Anyone use a mainly worm and roach diet?

crocky

crocky

New Member
So I have been contemplating switching from crickets and dubias to mainly worms like butters, horns and silks with the addition to dubias since i have so freaking many if them and maybe a few supers from time to time.

Tonight's serenading of crickets that I apparently did not get out of his cage kind of tipped the bucket for me. Not to mention I will not sleep as good knowing he is in there somewhere with my Cham.....I need to put a sign in there that says stay away from the Cham....LOL. I know he will probably be fine with one or two in there but I still don't like the thought if him a sleep and them on the prowl.

Does anyone here use a mainly worm diet and if so do you think it is a healthy choice? I mean horns and silks themselves have a fa more nutritional value than crickets.

If so do you dust them? When I feed horns to my dragons I never dust them since they are more nutritional. For about the same amount for one Cham that I spend on crickets and lose half of them I could get a variety of worms. I could never do that with my dragons as far as numbers but they eat Dubia really well. At this point Waldo has not been tempted by Dubia but he loves the few worms I have given him.
 
Well, of course the common response you will get is that they need as wide a variety as possible. I do know keepers who feed special needs chams a diet of mainly worms and they are healthy boys. I hate crickets myself and only get them when I don't have roaches the right size or when I am low on worms or feeders in general. I prefer to use roaches, silks, horns, blue bottle flies, butter worms and every once in a while I get mantids.
 
Thanks!!! Yes variety is the key but thinking just leaving crickets off and adding horns, butter, supers, silks and dubias may be a good variety. I need to calculate it again without using crickets as the staple but I don't think for one Cham I would be spending that much more by increasing my other numbers. If I could get him to eat dubias I would be golden to use them as a staple and supplement with the other worms but they just don't move enough to stimulate him I don't think.

Do you dust your horns and silks?
 
I don't dust the worms, but if you don't feed anything that requires dusting like roaches or supers, you could dust some worms like the horns to deliver supplements if they are needed.
 
crocky said:
Thanks!!! Yes variety is the key but thinking just leaving crickets off and adding horns, butter, supers, silks and dubias may be a good variety. I need to calculate it again without using crickets as the staple but I don't think for one Cham I would be spending that much more by increasing my other numbers. If I could get him to eat dubias I would be golden to use them as a staple and supplement with the other worms but they just don't move enough to stimulate him I don't think.

Do you dust your horns and silks?
Click to expand...

I actually havent owned a chameleon yet I'm waiting for my setup to come in sometime next week then I will order my cham. So I'm sorry but i don't know the answer to that. But I'm sure people dust them it seems as if you would have to:D
 
purplebiotch said:
I inquired about this not to long ago crocky here's the thread...

https://www.chameleonforums.com/worms-100471/
Click to expand...

Thank you. I did not see that.

I should have included in my title roaches. I plan on always using them as I have soooo many, just getting him to take to them will be the keys

So maybe I should have re worded my title
Dubias as the staple and worms as supplement. I guess I worry that they will become so addicted to the worms and forget the roaches or crickets all together.

I think I confused myself in my own thread.....lol
 
My boys love roaches, they also get worms regularly and it doesn't seem to steer them away from the roaches. I just try to feed a roach or two first, then go to worms.
 
pigglett79 said:
I don't dust the worms, but if you don't feed anything that requires dusting like roaches or supers, you could dust some worms like the horns to deliver supplements if they are needed.
Click to expand...


Gotcha!
I offer roaches every day in a cup. Thinking the cup is what I need to change, I just don't like how I have it set up.
I also have horns, silks and butters on hand but I am scared to feed him too many for fear he will totally ignore anything with a little chiton on them
 
crocky said:
Gotcha!
I offer roaches every day in a cup. Thinking the cup is what I need to change, I just don't like how I have it set up.
I also have horns, silks and butters on hand but I am scared to feed him too many for fear he will totally ignore anything with a little chiton on them
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't use a cup, they totally ignore it. My methods unfortunately are more labor intensive. I put a roach on a leaf or branch and then watch it like a hawk until they eat it........don't want it loose in the cage. Then I put worms on random branches. I hand feed the butter worms since they don't hold on to anything very well.
 
pigglett79 said:
My boys love roaches, they also get worms regularly and it doesn't seem to steer them away from the roaches. I just try to feed a roach or two first, then go to worms.
Click to expand...

How do you offer your dubs? Every once in awhile Walker will eat a dub, but I have to put it on the screen in front of him. I can't seem to master the art of cup feeding... :( :mad:
 
pigglett79 said:
Yeah, I don't use a cup, they totally ignore it. My methods unfortunately are more labor intensive. I put a roach on a leaf or branch and then watch it like a hawk until they eat it........don't want it loose in the cage. Then I put worms on random branches. I hand feed the butter worms since they don't hold on to anything very well.
Click to expand...

Lol! I was too slow in asking my question! Same thing I do... :p
 
I think as long as theres not a lot of them in the cage he will be alright, also if their the plain brown one's, thats what i feed my guys.... I feed crickets and butter worms, and sometimes wax worms as treats...
 
Yeah I feed the plain brown crickets, I hear they are less aggressive and don't normally attack chams but I don't always trust what I read....LOL

I wish I could put a Dubia on a leaf and wait for him to eat but he won't eat with memstanding right there by his cage quite yet. However I have seen him many times eat while I am across the room. So if I did that I would worry they would accumulate under something and never come out. I am going to search for a nice cup to keep them in. Right now the one I have I just don't like for some reason . I am also going to try and use some bigger ones. Maybe the ones I am using for him are too small to tempt him
 
I edited the title for you :)

I think that if you're using worms and roaches, you should be ok. Roaches are better than crickets and are gutloaded super well. You can always run to the shop a few times a month and get a dozen crickets, just for the sake of variety, but not have to waste the money and time on buying bulk. This is essentially what I'm doing now (buying crickets by the dozen just as treats) and I prefer this so much more! So by breeding my roaches and buying just a thing of hornworms or butterworms here and there I have really brought my monthly feeder budget down quite a bit.

I recommend looking into other non-climbing, non-flying roach species as well so you can try different ones. Dubias are great but a little bit of roach variety never hurts either.
 
Thank you!! I looked into the banana roach ( but i see the males fly) and may try and see if I can get my hands on a few, I just have an over zealous amount of Dubia.....LOL. So they are always what's on the menu :)

Any other non climbing non flying roaches that are good and seem to be preferred by chams?
 
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