I've been wondering all day..

[beeek0]

What is the main staple food that wild chameleons eat in their natural habitat? I'm sure it depends on what species we are talking about.. But I am mostly looking for what fercifer pardalis mostly eat?

 

[Zubi]

I dont think there is one main staple. I read somewhere that they found 410 different types of bugs that one wild chameleon ate in its lifetime....so ya

 

[ataraxia]

I cant remember where i read this nor can i remember if it was a panther. I think it was but im not sure. They mainly found beetles, flying insects, plant material and peebles (yes, small rocks). It is thought that the small rocks act as a anti parasitic in the wild. I would think eating bettles on the ground. Tiny rocks or whatever will be picked up along with it.

 

[Vegun]

Didn't they find a license plate from Louisiana in that study as well?

 

[Swayne8998]

I would think something that's super common in it's habitat... probably something like moths, beetles, and cockroaches would be some of the things it eats most.

 

[beeek0]

awesome responses, thanks for all of the info. Keep it coming if anyone has an opinion or ideas on the matter

 

[ataraxia]

Didn't they find a license plate from Louisiana in that study as well?

You read it too huh?

 

[Alexl]

I read somewhere that they found 410 different types of bugs that one wild chameleon ate in its lifetime....so ya

Those lots of "different types of bugs" were "food items", I'm pretty sure. "Food items" is used as description in some publications (AKANI 2001, HOFER 2003) for the number of found particles alltogether. Maybe they found twenty parts of the same insect species, but they counted every single part (wings, feet, legs...). This is not the number of different feeders.

There were several studies done about stomach's ingredients in chameleons in Madagascar. The problem is to identify all the insects and little animals, some can't be identified at all. That's why an exact number of feeders can't be given. Nicolà LUTZMANN did a good summary about this issue in his dissertation: http://hss.ulb.uni-bonn.de/2007/0970/0970.pdf, page 217 and following. What you know up to date: Chameleons eat everything they can get depending on seasons and supply, mainly insects, but also somtimes little birds, reptiles and plants. Some authors counted the different insect species, some got about 20. That's a wide variety, too.