crickets

[ohsnapitberic]

So i am brand new to the chameleon world, and am trying to figure out the different types of crickets.

On online websites, they have different types of crickets, some saying 1 week, to week, etc... until six week/full.

anyone know what that means?

 

[carol5208]

They come in all different sizes! http://www.nyworms.com/cricketchart.htm 1 week meaning 1 week old, 2 week, 2 weeks old and so on. how old is your cham and we can tell you what size you should be feeding it.

 

[ohsnapitberic]

oh well that makes sense, the place i got it from explain to me in inches not by weeks.
i have a 4 month old panther chameleon, he is still eating pinhead crickets, and it seems to suit him. I am not sure when to upgrade in cricket size, or even try worms or other insects. I just know that i can measure the size between its eyes.

 

[Ricardo]

Welcome to the forums!
As i remember my cham at her 4th month of age ate houseflies, and crickets at the same size. about 0.4 inches or so.
It is said, that the feeder animal must NOT!!!! bigger than the space between the chameleons eyes - or something like that, so he can pick em up easy

Greetings from Hungary!

Ricardo

p.s.: post some pictures! We all love cham pictures here!

 

[Texas Ranger]

oh well that makes sense, the place i got it from explain to me in inches not by weeks.
i have a 4 month old panther chameleon, he is still eating pinhead crickets, and it seems to suit him. I am not sure when to upgrade in cricket size, or even try worms or other insects. I just know that i can measure the size between its eyes.

Wow, he is still on pin heads! When my cham was that age he ate 1/2 to 1" crickets. My female is that age and is eatting 1/2 crickets now too.

 

[Olimpia]

Pinheads are waaay too small for a four month old. Only really tiny babies need to eat pinheads. He'll get more "bang for the bug" from a bigger sized cricket. He can easily handle 3/4 at this point. But mine at 3-4 months are easily eating nearly full grown crickets without issue, so you could go bigger depending on the size of your chameleon. The space-between-their-eyes rule is a good guide to go by.

The bigger the insect the more meat per insect he has to use to grow, so you'll probably see him grow a bit faster if you switch to a larger size.

 

[lisa h]

Pinheads are waaay too small for a four month old. Only really tiny babies need to eat pinheads. He'll get more "bang for the bug" from a bigger sized cricket. He can easily handle 3/4 at this point. But mine at 3-4 months are easily eating nearly full grown crickets without issue, so you could go bigger depending on the size of your chameleon. The space-between-their-eyes rule is a good guide to go by.

The bigger the insect the more meat per insect he has to use to grow, so you'll probably see him grow a bit faster if you switch to a larger size.

... and you'll be saving a lot of money! Pinheads are really expensive, compared to the larger sizes.

 

[carol5208]

QUOTE=ohsnapitberic;461066]oh well that makes sense, the place i got it from explain to me in inches not by weeks.
i have a 4 month old panther chameleon, he is still eating pinhead crickets, and it seems to suit him. I am not sure when to upgrade in cricket size, or even try worms or other insects. I just know that i can measure the size between its eyes.[/QUOTE]

Oh my gosh, the poor little guy must be starving! He needs crickets much larger than that!!!

 

[warpdrive]

ok, I'll try to keep my advice simple.

first off, your panther needs more then just crickets to be healthy and happy.
try to buy silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, and superworms, as well as crickets. (all are easy to buy online, and in some cases, all from the same place.)

buy 3 week old crickets, say 200 or 250 at a time. with other feeders, this will last you a month before they get too big or die off.
feed off the largest ones in the first week...yes you'll get some 4 week old in your batch.
feed 8 to 10 per day...I split this up into two feedings while they are young, but you don't have to if you can't.
by the following week the 3 week olds will turn into 4 week olds and be the size you need. again, 8 to 10 per day.
by the 3rd week, the smallest crickets will be turning into 4 week olds...yes you'll get some small ones as well as big ones.
again, 8 to 10 per day.
by the 4th week most of the left over crickets will be about 5 weeks old and if fed off you should cut back a little, say 6 to 8 per day.
they will start to have wings at this point but should still be small enough to never be a problem. if they all have full wings (6 week olds) I personaly would not take chances in feeding them.

you can go to one of our site sponcers called mulberry farms and buy everything on the list above in one shot.
ask for baby hornworm and baby silkworm cups. also buy some superworms, say the 1 1/2" size, and some butterworms (no size needed). don't forget to buy 2x 100 count 3 week old crickets.
total cost should be around $60 - $70 with shipping.

that may sound like alot of money, but if you got everything from different places, the price for the feeders will be cheaper, but the shipping costs from all the different places start to add up to more money.

as you learn more of how to care for all the types of feeders you can then buy from forum members who will charge alot less but are never as good as the pros...sort of "you get what you pay for".

I hope that helped. if you have any questions just ask here or send me a PM.

Harry

 

[ohsnapitberic]

woah guys,
thanks for all the info, i need to brush up on my chameleon husbandry skills.
there are some reptile stores around town that i can take a look so that i can circumvent the shipping issue, but im sure it'll be more expensive.

Should i alternate different feeders weekly, monthly?
i could swing by a store and buy some silkworms or superworms, not sure how my cham will react, but i mean theres only one way to find out.

are there any highly noticeable signs of starvation? perhaps if he isn't very active, always stays near the UVB light, or perhaps color?

thanks

 

[carol5208]

you probably will not have any luck getting silkworms at a store, supers yes, but silkworms you will most likely have to get online from a silkworm breeder. You might luck out and get some at a reptile store, but I found out that my reptile store who carries silks on occasion was getting them from the same place I was ordering online!. you can try Mulberry Farms, and there is also Coastal Silkworms which are two good suppliers. You can feed them everyday, but if you are feeding crickets, keep them as your staple and throw in a few silks or supers as treats.

 

[warpdrive]

woah guys,
thanks for all the info, i need to brush up on my chameleon husbandry skills.
there are some reptile stores around town that i can take a look so that i can circumvent the shipping issue, but im sure it'll be more expensive.

Should i alternate different feeders weekly, monthly?
i could swing by a store and buy some silkworms or superworms, not sure how my cham will react, but i mean theres only one way to find out.

are there any highly noticeable signs of starvation? perhaps if he isn't very active, always stays near the UVB light, or perhaps color?

thanks

buying supers or crickets (or any other feeder) will more times then not cost you more then you would pay online and the shipping.
a good example is the cost of just 1 cricket at a petstore will cost you 10 cents...1 cricket online (if buying about 250) plus the shipping comes out to 7 cents. so it's still cheaper to buy online regrdless of the shipping costs.

what my point was or is, is that if you buy your silkworms from one guy, then buy your hornworms from another (lets also not forget you need some supers and some butterworms too) the costs of all the shipping can add up fast.
buying from 4 or 5 different places at about $10 each for shipping now turns into $40...compare that to the price of just $15 or $20 in shipping from one place that will give you all the feeders on my list and you can see that even though mulberry might charge slightly more per item, you are still getting a huge savings.

you also get what you pay for...
I can buy 50 small silkies from a buddy for $5.50 or pay $8 from mulberry.
but mulberryfarms will not just send me 50 silkies all balled up in a cup. they will send me a "pod" so I don't have to seperate them or care for them in any way (perfect for the newbie who is just getting started).

I have also delt with tons of people who just can't get me feeders alive or the proper size.
(nothing worse then asking for SMALL hornworms and LARGE silkies and getting LARGE hornworms and SMALL silkies)

I've also delt with one or two people who have done a GREAT job at packing up the feeders I ordered and had such great results from them that I didn't mind paying a drop more for the feeders...but such people are rare and probably don't do enough busness because they have to charge slightly more for the added care they put into the packaging (cool packs, heat packs, insulated boxes).

don't worrie about him being starved...I know our members must have scared you.
he will be fine.

as to how you should feed off this list I gave you, here is my tips:

feed crickets every other day. say mon, wed, fri, sun.
then, because hornworms grow so fast, start feeding them off on two of the other three days. use butterworms on the 3rd free day.
then the next week change it to silk worms (instead of the hornworms)for two days. with superworms the last day.
(note: hornworms grow ultra fast so if they are still small enough to feed then use them before they get too big, instead of a silkworm day.)
the following weeks try to add supers and butters as you should be out of silkies and hornworms (or they grew too large to feed off).

Harry

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the world of chameleons!

Since you said you are new to chameleons this should help you with the husbandry...
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Water can be provided by misting the cage at least once a day and setting up a dripper.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption. For baby veileds I keep the temperatures more even (8oish F) since their small bodies cool, warm, dehydrate more quickly than an adult's would. For adult males I keep the basking temperature in the high 80's and for female adult veileds I keep it in the low to mid 80's. For a basking light (which I don't use until the males are several months old) you can use a regular incandescent household light bulb of a wattage that puts the temperature in the 80's (low or high depending on the age of the chameleon).

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the Repti-sun 5.0 long linear fluorescent tube light since some others can cause problems....but so far this one hasn't.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it.

If you dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. (Some UVB lights have been known to cause health issues, so the most often recommended one is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light.) D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it.

Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while.

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs....so its important too. You can feed the crickets a wide assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.).

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/