Is it ok to feed my Cham...Anole lizards or pinky mice...?

erik775

Established Member
I was waching YouTube videos the other day and it had people on there feeding there Cham small anole lizards...I wanted to know If that was sage to do...and if so at what age is it ok to feed them on...and also mice or pinky mice is it ok to feed to my Cham and at what age is it ok to feed my Cham pinky mice?????thanks...
 
Wild caught anoles are definably not ok. They have parasites that can infest your chameleon. Pinky mice etc. I wouldn't think it too good for their digestive track. They would have to be adults to do so and its not very pretty to watch them chew on a pinkie for a few minutes...

I would stick with the standard insects, crickets, super worms, etc.
 
Wild caught anoles are definably not ok. They have parasites that can infest your chameleon. Pinky mice etc. I wouldn't think it too good for their digestive track. They would have to be adults to do so and its not very pretty to watch them chew on a pinkie for a few minutes...

I would stick with the standard insects, crickets, super worms, etc.

Ok...no no wild cought...i was thinking of buying one from a petco or petsmart to feed...and not a verry big one either I was planning on getting a verry small one... But I want to make sure it's ok before I just jump ahead of my self...
 
Ok...no no wild cought...i was thinking of buying one from a petco or petsmart to feed...and not a verry big one either I was planning on getting a verry small one... But I want to make sure it's ok before I just jump ahead of my self...

I work at Petco. We sell Annoles as pets...not feeders. They are sent to us from Florida so they could very well be wild caught.
 
Well, you can feed both. But, like what moviemanmania said, it takes a while to digest. There are places you can purchase anoles online, that are bred for being feeders. I wouldn't suggest giving pinkies but maybe as a treat, and I say treat loosely. I wouldn't give a pinky more than once 3-5 months, just because where I am, they are $1.49 a pinky, and I already purchase 4-6 a week, for my chinese water dragon. The anoles on the other hand, I have fed WC anoles from my backyard, to my Veiled. I keep them for a few days, and feed them with gutloaded food, dusted with a powder that helps in the aid of parasites, as it makes them poo more, so it passes parasites, at least the "adult" ones.

But like I said, they do sell them online for feeding purposes, so you don't have to deal with WC.
 
All anoles on the market are wild caught. They are too cheap for breeders to mess with (you can buy 100 lots for 50 cents each- no breeder is going to waste his time and money producing 50 cent lizards 1 or 2 at a time).

There are virtually no cb anoles available - the ones sold as feeders and as pets are all wild caught.
 
All anoles on the market are wild caught. They are too cheap for breeders to mess with (you can buy 100 lots for 50 cents each- no breeder is going to waste his time and money producing 50 cent lizards 1 or 2 at a time).

There are virtually no cb anoles available - the ones sold as feeders and as pets are all wild caught.

Ok. Thanks for the correct. I wasn't sure, I figured at most they'd be farmed, so they labeled them as "CB". Not sure on how they'd do that though.

LPR08
 
yah- actually thinking about it a little more- I've seen wholesalers moving them for 50cents each in 100 lots. That means they are buying them from suppliers even cheaper than that- maybe 25 cents each.

A breeder just can't make money like that- they only lay 1 or 2 eggs at a time, maybe several times per summer so like 10 eggs or so over the season, then they hatch out super tiny and would require months of food and care to reach the size of even the smallest you see in a pet store or as feeders for snakes...

It's a great pity because the greens are a truly beautiful lizard and the first thing I ever bred long ago so I have a real soft spot for them.
 
I have tons of them running loose in my backyard and frontyard. They are everywhere down here! I would never think of using them as feeders. They are too cute! don't have the heart for it. My cham got one on accident one day and I couldn't bare to watch him eat it. :(
 
i dont know about anoles...

but pinkie mice are great! the Ca:phos Ration is 1:1.1 and the best thing about them is all the protein. i recently asked my vet and he said my baby veiled should be able to properly digest around 8 mo. (but then again, he's big for his age).

always use the head size to determine the food size. it's a helpful tool! and pinkie mice are so small and soft that some chams can digest them easier than super worms or meal worms.

as far as how often... i would say 1-3 every 2 weeks.
 
look at it this way...

could they get one in the wild?


you decided just off that, while i usually don't recommend vertibrates for insectivores.

its always your choice....just be prepared for anything you do.
 
i dont know about anoles...

but pinkie mice are great! the Ca:phos Ration is 1:1.1 and the best thing about them is all the protein. i recently asked my vet and he said my baby veiled should be able to properly digest around 8 mo. (but then again, he's big for his age).

always use the head size to determine the food size. it's a helpful tool! and pinkie mice are so small and soft that some chams can digest them easier than super worms or meal worms.

as far as how often... i would say 1-3 every 2 weeks.

I don't know much about pinkys but from what I have heard, that seems to be WAY too many pinkys in that amount of time. From what I understand, pinkys are often given to female chameleons after laying a clutch because they are high in calcium, outside of that they should be used every now and then. I certainly wouldn't recommend them as part a regimented diet.
 
Green and Brown Anoles in the pet trade are wild caught. Any farm raised ones are also "wild caught" for all intents and purposes

CBB Green and Brown Anoles are hard to find.
 
Well...you could make the point that in the wild, your chameleon would occasionally be eating WILD mice and anoles...

However, I think there are loads and loads of ways to give your chameleon the nutrition it needs without resorting to feeding it small lizards and mice.

As it's entirely possible to keep a chameleon alive and healthy without feeding it similar animals or mammals, I sort of have to wonder why one would even want to do it.

Making a cool video on YOUTUBE isn't really a good reason to decide what to feed your pets.
 
hmmm

I definatly wouldn't try everything I seen on you tube I seen a video on there the other day of someone giving there cham a full grown live mouse and after the mouse about bit the cham it showed the chamstruggle to try to chomp on it and it looked very stressful to him and I could not watch anymore.
 
Okay so no pinky mice or annoles for my chams...thanks for the info every one...I just wanted to make sure...I didn't really think it was a good idea also...it was just that my cousin thought it would be cool for my Cham to eat one but I wanted to find out If it was ok...so no feeding the either of them..I don't want any thing to happen to my. Chams...thanks once agein for the info every one...:)
 
Back
Top Bottom