House flies

"Only commercially raised houseflies should be used. Because of what they naturally feed on, wild flies can have various diseases and can also introduce parasites to your chameleon." (-Bluebeast)

Fruit Flies are a safe and commonly bred feeder. There are few fly feeders that are large enough for adult chameleons to eat, as fruit flies are so tiny. Soldier flies are the final form of Phoenix worms and seem to be a decent meal.
 
Hi Matthew,

I have purchased them from Grubco. They are blue bottle flies, pretty large.. and very well liked by all of my chams. The leaf chameleons love them just as much as my panther. The first batch I got I killed.. not exactly sure how.. the larvae died before it ever pupated. The second batch came from Grubco via Lele, and they were already pupated. They hatched about 3 or 4 days later. They were VERY well received, and I plan to buy more. GREAT feeder! www.grubco.com

Heika
 
Thanks Heika,

Grubco was what I was looking for. Did you or do you expect problems in the summer with delivery (heat)?

Matthew
 
Hi Matthew,

Grubco ships in an interesting box.. it has holes for ventilation all the way around it. My order from them came in the early spring, so I didn't have to worry about the heat. Lele was selling off a large portion of her order of flies because they pupated in shipping.. probably because of the heat. Lele.. are you out there? Can fly pupaes be refrigerated to slow down the process, or just the larvae?

One container of flies is a LOT.. like, around 100 flies or more. I got three containers from Lele, and my biggest problem was not being able to open the doors of the cages after I put the flies in. To slow them down so I could open the containers, I put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes. After they warm up, they are quick.. but a vacuum cleaner wand does wonders for the escapees!

I fed off around half of them over a few days, and then dumped some in the cages because I was leaving for a weekend trip. I took the rest over to my sister's house and fed them to her bearded dragons. They liked them a whole lot, too.

It really is entertaining to see the chams eating them.. the leaf chams went googoo over them. I haven't seen so much activity in those cages EVER. Little tongues flicking everywhere. They kept my panther pretty active too. Good exercise for them.. :D

Heika
 
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