Crickets good or bad?

[Blubbybish]

I took my chameleon to the vet today. And he asked me what I feed him and I told him gutloaded crickets is the main food I give him. And he told me that he didn’t care for chameleons to eat crickets but it’s better for them to have black fly larvae sand Dubai roaches. It’s the first time I’ve been to this vet so I just wanted other opinions and thoughts on this. Includes picture of Pluto bc he’s cute and why not lol.

 

[Uri]

There’s nothing wrong with crickets dubia and soldier fly larvae are better but variety is key as much variety as possible we give a fraction of the species of insects they would eat

 

[MissSkittles]

There’s nothing wrong with feeding crickets. However, if that’s the only thing you’re feeding you will want to add more variety.

 

[Blubbybish]

There’s nothing wrong with feeding crickets. However, if that’s the only thing you’re feeding you will want to add more variety.
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I have been giving a variety I just said that was the one he mainly ate and he told me the the wings and hard shell on them isn’t good for them and doesn’t help with calcium. But I knew most people feed them crickets so I didn’t know if I was missing something or something what.

 

[kinyonga]

IMHO, crickets are a good feeder...they are easy to get, easy to care for, easy to gutload. It's still important to have variety in the diet by feeding them other insects of course. Aren't legs and wings roughage and therefore not a bad thing?

"Crickets, grasshoppers, and silkworms have over three times the antioxidants as orange juice."
"When it comes to minerals, edible crickets pack almost five times as much magnesium as beef and three times as much iron. They supply more calcium than milk and they are high in zinc."
https://www.edibleinsects.com/insect-nutrition-information/

"Chitin act like cellulose in the human body and due to this effect it is often called “animal fiber”."...
https://www.eatcrickster.com/blog/edible-insect-nutrition

 

[OldWorldChams]

Crickets are a necessary evil in my chameleon keeping. I don't like them because they stink, die faster than roaches, and escape easier. Unfortunately, not all my chameleons will eat roaches readily. Nutritionally they are great.

 

[jcarlsen]

I've actually been using banded crickets which I find keep better than regular ones you might get at a petco or wherever and they smell less too!