Feeding Variety

[ChameLIonLover]

Hi guys, my one guy is about 10 months old now and I thought i'd check up and make sure my variety of foods is ok.

I feed crickets, dubia roaches, superworms, and blue bottle flies to my Nosy Be as well as the occasional mealworm as a treat. I was thinking about adding butterworms to the diet. Are they easy to keep year round, and can I treat them as I would super worms (large sour cream container with oatmeal) or meal worms? I've read they can be kept in the fridge for months and survive, so I figure they are more similar to mealworms and that they don't really have the ability to become gutloaded.

Thanks! Any other good bugs? Now that the weather is warmed up a bit, I think I may try some silkworms as well.

 

[ChameLIonLover]

So yeah, any bug suggestions? Easy to care for and add good variety that I could feed once or twice a week? Thanks

 

[MelissaB]

Green banana roaches are pretty easy to take care of, and my guys like them a lot. They need to be kept in a humid container with substate on a heat mat, though. They move super fast, can fly, and are a really cool bright green.

 

[ChameLIonLover]

Would that be a big difference from dubia roaches? Being bright green, being fast, and being able to fly seem like it would be kind of a fun thing for a cham. I'm curious about the nutritional comparison between those and dubia though. I was looking to get a bug to not only add some variety, but some different nutrition as well

 

[sandrachameleon]

Your current variety is sufficient. But adding more would be even better!

silkworms would be a great addition. you can gutload on a number of things, and most chameleons really like them.

Adding Butterworms would also be great. They are indeed easy to keep, but you cannot breed them for yourself. They last for awhile kept cool (couple months). They CAN be gutloaded (so can mealworms). I usually feed lightly cooked (cold) squash or carrot to butterworms, sometimes apple.

Adding another roach type would hurt - different roach types do have different eating preferences and may contribute slightly different nutritional value, but also it just makes it more interesting for the chameleon to eat different looking prey.

You might also consider terrestrial isopods (aka rollie pollie / wood sow / wood bug), termites, land snails, grasshoppers, moths ...

This link may be of interest to you: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

 

[MelissaB]

Would that be a big difference from dubia roaches? Being bright green, being fast, and being able to fly seem like it would be kind of a fun thing for a cham. I'm curious about the nutritional comparison between those and dubia though. I was looking to get a bug to not only add some variety, but some different nutrition as well

I honestly don't know their nutritional content. I just give them a few to mix up the rotation a little.