Blue Bottle Fly Gut Load
- Thread starter Rush2112
- Start date
Cainschams
New Member
They will somewhat eat dried honey, bee pollen, and fruits or fruit juices. You can get a dried honey/bee pollen mix from most places that sell the BB flies. They dont really seem to eat much of the stuff though so I like to add some nutrition to mine by dusting them with spirulina, wheat grass powder and the dried honey/bee pollen mix.
Edit: You can find all of that stuff at an organic store. Not sure if they sell any of them in Wally World or places like that though.
Edit: You can find all of that stuff at an organic store. Not sure if they sell any of them in Wally World or places like that though.
Rush2112
New Member
It may not be the absolute best gut load out there but try it and see if they eat. I like the Nature Zone Cricket Total Bites for a cube, wet gutload but hands down like the dry gut loads better for nutrition sake
Rush2112
New Member
Keep Pupae in the fridge. When ready to feed, I take about 10-15 pupae out and put them in another container with vent holes in it and leave it out at room temp. Usually within a few days they hatch. then you can gut load and feed to your cham
SSimsswiSS
Avid Member
Honey works
patrickfraser
New Member
I use honey. They lap it up. If you let them feed for a couple of days they are better to feed, as they are well fed and they have had a chance to bulk up and increase their wing muscles.
I've had great luck feeding them and keeping them healthy on the fly food from mantisplace.com:
http://tinyurl.com/bzymr8o
But I just had her at the University of Wisconsin Vet Hospital and was told that's great we are keeping the flies healthy, but we need to gut load the flies just like we do for crickets. They said they've had no trouble keeping all/most feeder insects alive on the cricket gut load and that benefits the chameleon with all the nutrition. So my question was just that I've heard the flies will die with the higher calcium in a gut load, but they hadn't seen that themselves so I wondered what others had experienced. With the idea of pulling them out of the fridge as needed this may not be an issue since they won't be alive feeding on the gut load long before feeding them to the cham.
http://tinyurl.com/bzymr8o
But I just had her at the University of Wisconsin Vet Hospital and was told that's great we are keeping the flies healthy, but we need to gut load the flies just like we do for crickets. They said they've had no trouble keeping all/most feeder insects alive on the cricket gut load and that benefits the chameleon with all the nutrition. So my question was just that I've heard the flies will die with the higher calcium in a gut load, but they hadn't seen that themselves so I wondered what others had experienced. With the idea of pulling them out of the fridge as needed this may not be an issue since they won't be alive feeding on the gut load long before feeding them to the cham.
Lovereps
Avid Member
Just because it's possible doesn't mean that it's good.
Have a read of what veterinarian and chamowner Ferretinmyshoes says about the Fluker's product,
https://www.chameleonforums.com/flukers-orange-cubes-gutload-65044/
I would not feed the commercial gutload to my crickets, either.
With all due respect to those at the UW vet school, they are not specialists in chameleons and may be unaware of the rather narrow tolerances of chams to excessive D3, vitamin A, etc.
The ingredients in the foods from mantisplace are at least natural ingredients rather than vitamin powders.
Here is some more gutloading info that you may find useful:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
you folks may find this supplier useful to know about:
http://www.forkedtreeranch.com/new-blue-bottle-fly.html
http://www.forkedtreeranch.com/new-blue-bottle-fly.html
Lovereps
Avid Member
Always glad to help. Thanks for sharing the details on your experience, too.
Thanks a lot for the link.
I had stumbled across them in the past.
Have you ever ordered from Forked Tree Ranch or know of anyone who has?
Thanks a lot for the link.
I had stumbled across them in the past.
Have you ever ordered from Forked Tree Ranch or know of anyone who has?
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I did once, years ago. I found them good to deal with. But again it was only the once so my opinion isnt worth much.
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