Cham Diet help

[salish_31]

Hello everyone, I am trying to give my cham a balanced diet, but I am having some issues. Right now she is about 4-5 months and she (Irene) is getting around 7 bsfl and 5 superworms along with once or twice feedings of 12-15 crickets only each week. I have had really big problems with actually getting the crickets and catching them. I have tried all of the tricks, and spending so much time getting them was not viable anymore. It seems like superworms aren't okay to be fed daily. Maybe a roach similar to dubias in the way that their easy to catch and wont break the bank would replace crickets. Another big thing is I live in Florida so dubias aren't legal. I heard about blue bottle spikes too but not sure if those are daily feeders. I need some advice on some daily feeders that are easy to catch, aren't super expensive, and are nutritious for my cham! Any advice for a diet/feeders that would go along with this and are legal in Florida would be so helpful to know. Thanks!

 

[Beman]

How often and how much each feeding are you doing?

Here is the image for feeders. You can get discoid roaches instead. @MissSkittles may know a place she is in FL too. Blue bottle spikes you would let them hatch out and turn into flies. They are a wonderful feeder because it makes them move around and hunt them down.

 

[salish_31]

So I am feeding Irene daily, and she is getting the 7 bsfl and the five superworms as of now, I am wanting to switch the superworms. And then I can muster up the strength to spend thirty minutes catching crickets about two times a week and that is giving her 12-15 crickets. So can blue bottle spikes not be fed to Irene? And how long does it take the blue bottle spikes to turn into flies?

 

[Beman]

So I am feeding Irene daily, and she is getting the 7 bsfl and the five superworms as of now, I am wanting to switch the superworms. And then I can muster up the strength to spend thirty minutes catching crickets about two times a week and that is giving her 12-15 crickets. So can blue bottle spikes not be fed to Irene? And how long does it take the blue bottle spikes to turn into flies?

ok so trick to crickets... Save your cardboard form toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. Toss those into your bin that your crickets are in. Get a big plastic cup. Pull toilet paper roll up over container bin then put one side in the plastic cup and shake the crickets into the cup. Works like a charm every time. And they like the rolls because it gives them places to hide.

But you really want to have crickets or roaches in the mix. The superworms really are not the best as a constant staple feeder. And you want something that you can gutload well like crickets or discoid.

I never fed the spikes. Honestly they are straight up maggots. Made me wanna puke when I first saw them. So I put them in their container in the fridge. This slows them down so they do not all pupate at once. Then as they get the hard shells I pull them out and toss them into the plant pots. This way they hatch out into the cage.

 

[salish_31]

ok so trick to crickets... Save your cardboard form toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. Toss those into your bin that your crickets are in. Get a big plastic cup. Pull toilet paper roll up over container bin then put one side in the plastic cup and shake the crickets into the cup. Works like a charm every time. And they like the rolls because it gives them places to hide.

But you really want to have crickets or roaches in the mix. The superworms really are not the best as a constant staple feeder. And you want something that you can gutload well like crickets or discoid.

I never fed the spikes. Honestly they are straight up maggots. Made me wanna puke when I first saw them. So I put them in their container in the fridge. This slows them down so they do not all pupate at once. Then as they get the hard shells I pull them out and toss them into the plant pots. This way they hatch out into the cage.

Thanks so much! The discord roaches are a little pricy compared to crickets, can I use orange head roaches?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. I’m not sure what you mean by catching the feeders. Do you mean you are having a hard time grabbing them from their containers or bins? As @Beman suggested, putting in a toilet paper tube will make a huge difference. Most bugs (crickets, roaches, etc) like to hide and will go in or under the rolls or egg crate. If your chameleon is having a hard time finding or hunting the feeders, I suggest using a feeding station. I love the shooting gallery style and have been finding it easy to make my own version. https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery?variant=30018608595032
A great place for quality feeders on a budget is http://www.lindasgonebuggie.com/page/397479218 A huge way that I’ve found to save on feeders and which also has been an interesting bit of education is to breed my own. I believe in this post I went over how I bred different ones. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/hornworm-adventure-aka-what-have-i-done.187201/ I have a small colony of discoid roaches, which has saved a lot. I would advise to spend a little bit on setting up a small colony of discoid and after they become established (takes a few months), you’ll never have to buy those again. Currently I have a bin of crickets that are breeding and laying eggs, but I don’t expect much success.

 

[salish_31]

Hi. I’m not sure what you mean by catching the feeders. Do you mean you are having a hard time grabbing them from their containers or bins? As @Beman suggested, putting in a toilet paper tube will make a huge difference. Most bugs (crickets, roaches, etc) like to hide and will go in or under the rolls or egg crate. If your chameleon is having a hard time finding or hunting the feeders, I suggest using a feeding station. I love the shooting gallery style and have been finding it easy to make my own version. https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery?variant=30018608595032
A great place for quality feeders on a budget is http://www.lindasgonebuggie.com/page/397479218 A huge way that I’ve found to save on feeders and which also has been an interesting bit of education is to breed my own. I believe in this post I went over how I bred different ones. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/hornworm-adventure-aka-what-have-i-done.187201/ I have a small colony of discoid roaches, which has saved a lot. I would advise to spend a little bit on setting up a small colony of discoid and after they become established (takes a few months), you’ll never have to buy those again. Currently I have a bin of crickets that are breeding and laying eggs, but I don’t expect much success.

This is really great info. The “catching” is me getting them out of the container. I will look into all of this. Thank you

 

[MissSkittles]

There’s also these which may help. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9BBFX9...t-supplies&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw I use them mainly for when I have to move my adult roaches but also when I need to grab the last few crickets. The plastic peg that holds them together pops off every now & then, but easily pops back on.

 

[Steve A]

ok so trick to crickets... Save your cardboard form toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. Toss those into your bin that your crickets are in. Get a big plastic cup. Pull toilet paper roll up over container bin then put one side in the plastic cup and shake the crickets into the cup. Works like a charm every time. And they like the rolls because it gives them places to hide.

But you really want to have crickets or roaches in the mix. The superworms really are not the best as a constant staple feeder. And you want something that you can gutload well like crickets or discoid.

I never fed the spikes. Honestly they are straight up maggots. Made me wanna puke when I first saw them. So I put them in their container in the fridge. This slows them down so they do not all pupate at once. Then as they get the hard shells I pull them out and toss them into the plant pots. This way they hatch out into the cage.

I have used paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls and they both work really great. I also have plastic ones that came with one of my cricket keepers that I just lay down for them.

Now I buy some egg carton sheets from Joshs Frogs with my crickets and getting a few sheets of those last a while. I just cut some small squares from it and lay 1 on the bottom of the bin I keep my crickets in. I simply lift that egg crate, with my plastic soup container underneath and tap it and the crickets fall into the soup container. I then shake some out to get the amount I need. Then inside that soup container is where I drop my calcium in then shake it up to get them dusted.

Then actually drop those into a funnel (keeping my finger on the bottom of the funnel so they don't fall out), and then put the bottom of the funnel inside the window feeder and then knock on that with my hand to get them out.

Now I have no more issues with crickets jumping away lol.


................usually

 

[elizaann2]

I catch my bugs with these little ball-tweezer things, you can usually find them at Dollar Tree around this time of year, but they go fast.

 

[salish_31]

I will be trying the paper towel rolls, as soon as I use up a roll of paper towels. I am also going to looking into the ball-tweezer things.

 

[Beman]

I will be trying the paper towel rolls, as soon as I use up a roll of paper towels. I am also going to looking into the ball-tweezer things.

If you want fast do the paper towel/ toilet paper rolls. Works like a dream.