Fruits and veggies

[Dopey_680]

Can anyone give me some examples of greens,... ive heard of sliced up strawberries but what else? my beardie loves mangos,... can lexi have them too???

thanks
~andrew

 

[Brad]

strawberries
grapes
carrots
...

I used to recommend collard greens, but I think I remember recently someone advising against. Not sure about mangos, but I would assume they would be good. The last Veiled I had used to love to eat the flower buds from my hibiscus plants.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Fruits are much higher in sugars than leaves which an insectivore (even one with the ability to eat leafy greens) is not used to digesting. In the wild, eating berries is generally associated with an attempt to increase hydration in the dry season, not necessarily an attempt to gain any nutrition. Since it most likely is only a seasonal, uncommon resource usage, these animals are still not designed to handle large quantities of fruit. As a result, I don't think the practice of including fruit in the diet is a good idea. Similarly, you wouldn't feed a dog large quantities of fruit for similar reasons. Whether or not it definitely causes problems is unknown but logic would indicate that this practice is not necessarily beneficial.

Chris

 

[Brad]

Great post Chris! Thanks for the info. I always assumed veiled chameleons ate greens in order to increase their water intake. I thought some fruits would be a good idea because of their high water content, but I never thought about the high level of sugars found in most fruit.

 

[reptileguy]

I've asked around to a couple people and they said not to feed them carrots or not to let the crickets eats the carrots because it could possibly kill the cham. Is this true or does someone not know what they are talking about?

 

[Chamgirl]

I've asked around to a couple people and they said not to feed them carrots or not to let the crickets eats the carrots because it could possibly kill the cham. Is this true or does someone not know what they are talking about?

Rubbish! Carrots are one of the very best things you can feed to crickets for their vitamin A content.

 

[reptileguy]

That's what I thought too, but this guy seemed to know what he was talking about. So I wouldn't have to worry about over feeding them then?

 

[neil nosy be]

vit a

Hi reptileguy

Chams can overdose on vit A, you need to have alook at your supplements to insure this does not happen