butter worm questions
- Thread starter grimlin18
- Start date
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I would not feed butterworms to your chameleon (young or old) daily.
Try not to have any type of feeder make up more than 20% of your chameleons diet. A butterworm every other day, along with other feeders, would be fine for a young growing chameleon.
The butterworms natural diet is a type of wood (something you're not going to be able to provide). You can feed butterworms some steamed (softened) butternut squash. Or just keep them cool (not really cold) and they will stay alive for a month or two without food. The longer you keep them, the less nutritious they will be for the chameleon. So best not to buy more than you are likely to use up within a month or so.
No need to calcium dust. You could vitamin dust them, if it fits within your supplementation schedule.
Try not to have any type of feeder make up more than 20% of your chameleons diet. A butterworm every other day, along with other feeders, would be fine for a young growing chameleon.
The butterworms natural diet is a type of wood (something you're not going to be able to provide). You can feed butterworms some steamed (softened) butternut squash. Or just keep them cool (not really cold) and they will stay alive for a month or two without food. The longer you keep them, the less nutritious they will be for the chameleon. So best not to buy more than you are likely to use up within a month or so.
No need to calcium dust. You could vitamin dust them, if it fits within your supplementation schedule.
grimlin18
New Member
okay cool thanks alot. so for example two butterworms then crickets would be good every other day? or should i just feed him one every other day? i wanted to purchase just 12 so i could feed them to my chameleon without having them for a long time. but i had to get make a purchase of 15 dollars so i got 50.
Bruno
New Member
This might help you
http://www.elliotsbutterworms.com/nutrition.htm
FROM THE SITE
No worm food to mess with, no tricky handling, no bad odors. Storage: simply store the worms in the refrigerator (42-45 Fahrenheit). At these temperatures the worm enters a state of hibernation and won’t require any food or water for at least 3-4 months
http://www.elliotsbutterworms.com/nutrition.htm
FROM THE SITE
No worm food to mess with, no tricky handling, no bad odors. Storage: simply store the worms in the refrigerator (42-45 Fahrenheit). At these temperatures the worm enters a state of hibernation and won’t require any food or water for at least 3-4 months
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
How old is the chameleon? If young, feed him every day. Even a few times a day. Assuming he's young, like 5 months, You could feed him 1 butterworm and around10 crickets on day one, 5crickets and a couple superworms on day 2, 5-10 crickets and moth on day 3, a butterworm and a couple roach nymphs on day 4, then on day 5 a couple silkworms and a few crickets, ... etc. Mix it up.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
careful of wild house flies - can carry bacteria that may not be good for your chameleon.
a mix of butterworms, crickets and roaches would be a great food foundation. Add an occassional superworm, some silkworms, and such here and there and you'll be rockin
I bought Butterworms at Walmart in the sporting goods department. They are best kept in the refrigerator so they will live longer, and they are in the fridge at Walmart. They come in a sawdust, and that is their food. You will know they are fresh based upon the web or silk within the sawdust. If it is loose and easy to move then it's fresh. If instead the sawdust is heavily webbed and does not easily move around, then the worms have likely been in there for a while. They are $3.97 for 20.
Butterworms are thought to be pretty fatty, but they are not. They are only 6% fat, compared to Superworms, which are 17% fat! Since Butterworms are not recommended as daily feeders, you might overdo it if you give them daily. I am going through a problem right now about this. My cham is on a Food Strike. She won't eat her crickets. It's as if she's telling me worms or nothing! I'm kind of thinking it would be like us getting dessert with our meals and after a while we would want only the dessert and nothing else. Keep that in mind anyway as you are deciding how to feed your chameleon. I'm not an expert, and am basically passing on to you the things I've learned or been told. I have been using 1 or sometimes 2 if the crickets are small of the Superworms, a staple food. I buy them from PetSmart, 25 for $2.99 or 50 for $4.99. They seem to grow pretty fast, so go for the smalls if available. Open the little tub they're in to make sure none of them have "turned" or become beetles. These are really active worms and will freak you out when you first grab them to pick them up.
This is something I found while googling he Butterworms, and it's not me saying this is what to do. It does fit in everything else I've seen while researching foods for chameleons: "Staple insects include crickets, roaches, silkworms, and superworms. These items are okay for feeding on a daily basis. Crickets and silkworms are the most popular and recommended feeders for a staple diet. Roaches and superworms are also good as a mix with the two above feeders as your daily food items. Treats include mealworms, waxworms, butterworms, hornworms, and flies. These items are recommended for adding variety to you chameleon’s diet or stimulating them to eat."
Good luck with getting your cham to eat well.
