Crickets in a bowl or free to run around?

[esponda55]

I have a veiled chameleon and know that her diet should consist largely of crickets... But they are really sneaky. I have a plastic container suspended near her favorite branch. I put worms (mealworms) and crickets in there. i feed her about 8 to 10 worms a day and put 6 to 8 small crickets every day as well. I purchased medium crickets a few days ago and she didnt like them at all. She ate about 2 maybe 3 in 3 days so I got small crickets but I see them escaping from the container. I'm worried she won't eat them because I rarely see her climb down from her branch or other nearby ones. Will she be ok if the crickets arent in the bowl? I should also mention she recognizes the container as food and approaches it immediately after she sees my pull my hand out of her cage. In other words Im afriad she wont think of hunting for crickets around her cage if she knows the container is for food. Also, i feel like her diet is a bit bland. I give her mealworms and crickets with the occasional waxworm. Suggestions?

 

[wilsonlubeck]

Check this out. Im new also, this is a thread i started.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/cup-free-range-feeding-52091/

 

[Hoj]

hello first off you dont want to be feeding your cham so many mealworms their hard exoskeleton is hard on your chams digestive system, they should be more of a treat. and as for the crickets they can be sneaky little buggers one thing you can do is remove the back legs this prevents them from jumping away from your cham or out of the cup. my cham never had a prob, hunting down starys ( when he had a tounge ) but i know others with toungs that dont seem to be great hunters. when cup feeding try variuos cups, different sizes, colors, and materials. my guy only likes his green shot glass, LoL

hope this helps a bit
hoj & camo

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Like Hoj said, mealworms are not the best feeder. They are lacking in nutrients and have a lot of chitin and fat. If your cham doesn't like crickets maybe you could try some other types of worms. Butterworms are really high in calcium, silkworms and hornworms have more nutritional value and chams usually love all of them! Superworms look like larger mealworms but they're actually a different species with a little more nutrition so you could try those too. I'd try butterworms, silkworms and hornworms though. You can order them online from several of the forum sponsors. My chams love their 'pasta' (the worms, not actual human pasta), even though it wiggles.