Black soldier flies / Calci Worms

PicoTheCham

Member
My cham recently has gotten bored of crickets and i’ve been looking for a new staple to use for a month or two and then get back onto crickets or stick with it. I really don’t want to use roaches and I’ve done some research and found that CalciWorms (black solider fly larvae) or actual black solider flies would be easiest. I have a couple questions about them though.

1) Would they be a good staple?
2) Should I gutload them as I do with crickets?
3) What do I keep them inside of?
4) How do I get them from container to cage if the worms turn into flies?
5) Do the flies/worms bite?

Thank you so much if you can help! I’m worried about my cham :(

edit: he’s a veiled that’s a little over a year old.
 
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I they can be gut loaded with the same things as other feeders when they are in the larval stage and still mostly white. When they begin to turn brown and pupate move them to a container with shredded paper or other damp substrate and a small hole in the top to pupate and then hatch out into flies. Keep this container in your chameleon enclosure. I use one of these as my container.
Screen Shot 2019-08-16 at 3.12.49 PM.png
It has a small opening on the other side that you can open and close to let the hatched flies out inside the cage.
 
I keep my BSFL in the same container that they came in and I gutload them with same stuff I would give crickets...fruit, leafy greens, bug burger, etc. I haven’t yet had any turn into flies. Silkworms are also a great feeder. I absolutely hate roaches, but tried some discoid and my girl veiled loves them so now they are one of her staples.
 
1) if by staple you mean a large part of their varied diet, then yes. Chameleons along with most animals shouldn't be fed only 1 thing. Every day, ideally, it should be mixed up.
2)yes they are composters so they will eat just about anything soft that they can tunnel through. The mistake people make is thinking that because something is eating a food that it is being gutloaded. Worms just have a straight line of a digestive tract making their gutload abilities inferior to crickets or roaches.
3) I just keep them in the cup they come with and throw some in my enclosures to pupate into flies
4)see above, flies are slow though and easy to move. They don't buzz around like house flies. The flies don't have the same nutrition as the larvae.
5)no, although I have witnessed the worms tunnel through a hornworm since they're soft.
 
1) if by staple you mean a large part of their varied diet, then yes. Chameleons along with most animals shouldn't be fed only 1 thing. Every day, ideally, it should be mixed up.
2)yes they are composters so they will eat just about anything soft that they can tunnel through. The mistake people make is thinking that because something is eating a food that it is being gutloaded. Worms just have a straight line of a digestive tract making their gutload abilities inferior to crickets or roaches.
3) I just keep them in the cup they come with and throw some in my enclosures to pupate into flies
4)see above, flies are slow though and easy to move. They don't buzz around like house flies. The flies don't have the same nutrition as the larvae.
5)no, although I have witnessed the worms tunnel through a hornworm since they're soft.
Thank you so much!
So for #3: when they start sorta pupating you just put them at the bottom of your cham’s cage?
 
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