Do you dust horns, silks and butters?

[crocky]

I know these all have calcium as a whole in their raw form, so was not sure if I would still need to dust them? The horns and silks feed on pre made horn and silk food but right now I am not gut loading the butters, I keep them in the fridge.

 

[dlegare]

I used hornworms to dose vitamin a to my Cham. Vet told me to use a q-tip to apply a small dab on the back end of the worm. My vet also said he used the same technique to administer vitamins by lightly wetting the worms back end and then dabbing a little vitamin powder on.

He also liked dosing antibiotics in a similar way by injecting the antibiotic into the worm, large cricket or roach.

It's a good reason to get a Cham use to hand feeding.

 

[KatCham]

I don't dust them if I use those feeders on a day where it's just with calcium only as they are already high in it. If it's a vitamin A or calci plus day though, I still dust/drop them/one.

You can feed butterworms a bit of carrot.

 

[pssh]

I don't dust them.

 

[crocky]

Thanks all! I think Waldo has stopped eating crickets even after only a few days of giving him one or two of the butters, horns or silks. I have not given him many but I think he is in love. Going to have to hold off on them a little until I know he is eating his crickets . Of course for just one Cham I would not mind feeding mainly worms but not sure if that is the best thing as he has not developed the taste for dubias either. I keep those in a bowl for him every day.

So I won't dust them, but I was worried about him getting the supplement he needs if he is not eating dusted crickets right now.

 

[pssh]

Definitely try to get him to eat something with a "shell." He needs some roughage in his diet. If you make him eat a few crickets before he gets any worms when he eats, I find that it makes them less likely to refuse crickets.

 

[crocky]

Well there definitely were not as many crickets left in his cage this evening than what I put in, so maybe he ate a few. They could be hiding somewhere but I only ended up taking out half of what I put in. I have some superworms too that will help with the shell part but I would still like him to eat his crickets first . I might have to ground him or take away his phone for a week or two if he does not eat his dinner before dessert

 

[sandrachameleon]

I know these all have calcium as a whole in their raw form, so was not sure if I would still need to dust them? The horns and silks feed on pre made horn and silk food but right now I am not gut loading the butters, I keep them in the fridge.

If you are using alot of them, yes give the silkworms and hornworms a light dusting now and then. A lot depends on how you are gutloading them. You can provide more than those pre-made chows, to provide a wider range of nutrients.

Butterworms can be gutloaded too! they dont need calcium dusting, but if you're not gutloading them you'll sometimes want to dust with vitamins.

good to keep him eating crickets - too many soft bodied feeders in the absence of "crunchy" food is not a good thing

 

[crocky]

Thanks! Yes I want him to keep eating crickets or dubias too. I might have to show him some tough love I have been over compensating trying to get him to like me at the same time give him a good variety.

I will have to check out your gutload info for worms. I will try the carrots with the butters as Kat said too. I assume though you have to leave them out of the fridge to eat though.

 

[sandrachameleon]

ya, they have to be warm enough to eat. but you can just take out the few youre going to give to the chameleon that week and gutload those, leaving the rest in the fridge
you might find this useful: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...just-crickets-roaches-gutload-everything.html

 

[crocky]

ya, they have to be warm enough to eat.

Yeah I figured that was a silly question but there was a part of me that still had to ask LOL

I will check out that link.

Thanks again

 

[sandrachameleon]

I didnt think it a silly question