meal worms

[NW chameleon]

I have 2 month old jacksons chameleon and was wondering if i need to cut the heads off the meal worms before i feed them to my jacksons, and also if it is ok to feed him meal worms at his age. Thanks

 

[camimom]

you don't need to cut the heads off, thats a myth that they will eat from the inside.
chams can eat all bugs at any age, as long as they are within an appropriate size.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Agreed. No reason to remove heads.

do keep mealworms to under 20% of your chams diet though

 

[NW chameleon]

Thanks what is the best diet for my little guy?

 

[sandrachameleon]

Thanks what is the best diet for my little guy?

variety variety variety!

at two months he's pretty small, so you have to use small choices, such as:

bean beetles, baby silkworms, fruit flies, tropical terrestrial isopods (or young/small standard TI) - not wild caught, small crickets, small mealworms, soldier fly maggots, very small /young superworms, small/young indian walking sticks, small/young snails -not wild caught, some of the smaller cockroach nymphs, possibly very small butterworms, very small termites ....

and remember to gutload each bug
and where appropriate to also dust with a supplement powder

 

[NW chameleon]

This might be a stupid question but what exactly do you mean by gut load?

 

[sandrachameleon]

This might be a stupid question but what exactly do you mean by gut load?

excellent question!

Gutloading is the term used to mean that you feed the prey insects well (fill up their stomachs / load up their guts), in such a way as to ensure they provide the correction nutrients for your chameleon. A lot of the feeder prey we give to chameleons isnt all the nutritious on its own. So by choosing to feed the bugs stuff that is highly nutritious, we mitigate for that lack of inherint nutrients on the bugs.

Feeding the bugs well is a big part of keeping a chameleon healthy.

Here is are a couple links to some good info about gutloading:
http://www.chameleonnews.com/05JunDescamps.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...just-crickets-roaches-gutload-everything.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/697-dry-gutload-mix-august-2012.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/443-superworm-substrate-gutload-one.html