Curious: Cham vs. Bee / Wasp?

[BuddhaBud]

Sometimes when we take our cham outside, there are wasps & bees flying around.. typical Mother Nature.

But I do get a little concerned, I'd hate for Buddha to get stung - Has anyone's chameleon gone after these insects before & if so - what happens?! I've certainly seen him tracking their movements, so I know he's interested..

 

[Syreptyon]

I've seen a lot of people ask this question over the years and usually what I hear is that they normally do fine eating bees. Bees can actually be a pretty big part of many chameleons' diet in the wild (which is partially why adding pollen to your gutload is a good idea). I think I've only heard from one person whose cham got stung on the lip, but it didn't end up causing any significant health issues.

 

[Decadancin]

In the wild they are likely a major part of the diet. Should not be a problem.

 

[Bush baby]

When I place my Jackson's outside, he readily goes after bees. They seem to instinctively know to stike and kill it as fast as possible to minimize getting stung.

 

[jamest0o0]

My parson's ate probably close to an entire beehive in one day lol. They never come around anymore. Never noticed problems from it.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I've seen a lot of people ask this question over the years and usually what I hear is that they normally do fine eating bees. Bees can actually be a pretty big part of many chameleons' diet in the wild (which is partially why adding pollen to your gutload is a good idea). I think I've only heard from one person whose cham got stung on the lip, but it didn't end up causing any significant health issues.

That was probably me you were thinking about, my male veiled took a sting on the lip one time but shook it off like a champ. The sting did not affect his love for them though, still eats them to this day! I don’t know how they do it but they seem to instinctively know how to snap them up without getting stung...

 

[Chameleophlaged]

WAYYY back in 1972 I saw a Jackson Cham, and had to buy it, I put him outside on a flowering rice paper plant all day (probably 90 - 105 degrees in So Cal and no humidity.. sorry I was young and didn't know any better), he ate one bee every few minutes for 3 or 4 hours every day for the whole summer. I had him for two years, he got loose and a cat got him. Two years ago I decided I wanted another one, I bought a pair of Xanths, then another,and another and I bred them and I had the opportunity to buy True Jacksons so I did and then Kenyan Wild Caught and I did, and then the babies came and I decided I kinda wanted other species and you can figure what happened next, but I digress, I had a beehive to help feed the menagerie, but the city said it was a NO-NO. So now I both gutload and dust with bee pollen every feeding, but again digressing...they LOVE bees (good for the tongue eye co-ordination, picking em off as they go to land too a pretty good thing for a cham to be good at)

 

[timw1]

Good, interesting topic guys!

 

[JoshD49]

This is great to know! I have bees that fly around the backyard all the time whenever I water or the sprinklers are on. I was worried about this and never thought that it would be a normal prey item for chams.

One less worry now!

 

[Bush baby]

Fed my Jackson's a bee today. I usualy don't like feeding wild caught prey, but every now and then it's okay. Caught it in a net, and let it go in his enclosure. The angry buzzing it made seem to get him excited and he went for it immediately. Funny thing is that after he killed it, he just sat there with it in his mouth for a good 15 minutes before finally chewing and swallowing it...

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Fed my Jackson's a bee today. I usualy don't like feeding wild caught prey, but every now and then it's okay. Caught it in a net, and let it go in his enclosure. The angry buzzing it made seem to get him excited and he went for it immediately. Funny thing is that after he killed it, he just sat there with it in his mouth for a good 15 minutes before finally chewing and swallowing it...

Mine do that too, thats probably the reason they don’t get stung! Chams always hit their prey in th head and then reel them in. Then they chomp down once or twice to kill it, then they just wait for it to die so they can swallow it without being stung!

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah my guy does this to. Bites down real hard and kills whatever it is. Bees he chews up quickly. It's cool how they seem to know what is dangerous and what isn't. They'll let a roach squirm around for 10 minutes.