AllFallDown
New Member
Hello Everyone,
Fair warning, this is long. I have been feeding my young Veiled a steady diet of mainly (as in around 90%) gutloaded, dusted crickets (calcium everyday- dusted during one meal- two meals a day of about 3 or 4 crickets (which he often leaves some uneatten so I assume this is a good amount, he has been an excellent eater from the start so I assume he is not sick), multivitamin about once a week or once every 2 weeks), I have also (until I ran out about 2 weeks ago) been adding a meal worm or two to his food dish as he eats them (IE no more than 1 or 2 a day, and if he leaves them I do not add more until he does- usually he has been). I have also, as a treat, been giving him a waxworm about once every 2 days or even less frequently than that, never more than one a day.
I have been rethinking his diet a bit and wanted to alter his diet to:
I have been doing a lot of reading, and particularly payed close attention to sandrachameleons blog entry on feeders (very helpful thorough, thank you): https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
Here is what I am thinking/have ordered (and am waiting on delivery):
I placed an order for the following:
In the future, I hope to get the following as well:
Here is the plan:
The basic breakdown (for bugs, not plants) I am going for is along the lines of:
I have also been putting together(getting the plants for) an outdoor space for him to bask in the sun for a little while each day. He really seems to like this (I dont think I have ever seen him with as much energy as he had today after his outdoor basking session.) My only concern with this idea is that he is still small enough to be a meal for a fast bird so I either want to convert an old bird aviary we have to a chameleon outdoor space, or figure out some other solution. Naturally, I supervise him (and the turtles) during these outdoor outings.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can provide!
Fair warning, this is long. I have been feeding my young Veiled a steady diet of mainly (as in around 90%) gutloaded, dusted crickets (calcium everyday- dusted during one meal- two meals a day of about 3 or 4 crickets (which he often leaves some uneatten so I assume this is a good amount, he has been an excellent eater from the start so I assume he is not sick), multivitamin about once a week or once every 2 weeks), I have also (until I ran out about 2 weeks ago) been adding a meal worm or two to his food dish as he eats them (IE no more than 1 or 2 a day, and if he leaves them I do not add more until he does- usually he has been). I have also, as a treat, been giving him a waxworm about once every 2 days or even less frequently than that, never more than one a day.
I have been rethinking his diet a bit and wanted to alter his diet to:
- Make it more interesting/fun for him. After all, I like spaghetti, but everyday? Blah!
- To try to balance things out a bit more.
I have been doing a lot of reading, and particularly payed close attention to sandrachameleons blog entry on feeders (very helpful thorough, thank you): https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
Here is what I am thinking/have ordered (and am waiting on delivery):
I placed an order for the following:
- Crickets (which I have some breeders going now...)
- Silkworms
- Dubia Roaches
- Butterworms
- Phoenix Worms
- I am also trying to get a culture of Isopods going (Rolly Polies from my back yard- plan to start feeding with F2 generation if he likes them...).
In the future, I hope to get the following as well:
- Tomato hornworms (by the way, anyone tried feeding Tobacco hornworms to their cham?)
- Madagascar hissing roaches (only feed when small of course)
- Stick insects if I can find them
- Banana roaches (I grow banana trees so I should be able to give them a natural food source)
Here is the plan:
- Gutloaded/dusted crickets will continue to act as main staple but I will drop down to offering about every 2/3 feedings (IE 2 meals one day, only one the next or something like that)
- I plan to offer a silkworm or two (depending on size) about once a day- occasionally taking a day or two break to prevent monotony
- Butterworms and Hornworms will be offered infrequently, for a calcium boost and because of their moisture content. Say, every couple of days
- Phase out wax worms unless I have some handy, then offer as desert (my cham really likes them)
- Roaches will be offered roughly one a day or one every 2 days and will rotate through whatever species I happen to have (for now just dubias).
- Phase out meal worms except as an occasional treat (he does seem to like them, he does not jump down for them like he does wax worms). I will try supers at some point as well but I get a sense I am not missing much.
- Phoenix worms for a little while. Sandrachameleon seems to suggest that they are only good for young chams. I will follow this suggestion but am curious as to why this is the case and if it is just the grubs that are this way (would this apply to the solder flies as well??).
- Have a couple of isopods in his snack dish each day incase he wants a snack.
The basic breakdown (for bugs, not plants) I am going for is along the lines of:
- 30-40% of diet - Crickets(Gutloaded, dusted)
- 25% of diet - Silkworms (not dusted)
- 20-25% of diet - Roaches (not dusted)
- 10% of diet - Calcium rich worms(not dusted)
- 0-10% - Other stuff (not dusted, maybe treats, maybe healthy)
I have also been putting together(getting the plants for) an outdoor space for him to bask in the sun for a little while each day. He really seems to like this (I dont think I have ever seen him with as much energy as he had today after his outdoor basking session.) My only concern with this idea is that he is still small enough to be a meal for a fast bird so I either want to convert an old bird aviary we have to a chameleon outdoor space, or figure out some other solution. Naturally, I supervise him (and the turtles) during these outdoor outings.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can provide!