that Risk. -Vanessa
 
Idk in my opinion, most scary neurological species like horsehair worms etc, won't survive the intestinal tract of a reptile because a lot of those types of parasites are highly specialized and looking for a very specific host. As far as multiple types of scary intestinal parasites and certain protozoa that we deal with normally anyway is something to be expected even from captive raised feeders, especially if you get your feeders from shit sources like petco or huge farms. Where it's hard to keep up with the dirt and filth they create. It's why weather my chameleons are fed wild or captive purely at the time I get fecals done at least once a year if not every 6 months. Sorry to say but keeping reptiles means you have to deal with parasites and things similar.
 
jamest0o0 said:
I've been to both city and country, rather have big bugs in the country than getting my house broken into in the city lol. As for bugs, sorry I don't want to feed bugs that have eaten trash, live in polluted water, air, etc. Which benefits are we talking about? What have you noticed thats better? Im curiois... My Chams are beautiful I've had reptiles live for 15+ years(still new to Chams though) and I don't feed wild bugs.
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I see different behavior in my chams when I offer wild insects vs my regular feeders. When I offer a katydid or grasshopper or whatever I catch they eat eagerly and hunt it down quickly. They don't eat with the same enthusiasm with my regular feeders and it's not like I offer only 1. I use at least 5 different regular feeders but they don't eat them with the same gusto as a wild caught bug. Besides I look at it this way, we're all worried about their exposure to pesticides, I agree we should should mitigate the exposure, but do you really think the chameleons in the wild live in a bubble where there not exposed to pesticides? Even the ones in the most remote parts of the world are not immune and have some exposure to pollution and haven't died. A few wild caught insects I catch over the summer is pretty low risk in my opinion, especially since I live in the middle of the forest and there's no spraying of chemicals close by. Sure some bugs probably travel and may have been exposed but it hasn't killed them in previous years.
 
hey guys thanks for taking the time to explain some of it. Hope you all didn't take it as me being combative. I never considered feeding wild bugs here, my main concern is just the pollution and garbage around. I'm sure chams in the wild come in contact with pesticides and such, but I just want to keep them away from crap if I can help it. I'd be afraid of feeding a dangerous bug or something, but maybe next time I go up camp I'll see if theres anything interesting around.

Question about parasites, we always hear that crickets carry them, what other feeders are likely to carry them? Could you lower parasite risk by not feeding crickets? Luckily, I haven't had to deal with them yet, but I have fully planted enclosures all in one room, I'd hate to have to tear it all apart. I plan on breeding in the future and one thing that worries me is having a parasite outbreak.
 
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