Ants

[Zombie Chameleon]

I don't know if this is dumb or not but I was sitting out side and I saw a big juicy ant and I was thinking on catching a bunch of them so they can start a colony in this big container I have . The I would gut load them for awhile and feed them to my Chameleons as a treat if they liked it of course . I already have a queen ant in my possession is this a dumb plan ? I would only be feeding 1 ant at a time because I've seen ants take down some big animals as a team .

 

[Lovereps]

Not a dumb question at all.
Personally, I would avoid ants as feeders, since they are predatory and have a strong bite--so they may bite a cham's lips or tongue, possibly leading to infection.

You can breed other interesting insects to feed your chams, such as land snails or isopods aka Pillbugs, Roly Poly bugs, woodlice.

Sandrachameleon writes good blogs and has info on breeding these and other insects:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/133-snails.html#comment1826

 

[Zombie Chameleon]

Thanks yea Maybe ants are a bad idea lol .

 

[Tay And A]

No. I also would not recommend using ants as feeders. :\

 

[nick barta]

Many species have high folic acid levels.

 

[Zombie Chameleon]

What about Horn worms or are they to hard to breed ? Hmmm thanks you guys ill find a bug to use as a snack sooner or later lol .

 

[spadefish]

I have found that dubia roaches are fairly easy to raise. You can get nymphs to feed off or you can breed them yourself. I know others have had a sometimes difficult time breeding them, but they are like rabbits for me. I feed them fruit and roach food that I blend up myself with dried fruit, oats, nuts, etc.

 

[Tay And A]

There are tons of bugs you can try as feeders. Roaches, hornworms, butter worms, Superworms, crickets, etc.

 

[Lovereps]

Many species have high folic acid levels.

I believe you mean formic acid, Nick ---and you have a good point.
Some interesting tidbits on that:
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/formic/formich.htm

There are plenty of other great feeders but there is a need to be cautious to ensure that the prey will be beneficial, rather than harmful.

Another example of a very bad bug which should never be fed to pets is Lightning Bugs--they're highly toxic.