Gut Loading?

[pudge]

If you give you chem vitamens do you have to really focus on gut
loading?
can you gut load meal worms? are they a good staple diet?

the only reason I ask is I really cant keep crickets in the house during the winter. they just stink too bad and the wife already isnt crazy about a chem in the living room. this will only add fuel to the fire.

 

[pssh]

Mealworms cannot be used as a staple. Crickets need to be gut loaded at all times. Here's a link to veggies and fruits calcium: phos levels. Avoid spinach, tomatoes, and brocolli.

http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_ratio.html

try Silkworms or dubia cockroaches. They don't smell, jump, and they're meaty or good for hydration. Try superworms every week or so to mix it up as well. Don't tell your wife that they're cockroaches. Tell her they're hawaiian papaya beetles. They really do look like large beetles. Or just call them dubia so she never knows. The best part is THEY DONT STINK!!!!!

 

[lucky]

no mealworms. use superworms. not too often tho. the chams seem to get addicted to them easily.

also. you should always gutload your insects you feed your cham.

if you cant keep crickets i suggest you invest in some dubia roaches. NO SMELL.

 

[pudge]

Im really not sure about roaches...theres only a cople insects I cant stand, centipedes and roaches.
I think I will order some silkworms. The local reptile store only carries crickets mealworms and of coarse roaches.....they do have super worms though.

 

[sandrachameleon]

If you give you chem vitamens do you have to really focus on gut loading? can you gut load meal worms? are they a good staple diet? the only reason I ask is I really cant keep crickets in the house during the winter. they just stink too bad and the wife already isnt crazy about a chem in the living room. this will only add fuel to the fire.

Gutloading is important. Supplements are supposed to supplemental, secondary, just in case additives, not the primary way of getting nutrition into the chameleon. Just like eating healthy for us means vegetables and such, not a bunch of vitamin pills.

Mealworms are fine to offer now and then, but not as a staple (and yes they too should be gutloaded).

Silkworms and roaches make good, quiet non-stinky feeders.

Variety, IMHO, is important - so use some crickets, a few mealworms or superworms, some silkworms, some roaches, some butterworms, and others.

Clean out your cricket bin daily to reduce the smell (though you'll never get rid of it entirely).

 

[pssh]

Dubia cockroaches look like giant rollie pollies. No lies plus it's a tropical species so they don't do well in the cold. That means they pretty much die if they get out, or escape to find a more suitable forest home. Plus they can't climb smooth surfaces so they don't really escape, especially if you have a lid on them. I love my cockroaches... They are 20x's better than crickets, though I do still use them.

 

[renzo0684]

sorry about the Hijack here but do you gutload dubias the same as crix?

 

[pssh]

Exactly the same.

 

[pudge]

about how long does it take to give insects a good gut load?

 

[pssh]

Minimum= 4 hours. Prefered= at least 24 hours before hand. I gut load my feeders 24/7 as I have guinea pigs and excess veggies all the time.

 

[pudge]

Great thanks for all the help