Deparasiting WC feeders. Is there a way?

[Bokaru]

So my cham has started to only take a few feeder crickets per day... I think he is getting burnt out,but during this season I encounter an invasion. Cave Crickets love to take over my basement around this time of year when it starts getting cold.

Since I have a chameleon, I have been catching them this year, and I thought to myself, "how nice would it be to have these guys bred for when Peppers gets burnt out on normal crickets?" So I placed them in a container and have been feeding and caring for them ever since.

My question now is... is there any way to make sure they have no parasites and or feed them something that would definitely kill all the parasites without killing the crickets? I figure its not a huge deal, but if I am feeding them to my cham on a regular basis and they are parasite filled, then I might have some trouble.

Any ideas?

 

[Vegas Chad]

as far as I know you can not ever be 100% sure that your feeder bugs are 'clean', even from the pet store and farms. Your best bet for new food would be to collect bugs as far away as you can get from people.

 

[jr andrade]

Yup if you breed them you can grow those up, but like chad said, just look for bugs far away from humans.

 

[Cainschams]

I feed off camel crickets from my basement. I have deep cricket bins and I do not keep a top on them. Camel crickets can get into the bins easily (I am guessing) but not out very well, or they dont want to. If there is food and egg carton in the bins there are camel crickets.

I do rely a lot on WC bugs but in the cooler months crickets and flies are my chams main feeders. Blue bottle flies would be a good addition for your Senegal. They are super easy to deal with, inexpensive and chams go insane for them. Check out mantisplace.com. They are great! I get the pupae and spikes/maggots. They store in the fridge and last quite a while.

 

[Bokaru]

Thanks for the info everyone! I will definitely look into the blue bottle flies. I have a bit of an aversion to maggots, but I figure I can deal with them for Peppers. Do you know if Mantis Place irradiates their feeders? I haven't seen any who have, but I guess its always something to look into if you are planning on trying to breed.

 

[pssh]

Hey, I have some BB fly larvae and pupae for sale. Send me a PM if you're interested.

I'm also trying to breed the cave crickets. I know that will Lepidoptera larvae that are raised on artificial diet there is often a small amount of antibiotic/Anti-bacterial water soluble powder in it. These are sometimes also put in the drinking water of livestock to clean it. I'm not sure if that helps at all, but it might be worth looking into.

How does your chameleon fare with the crickets legs?

 

[Bokaru]

How does your chameleon fare with the crickets legs?

If they are too big, they pop off as he is eating the cricket. I have started removing the second part of the jumping legs if its a bigger bug just for safety reasons. Some back legs have a few barbs, so I try to play it safe. He gets katydids some times as well and I do the same thing.

 

[pssh]

That's funny, I didn't think they would just pop off like that!

 

[Cainschams]

Thanks for the info everyone! I will definitely look into the blue bottle flies. I have a bit of an aversion to maggots, but I figure I can deal with them for Peppers. Do you know if Mantis Place irradiates their feeders? I haven't seen any who have, but I guess its always something to look into if you are planning on trying to breed.

I wouldnt have the first clue if they do. Actually not worried either All I know is that my chams love them!!! I would get the honey/bee pollen mix for the flies to gutload them with. They will also eat fruits and some vegetables like squash. I use spirulina powder to dust them with to add extra nutrition to them.

I also forgot Psssh was selling them. Not sure how she ships but since mantisplace.com is in Ohio it might be cheaper to go with them if you wanted them over nighted since they are closer. In this weather I just get them priority mail for 7 bucks but when its real cold or hot I get them over night.


Not trying to take any biz from you, Pssh. You might give a better deal. I just got my new shipment in a few days ago and if I would have remembered I would have checked.

 

[pssh]

Understandable. Who doesn't want a good deal?! Shipping is crazy these days.