waterpolowes
New Member
I ordered some butter worms the other day for my little guy.
How often should I offer him these over crickets during the week?
How often should I offer him these over crickets during the week?
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not that im questioning your knowledge in any way shape of form, but why keep them such a low percentage of the cham diet? like i said im not doubting you in any way i just want a better understanding of why.. ie. mealworms/hard exoskeleton(chitin) hard to digest. something like that?in my opinion, Butterworms are great but they shouldnt make up more than 20% of the chameleons diet. Try also to keep the total of all larva (butters+supers+silks etc) to less than 50%.
oh ok so like only 2 or so every other meal?
not that im questioning your knowledge in any way shape of form, but why keep them such a low percentage of the cham diet?
Butterworms are less "fatty" than many other larva, and do have a higher percentage of calcium, however they cannot be well gutloaded.
I just got some butterworms for the first time, and the first thing I notice is that they are kind of small, especially for my panther. It would be nice to find something to feed them not only to increase their nutritional value, but also to make them a more substantial meal. So I can't feed them anything?
My little guy just seems to ignore them completely haha! I got like 20 to use over these next few weeks and he wont touch them! XD
Are they active? If you got half-dead ones, that dont move much, you may have to be creative in how you offer them. I find letting them crawl up a vine or along a branch is effective. Also if you already cup feed, anything that goes in the cup should be see as potential food.
Find another supplier. The ones I get are a good size and fat - bigger than an adult cricket.
I dont think there is much you can feed to a butterworm.
My butters seem to be eating butternut squash.
I'm working to cup feed, any tips on helping to train him into cup feeding as he is still young. I've only had him for about a month. The worms seem to be pretty active, I would put them on vines and things to climb, but they seem to climb right off, and I also attempted to hand feed, and they usually try to wriggle right out of my hand. So I think the issue is he doesnt see them as food, because when I hand feed cricks he snatches them right up! I have been doing half hand feed/free range and half cup feeding is this a good way to train or do you have better Ideas?
Im sure you've tried putting a single cricket (or something he does eat) in the cup along with a butterworm, to try to make an association. If he eats other larva, like mealworms or supers or silks, those might be more helpful in this regard.
What colour is the cup? Perhaps a darker coloured bowl, so the butterworm stands out more?
Perhaps the butters seem too big to the chameleon?
I've heard of people waiting till the chameleon is chewing some big mouthful of something it caught, then slipping a new/different feeder into his mouth while he chews. And that this caused the chameleon to be more interested in the new food. Have never tried this myself and it seems a bit strange, but maybe worth a try.
Perhaps your chameleon hasnt been exposed to many different types of food, and will just take longer to learn that crickets are the only thing to eat! I know my babies eat a wide assortment of prey from their first month, as is more natural and healthy. But I also know some breeders use crickets almost exclusively, because they are cheap to buy. And it seems that those fed almost exclusively on crickets when young have a much harder time adjusting to new foods. Dont give up though!
How old is your chameleon?
For best results, try a dark coloured opaque bowl, like a brown/green cereal bowl. Nothing transparent or white or shiny metal.
Keep the butterworm cool and they'll last quite awhile (months). Try a really small mealworm (they're only bad in quantity) to see if that's more appealing as his first larva/worm.