Liquid diets

Andee

Chameleon Enthusiast
Always feed liquid diets with added vitamins or blended with insects with added vitamins. As far as carnivore care goes, if you have an underweight chameleon whose ideal weight is around 200 grams and you want him to gain weight, you feed him around 5 cc to get that weight. However I split them up into 1 cc meals. I also tend to add repashy lod formula in 2 teaspoons after feeding 1cc without the added repashy.
 
For blended insects this entirely depends on the insects you would be blending. I always recommend mixing high water content feeders, like silkworms/hornworms, with roughage feeders, such as crickets and roaches. Make sure all if blended well and also make sure everything is gutloaded well. I also recommend if you are doing a liquid diet for any chameleon of any species and plan to do the insect method, blend some really healthy fruits/veggies into it. Depending on the species of chameleon depends on how much you add. If they are younger always add more insect, if they are older veileds you can probably add more veggies/fruits and not worry too much about taste change, however with panthers or other purely insectivore species you probable only want to add a few slices of anything to just add some extra volume/liquid and vitamins... not change the flavor if you can help it. For two tablespoons of the mixture you add two teaspoons of repashy lod while still not adding it to the 1cc first feeding. If you are looking to add some extra weight to you cham/reptile without adding any more feedings, just throw in a few fattier feeders, such as two or three wax worms, or one or two super worms. What I like about liquid insect diets is that you can adjust it to your individual chameleon's needs. Such as with Montane's you may not want to add as much repashy lod or if you do don't feed it with the vitamins added every day... etc. I plan to switch to a liquid insect diet with more supplemental feedings of carnivore care hopefully once I have a blender purely for just the chameleons... I don't think the household would enjoy me blending bugs.
 
Andee bug juice is in business,thanks for sharing.

Honestly most "bug juice" recipes make no sense to me. Pedialyte is only added to the formula to give electrolytes which hydrating feeders will do just fine. However if giving just plain water, yes you should give watered down pedialyte. Also there is a lot of weird bug juice recipes that require some type of animal protein, such as chicken or egg. Which once again makes no sense. In fact most of the liquid diet I suggest should be a high amount of soft bodied worms to roughage insects. I think it should be 60% silk/horn worms... 30% gutloaded roaches/crickets/whatever... and 10% fattier feeders like super worms/wax worms. This is why I don't label mine "bug juice." Whatever has had that label before has already tainted it. Then whatever veggies you add should be such a miniscule amount it shouldn't matter, not even 5%. The very loose recipe I give is completely alterable to your individual chameleons needs. In my opinion every creature is an individual and what one may do good on may need to be completely different for another. Carnivore care is generally a great vet approved liquid diet that comes with already added all vitamins and minerals that is fine to be given on a daily basis for individual carnivores/insectivores. I mix carnivore with herbivore care for my sick rescue hamsters. Honestly whatever you make as a liquid diet, whether it's a powdered form that is reconstituted or some weird blended bugs or whatever, you should make it fresh every day, never refrigerate and then feed again.
 
To understand where the chameleon came from and what they eat in the wild ,that will be the base foundation formulas to me,and of course we will have to considering the CB type which they already adopted into what we already feeding to them ,sometimes less and basic will do better than all sorts of the stuff blended in together,less confusing.....a sick cham wont go to a "Bar" and drink mix drink, they will do better at "home cage" and nursing the nature remedies,these are just my opinion.
 
I agree, this is why I have never done the bug juices people give recipes for. And until I have my own blender I will not be able to make my own insect stuff of what I have now. But honestly the rescues I get in have no ability to eat on their own sometimes for months at a time. I feed them every multiple times a day often. Sometimes I hand water them like with syringes because sometimes they are so vitamin deficient or whatever that they don't open their eyes ever during the recovery months and sometimes are so young they haven't really learned what misting means if they can't see it. Honestly I only view liquid diets as emergency care, this is why this is in the health section. I don't prefer to feed my chameleons liquid diets. If they eat on their own I will always take it over stressing the chameleon out. Yes I do realize sometimes you need to wait out hunger strikes or whatever. However when a normally 200 gram chameleon drops to 180 or less grams you have to worry and start getting food in them any way. I don't work with chameleons who breed, I don't breed at the moment of take care of babies unless my rescues come to me as babies. I know rescue care at the moment (though sadly I am more up to date on neonate care and egg care than most keepers who breed just because I like researching o_O). But I am someone who will spend a couple thousand dollars on a rescue who originally cost me nothing and I know I will get generally nothing in return other than possible a 50 dollar rehoming fee. I do this because I can, I have the resources at the moment to make their lives better, and give them to a loving home who hopefully gets a long term loving member of the family in return and hopefully won't have to worry about any immediate vet care in the current future. I spend money on chameleons and force feed them for longer times than most people would like because I know a rescues potential most of the time. I have generally taken in about two chameleons and immediately put them down within a couple days. However I also have no problem with doing intensive care for 3-4 months and then just generally doing daily medicating for the rest of their recovery with me until they go their new home. I have rehomed about five chameleons like that. I have one rescue I have never rehomed and never will because she will need specialized care her entire life, as far as medicating and maybe eventually when she comes closer upon her last year or so, more cage set up stuff etc.

I have dealt with one regularly healthy chameleon in my life. That is it. So I am used to doing liquid diets regularly through out chameleon care. And god knows the other reptiles/rodent rescues I take in. It just happens. It's a part of life. And it usually turns out for the best. But I do know when to put an animal down and have no problem with it. Lately I have been wondering whether to put down my senior chameleon who was my first chameleon and my only breeder baby, and the only chameleon I have ever paid full price for and never considered a rescue. I am pretty sure he is almost blind, but generally he hasn't lost quality of life other than not being able to eat on his own at all. However after he is fed by me, he is active and moves around. I have not stopped looking for other possibilities and possibly getting his sight back if I can. But I am also one of those people's who realize chameleons revolve largely around their sight. So I am kind of waiting to see what will happen.
 
U can borrow my blender if u want ,Its got multiple setting n its easy to use
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Lol What's your definition? I am honestly worried I will regret asking this question and this is some form of joke that went over my head XD
 
I have to find something stupidly small sadly >.< I am looking for something as small as those Magic Bullets but aren't as expensive preferably?
 
Magic bullets cost so much more than they should o_O I mean god they almost all cost around 100+ dollars... whyyyyy D8?
 
The problem is, I either spill out all my crazy thoughts here of over researching and planning, or I tell my family members/friends... which tends to make them... frustrated? for some reason. And makes them at that very moment like me less. At least everyone here honestly doesn't think I am crazy in the sense that I care so much... maybe just crazy in other ways ^^
 
Who cares on what others think,live free n follow ur heart,as long the sick cham gets well n fed ,thats all folks.
 
Thankfully I have found the love of my life who even though he doesn't technically love the species himself he knows it is important to me so he will let me do whatever I need to as long as it is within reason. In other words I am not allowed to take on more than 3 rescues at once, while having more than 5 permanent residents in my homes (these are just for chameleons) XD I am not even touching any of the other species I tend to find and such <3
 
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