Can I supplement diet with wild caught insects?

[danmar26]

In the warmer months my kids catch and feed the following insects to their assortment of reptiles and amphibians. Would they be ok to feed a young veiled?

moths
carpenter ants
grubs
earthworms
beetles
pill bugs
millipedes
houseflies

They will be taken from a wooded area that is not treated with pesticides.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

You can feed some of those. A better list would be: katydids, grasshoppers, mantids, beetles (if you can identify them), moths, butterflies (if you can id), stick insects. Basically if I dont know waht Im holding in my hand I dont feed it to my cham. I'd stay away from carpenter ants as they can bite your animal. Same with bees and wasps, although bees are great enrichment feeders i dont mess with them because of the chance of my animal being stung.

Btw, I consider wc bugs to be an excellent alternative to commercially available feeders. Just find a suitable pesticide free collection area. After getting wc bugs for a few days then switching back to staple feeders I see my chams appetites improve. It has kept mine from getting tired of cricks and dubias and worms.

 

[Olimpia]

Yea, if you can trust the area you're catching them from then it sounds like you're very lucky! Where I live I'm pretty sure that everything is just festering in chemicals.

I'd get a good insect encyclopedia and check everything beforehand, just so you know what you're feeding.

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Also, if I may add. If you will be feeding wild caught feeders, i'd suggest regular fecals just to make sure he doesn't get infested with parasites from the feeders.

 

[pssh]

Side note, most chameleons dont have a problem with parasites living in them until they become very stressed or ill in which case it can be very serious.

You dont really want to feed off any wild snails, flies, isopods, and unidentified bugs. The flies and snails are usually riddled with parasites and other nasty stuff, and isopods I believe are heavy metal accumulators or something. If you breed them or buy them from a place that cultures them, they are okay, but not wild caught.

 

[Cainschams]

In the warmer months my kids catch and feed the following insects to their assortment of reptiles and amphibians. Would they be ok to feed a young veiled?

moths
carpenter ants
grubs
earthworms
beetles
pill bugs
millipedes
houseflies

They will be taken from a wooded area that is not treated with pesticides.

I agree with all the posts above. I feed off moths, certain butterflies, hoppers of all sorts, camel/cave crickets, and many species of spiders. As said, know where you are collecting and what you are collecting is the biggest concerns.

If you want to feed flies there are places you can order them from. I get mine from mantisplace.com. The blue bottle flies are larger than the house flies and a veiled of that age should be able to easily eat the blue bottle flies. They are rather cheap also

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Like Jared said BB flies are awesome. I just got 500 for like 6.00 from mantisplace.com My crew are going nuts for em. Its actually quite funny watching them hunt them down.

 

[gabrielguy]

i wouldnt reccoment catching stray worms or food for your chameleon in general, you never know what parasited the food will have that can also spread to your chameleon

 

[Cainschams]

i wouldnt reccoment catching stray worms or food for your chameleon in general, you never know what parasited the food will have that can also spread to your chameleon

This is true. However, not a concern for me. Chameleons live in harmony with parasites in the wild. Providing your cham with optimum conditions, parasites should not be a problem if the animal is in good health. Also frequent fecals can tell if your cham has parasites and you can treat accordingly if wanted.

I see you are new and still getting your research in. Honestly, there are already enough members on here who repeat what they have read without experience in dealing with a certain situation. I hate to sound rude but we dont need another fly by night expert. Its best to stick with giving advice from experience not what you read, which isnt always in the right either.

Not to mention commercially bought insects can just as easily carry parasites as wild caughts.

I am all for feeding WC insects as long as they are from a pesticide free area and you know the insect is not poisonous or feeding from "toxic" plants (which is a whole other can of worms that I am not going to get into). WC insects can give your cham nutrition it otherwise wouldnt get from commercial or home made gutloads.

 

[Lizardlover]

This is true. However, not a concern for me. Chameleons live in harmony with parasites in the wild. Providing your cham with optimum conditions, parasites should not be a problem if the animal is in good health. Also frequent fecals can tell if your cham has parasites and you can treat accordingly if wanted.

I see you are new and still getting your research in. Honestly, there are already enough members on here who repeat what they have read without experience in dealing with a certain situation. I hate to sound rude but we dont need another fly by night expert. Its best to stick with giving advice from experience not what you read, which isnt always in the right either.

Not to mention commercially bought insects can just as easily carry parasites as wild caughts.

I am all for feeding WC insects as long as they are from a pesticide free area and you know the insect is not poisonous or feeding from "toxic" plants (which is a whole other can of worms that I am not going to get into). WC insects can give your cham nutrition it otherwise wouldnt get from commercial or home made gutloads.

+1, couldnt've said it better myself.

 

[pssh]

This is true. However, not a concern for me. Chameleons live in harmony with parasites in the wild. Providing your cham with optimum conditions, parasites should not be a problem if the animal is in good health. Also frequent fecals can tell if your cham has parasites and you can treat accordingly if wanted.

I see you are new and still getting your research in. Honestly, there are already enough members on here who repeat what they have read without experience in dealing with a certain situation. I hate to sound rude but we dont need another fly by night expert. Its best to stick with giving advice from experience not what you read, which isnt always in the right either.

Not to mention commercially bought insects can just as easily carry parasites as wild caughts.

I am all for feeding WC insects as long as they are from a pesticide free area and you know the insect is not poisonous or feeding from "toxic" plants (which is a whole other can of worms that I am not going to get into). WC insects can give your cham nutrition it otherwise wouldnt get from commercial or home made gutloads.

Plus two! Ten characters

 

[Cainschams]

LOL!!! OK OK!!! I dont want to scare them away! Just letting them know there are already enough "experts" on the forum.

Gabriel, I hope you dont get offended by my post. Again, I tried not to sound too rude but there is not much getting around that when posting something like that

And thanks for the rep points but my reputation is still black

 

[Ace]

its ok Jared...it happens...but sorry to add to the "mob"...but i agree with your statement 100%...i even have to admit i was and maybe still am like that...but you werent offensive...IMHO....

 

[Ace]

whatever. you said "its hard to get around it when you make a statement like that" okay? no one ever said you had to respond to me right? it was an option to reply in a rude manner meaning it was intentional. now your trying to get out of it?

He didnt say it "intentionally" and dont take it personal man...Its just that...we get alot of people that are new, then ask questions, and only in a short time they post to threads that sound as if they know "everything about chameleons"......which you havent (yet)..Jared is only clarifying and letting you know what not to do ..not that you did something wrong.....also crude language isnt tolerated here...just be cool and if you disagree , then discuss privately in a civilized manner.....you dont need an audience that can potentially "get in" the situation.....then the Moderators will find out...take whatever action means neccesary and just make things alittle awkaward when it could be easily avoided.....sorry for my rant..didnt want derail the thread....my apologies

 

[Cainschams]

Bradypodion thamnobates eating a sweat bee.