Fruit flies feeding

[Progrmor]

My vieled female is only 2 months old and is eating pretty bad. She is given pinhead crickets at the moment. I will provide her cup with 8 crickets in the morning. When I get back from work she has only eaten 2..

I´ve heard that babies har suppose to eat a LOT? And another problem with crickets... when they are so young they die all the time. I find atleast 5 dead every morning, and yes.. they got plenty of food, water and space to hide/climb.

So now im thinking bout feeding her fruit flies till she is able to eat the bigger crickets. But I have no idea how to take care or feed fruit flies?
Must I feed the whole cup of at one time? (Ill buy a "cup of flies") Or can I like take out 20 of them en place in a seperate cup in the enclosure? And how do I keep them alive?

Thanks!

 

[CarlC]

Its been a long time since I kept veilds but at 2 month's old I remember them eating 1/8" and 1/4" crickets.

Carl

 

[Progrmor]

Its been a long time since I kept veilds but at 2 month's old I remember them eating 1/8" and 1/4" crickets.

Carl

Well then mine is younger. Because she is not able to eat bigger things than pinheads.

 

[TCMontium]

My little 2 months old Ambilobe male doasn't eat much neighter. He doesn't like tiny grasshoppers and dubias but he loves tiny mealworms… I know that mealworms are not really healthy for chams, so i want to feed him with fruit flies too.
So, i want to know how do i keep fruit flies alive too! And how long can i keep them alive, i can find them just once in every month because i am in Turkey?

So sorry for bad English.

 

[Progrmor]

My little 2 months old Ambilobe male doasn't eat much neighter. He doesn't like tiny grasshoppers and dubias but he loves tiny mealworms… I know that mealworms are not really healthy for chams, so i want to feed him with fruit flies too.
So, i want to know how do i keep fruit flies alive too! And how long can i keep them alive, i can find them just once in every month because i am in Turkey?

So sorry for bad English.

Agree. Can anyone help us ??

 

[kplatvoet]

I gave my Jackson (almost 6 months old) fruit flies this morning. She still eats them - and I still have stuff left from when she was a baby. I bought the supplies for making them and containers and one going culture - I made up 2 with the going culture and still had flies left to give him - they last a while if you keep enough live ones in the container - and just hatch more. I've seen recipes to make your own culture but I just bought a kit - I don't know where you would get a kit in Turkey but I've seen "make your own recipes"- as long as you keep enough live ones to lay eggs they keep going till they run out of food (the culture mix) and by then you start another - the main problem is the temp for them to hatch before you run out of flies - which is why I usually had 3 going cultures so that one was always producing.

Home made culture link
https://www.chameleonforums.com/diy-fruitfly-culture-21683/

 

[CarlC]

The basic ingredient is potato flakes. Add a little bit of yeast to get the mix fermenting.

The problem with feeding fruit flies is you are going to need a lot of them. Most of the media mix's don't included enough nutrients to support growing if used as a staple food.

At 2 month's old you could probably be using stable flies. They are a bit smaller then houseflies and can be gut loaded.

Carl

 

[Progrmor]

The basic ingredient is potato flakes. Add a little bit of yeast to get the mix fermenting.

The problem with feeding fruit flies is you are going to need a lot of them. Most of the media mix's don't included enough nutrients to support growing if used as a staple food.

At 2 month's old you could probably be using stable flies. They are a bit smaller then houseflies and can be gut loaded.

Carl

but if I make my own media? Wich will be nutrisious enough? haha, but how to do that?

 

[shea]

My vieled female is only 2 months old and is eating pretty bad. She is given pinhead crickets at the moment. I will provide her cup with 8 crickets in the morning. When I get back from work she has only eaten 2..

Thanks!

Try free roaming the feeders. Sometimes they need that chase instinct.

ie; I've had feeders in a feeding cup half a day, as soon as one jumps out and starts climbing up the screen he's lunch! They go after feeders that are running away from them...it helps a good amount of the time.

Size up on the crickets too. They need to keep fueled otherwise they literally run outa gas, pinheads probably aren't doing it for her.

Shea Peterson

 

[sandrachameleon]

Repashy makes a good fruit fly medium powder (just add hot water)
Although I often make my own medium, I also use the Repashy product beacuse it is very good, very easy and doesnt stink.

other options for small chameleons are bean beetles, terrestrial isopods, baby silkworms, baby termites, firebrats....
more info: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

if your young chameleon is not eating, it could be a sign of a problem. possibly dehydration, or possibly one of many other issues. I encourage you to provide answers to all of the questions in the How To Ask For Help sticky https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[CarlC]

I have never used the Rapashy mix but if Sandra says its good its gotta be good.

Bee pollen and honey powder could be added for some nutrients.

Try searching for the firebrats Sandra suggested. I know many people used to use them for Phelsuma over there. You should be able to find them easily.

Carl

 

[Progrmor]

Alright, I got em flies now.. but those darn things are the hardest thing to feed of. I shaked them in a plasticbag filled with calcium. Then I put them in a pretty large container and thought I could just put the container in her cage since she would never eat if I was nearby. But they kept climbing out So had to shaked them down all they time and my chameleon did not approve on that and hide....

Looks like im back on crickets...

 

[nick barta]

A good culture will produce thousands of flies. Move your cham into a smaller enclosure where the chances of the flies and the cham coming in contact increase. Open the FF container and tap it until some of the FF fall into the container.
If the FF travel around her within striking range, and she ignores them, you have a problem, possibly dehydration (rye turrets not rounded), or more likely not enough heat in your basking area.
Are you in the US?

 

[Progrmor]

A good culture will produce thousands of flies. Move your cham into a smaller enclosure where the chances of the flies and the cham coming in contact increase. Open the FF container and tap it until some of the FF fall into the container.
If the FF travel around her within striking range, and she ignores them, you have a problem, possibly dehydration (rye turrets not rounded), or more likely not enough heat in your basking area.
Are you in the US?

Here is the deal.. I can not by any chances MOVE her without using force. I have literly sitten on my knes for 2 hours trying to make her climb on my hand, a branch, handfeed her, tried put a removable stick near her favourite place. But no, its just not possible with that gurl .

3 flies got left in the cage, she got them all. Hunted them. But im afraid that if I release them free in the cage they will either escape or lay eggs in there I dont want that.

 

[sandrachameleon]

3 flies got left in the cage, she got them all. Hunted them. But im afraid that if I release them free in the cage they will either escape or lay eggs in there I dont want that.

they are not going to breed and lay eggs in the enclosure unless there is a food source (yeast/starch). so dont worry about that.

depending on the type of enclosure you have, yes, a few may get out through the screen. But so what? they are only tiny wingless non-infesting fruit flies. they dont live long and they are easy to vacuum up.

You want her to eat!

 

[Progrmor]

they are not going to breed and lay eggs in the enclosure unless there is a food source (yeast/starch). so dont worry about that.

depending on the type of enclosure you have, yes, a few may get out through the screen. But so what? they are only tiny wingless non-infesting fruit flies. they dont live long and they are easy to vacuum up.

You want her to eat!

Okey sweet. But how many should I release? She is about 2 months old.

 

[mcanham]

Some of your husbandry techniques would be very useful to know right now. There may be other reasons for this behavior. Fill out the form Sandra mentioned earlier and that will help us immensely. As far as fruit flies, just dump 20 or so into an old plastic container with a small amount of vitamin, calcium, etc. and shake them up and dump them all into the enclosure. I sometimes put a wet stick in a small plastic container with the stick sticking out about 2 inches from the top of the container. I dump the flies into the container with the stick and place the whole thing into the enclosure. They will walk up the stick and hang out. They seem stay on the stick longer if its wet? The chams will come by and pick off the flies huddled around the stick. Hope this makes sense. Ill take a picture and post later if needed.