Feeding Locusts

ColorCham427

Avid Member
Hey all, does anybody feed their chams locusts as treats? Do they make good sources of nutrition? I read that they can hold alot of food in their stomache, easily gutloaded. Is this true? thanks,
Brian
 
We can't use locusts here in Canada....but I would imagine they would be as easy to gutload as the crickets would be.
 
Locusts and grasshoppers are usually very nutritious(if not starved, etc). They are high in protein and chams love them. I remove the jumping legs of any large ones because of the little spikes and overall "hardness" of the legs. Make sure you collect them from pesticide-free areas too. I wish there was still a place producing them commercially!
 
Are they nutritionaly good enough to feed often or only as a treat? In the UK locusts are used as feeder insects for many lizards/spiders etc but I can not find out much about how good they are??? Most articles just say that they are good :mad: All I know is that chameleons LOVE them with a passion.
 
Lily has locusts as her staple along with crickets and supers. Not sure about their nutritional info though, but they are popular feeders in the UK. Like crickets they come in various sizes from small right through to adult. I remove the hopping legs too. Lily loves them but she doesn't like them climbing on her - you can see her cringe if she gets one on her!! :D
 
Are they nutritionaly good enough to feed often or only as a treat? In the UK locusts are used as feeder insects for many lizards/spiders etc but I can not find out much about how good they are??? Most articles just say that they are good :mad: All I know is that chameleons LOVE them with a passion.

I would be interested to know the answer, as my veiled has locusts as his main staple - I would hate to think that this is no good for him
 
I've been doing some searching on the internet about nutritional values of locusts, but I can't find much info! What I did find is that they apparently taste better than crickets (not so bitter). Also that there isn't much difference, but, as with any feeder, their nutritional values increase when they are properly gutloaded.

I read in my Chameleon Handbook that locusts are grass eaters so are a chameleon's main calcium source in the wild. I grew wheat grass last summer from wheat grains that I bought from a health food shop, and from the way that they devoured it it's easy to see how a plague can totally destroy crops!! The only downside is that you have to have a continual supply of grass growing for them, which is more time consuming than buying gutload from the shop!
 
Wow never even thought about gutloading with grass! But I guess it makes sense so long as chams like grassgutloaded critters. Does grass have good stuff in it for chams? I guess it must do if it is their natural calcium scorce! It is really strange that there does not seem to be any nutritional data for locusts like there is for other live foods?
 
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Wow never even thought about gutloading with grass! But I guess it makes sense so long as chams like grassgutloaded critters. Does grass have good stuff in it for chams? It is really strange that there does not seem to be any nutritional data for locusts like there is for other live foods?

Grass is rich in calcium - think cows and milk!! :D As I said in an earlier post, locusts seem to be the main source of calcium for wild chams. I grew wheat grass rather than normal garden grass, but don't know if it makes any difference what sort of grass it is though.
 
I don't think locusts are available in the US (hence why there's no info about locusts on the forum feeder database) - same as we can't get hornworms here in the UK (something about them being pests I think). I think grasshoppers are the US equivalent.
 
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