sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I am very interested in everyone's opinion on the use of butterworms as a feeder option for chameleons.
When I first heard about butterworms, while on a quest to increase the variety in my chameleon's diet, I was told I "couldnt do better" than butterworms, the "best choice available", "naturally high in calcium" blah blah blah. But later, I read that they are high in fat and I should avoid them like waxworms.
I've searched around for reliable nutritional data, and found less info than I would have liked. But it seems that butterworms are no higher in fat than superworms (zophoba), may be less fatty than superworms, and are indeed naturally higher in calcium than many common feeders used. The downside, as I see it, is that you cant gutload butterworms. That said, I have insufficient data and no nutritional analysis knowledge/eductaion from which to draw a true conclusion.
A couple different websites say butterworms are ~16%Protein, 5%fat, and 59% water (presumbably the rest is mostly fibre?).
Same websites says superworms are ~17%Protein, 17%fat!, 6%fibre, 60%water.
Brad's post in the feeder Db area more or less confirms the above superworm data as: 19.3% protein, 17.6% fat, 58.7% moisture, 1.0% ash, 3.4% other.
but there's no mention of butterworm data.
Im am very interested to hear what others think about the value (or lack of value) in offering butterworms. Including how often and how many you offer to your chameleons.
I'm a big believer in offering a variety of prey to my chameleons, for the sake of interests if nothing else. All my chameleons like butterworms. But they dont make up a large portion of my chameleon's diet at present. I offer them fairly regularily to my chameleons in small quantity; it probably averages out to about 3 a month each.
with thanks for your feedback
Sandra
When I first heard about butterworms, while on a quest to increase the variety in my chameleon's diet, I was told I "couldnt do better" than butterworms, the "best choice available", "naturally high in calcium" blah blah blah. But later, I read that they are high in fat and I should avoid them like waxworms.
I've searched around for reliable nutritional data, and found less info than I would have liked. But it seems that butterworms are no higher in fat than superworms (zophoba), may be less fatty than superworms, and are indeed naturally higher in calcium than many common feeders used. The downside, as I see it, is that you cant gutload butterworms. That said, I have insufficient data and no nutritional analysis knowledge/eductaion from which to draw a true conclusion.
A couple different websites say butterworms are ~16%Protein, 5%fat, and 59% water (presumbably the rest is mostly fibre?).
Same websites says superworms are ~17%Protein, 17%fat!, 6%fibre, 60%water.
Brad's post in the feeder Db area more or less confirms the above superworm data as: 19.3% protein, 17.6% fat, 58.7% moisture, 1.0% ash, 3.4% other.
but there's no mention of butterworm data.
Im am very interested to hear what others think about the value (or lack of value) in offering butterworms. Including how often and how many you offer to your chameleons.
I'm a big believer in offering a variety of prey to my chameleons, for the sake of interests if nothing else. All my chameleons like butterworms. But they dont make up a large portion of my chameleon's diet at present. I offer them fairly regularily to my chameleons in small quantity; it probably averages out to about 3 a month each.
with thanks for your feedback
Sandra
Infact I like to place worms on branches and let them "stalk" the worms, yet my male panther(4.5 m) grabed it right out of my fingers before I could even put it down!
