Eating Bugs in the wild

[Haley Hendrix]

I’ve been seeing threads on if keepers can feed there chameleons different feeders. Most of them are poisonous or harmful to the chameleon but in the wild there is no human there to keep them from eating these insects. So, what happens in the wild when they eat these insects? Interesting topic i’m open to learn about.

 

[PabloTheCham]

Well, poisonous doesn't mean deadly. So if the cham eats something poisonous they can:
a) die
b) get sick
most of the poisonous things we say not to feed chams are most likely to be a "b" and not an "a"

 

[Haley Hendrix]

Well, poisonous doesn't mean deadly. So if the cham eats something poisonous they can:
a) die
b) get sick
most of the poisonous things we say not to feed chams are most likely to be a "b" and not an "a"

True, but in the wild how do they recover?

 

[Pearl Fields]

what kind of bugs are you talking?

 

[Haley Hendrix]

what kind of bugs are you talking?

Any that aren’t recommended really. It’s just a topic that i wonder about. There’s no way to prevent it in the wild, so what happens? They become sick i know that, but there’s no treatment when their in the wild.

 

[PabloTheCham]

Any that aren’t recommended really. It’s just a topic that i wonder about. There’s no way to prevent it in the wild, so what happens? They become sick i know that, but there’s no treatment when their in the wild.

well what happens to ever single animal when they get sick in the wild? What would happen to you if you were on an island with no medical care? They either get through it or they die.

 

[Kaizen]

My guess is that something like this is the right explanation:

In a native biotope, a species has evolved along side its prey. Over thousands of years, the chameleons whose genetics imbued them with an avoidance behaviour to certain prey items that, e.g. had such-and-such color/shape, survived to pass on those genes. Those that didn’t have these genes didn’t survive to pass on these genes, and so we end up with a population of chameleons that have an avoidance behaviour for certain prey items. This is why wild chameleons don’t need someone there to protect them from eating toxic bugs: they don’t eat them because they’ve evolved not to prey on those bugs.

But, when we put them into a non-native environment containing prey items with totally different “toxic” cues, they are—for lack of a better term—babes in the woods.

 

[jamest0o0]

My guess is that something like this is the right explanation:

In a native biotope, a species has evolved along side its prey. Over thousands of years, the chameleons whose genetics imbued them with an avoidance behaviour to certain prey items that, e.g. had such-and-such color/shape, survived to pass on those genes. Those that didn’t have these genes didn’t survive to pass on these genes, and so we end up with a population of chameleons that have an avoidance behaviour for certain prey items. This is why wild chameleons don’t need someone there to protect them from eating toxic bugs: they don’t eat them because they’ve evolved not to prey on those bugs.

But, when we put them into a non-native environment containing prey items with totally different “toxic” cues, they are—for lack of a better term—babes in the woods.

This is a great explanation. Lightning bugs/fire flies are a perfect example of this. Many people have lost reptiles due to them eating lightning bugs. In their native habitats they are not used to the species we have here and don't recognize them as being extremely deadly. The animals around us know not to touch them.

 

[Bigsky]

Lightning bugs fly at night. Chameleons feed during the day. There are no lightning bugs in Madagascar??

 

[Kaizen]

Lighting bugs don’t disappear during the day, they look like regular leaf beetles with pretty stripes. If a malagasy native sees an eg native Canadian firefly beetle on a leaf at noon in Ontario, it might try to tag it. In Madagascar, a native firefly beetle will look very different, and so might not elicit a predator response.

Lightning bugs fly at night. Chameleons feed during the day. There are no lightning bugs in Madagascar??

 

[jamest0o0]

Lightning bugs fly at night. Chameleons feed during the day. There are no lightning bugs in Madagascar??

Yeah that's one reason they're a little easier to avoid. I've still seen the random one hanging out during the day, but it's rare. I'm sure they are in Madagascar, but probably not the same kinds as you'd see here. I really don't know other than other reptiles have been known to die from them .

 

[Bigsky]

Yeah that's one reason they're a little easier to avoid. I've still seen the random one hanging out during the day, but it's rare. I'm sure they are in Madagascar, but probably not the same kinds as you'd see here. I really don't know other than other reptiles have been known to die from them .

If lightning bugs are active during the night, they probably hide during the day so predators cant find them.