Need help with colonizing

[Michelle Maxwell]

I'm looking in to starting a colony of something I can us as a all the time feeder, my baby sarge will not eat crickets so that's not in the options. I have seen him go for flys that make it in the cage with but I don't need them all over my house. So what is a good big and easy bug to start with? what do I need for your suggestion and a care sheet for the insect I can kinda get a idea on how to raise them. Thank in advance

 

[Andee]

It depends on what he will and will not eat hun. Do you know if he will eat dubias? Those are an easy colony... A lot of roaches that would catch his attention (but wouldn't be able to colonize where you live, if you are still in Arizona) would be a good staple feeder. I have a list of possibles that might help. I will actually be raising a lot of them soon to XD So I can help you with a set up at least since some of them I don't have yet. How many feeders is he offered on a regular basis? That may be the real problem

 

[Michelle Maxwell]

I feed him wax worms about eight every other day offered crickets free ranged 4-6 depending on size but he just take them I just wast my money on the I do know he goes crazy over the occasional horn worm But those are expensive

 

[Michelle Maxwell]

And yes I still live in Arizona I would thinking that it might be too hot for dubias I could do some leafy bugs I guess like what @nick barta sells

 

[Andee]

Naw Dubias would do fine there, it's just if they escaped they would die almost immediately XD, the only thing I would think is they may not need a heat pad? What are your average day temps and night temps?

Leaf insects would actually probably do worse than the dubias. The thing is they require some heat yes, but they also need humidity and with how high the heat and dryness in the air would be I would think they would need to be misted multiple times a day.

Where are you buying hornworms that they are so expensive? They fact that you are giving him so many wax worms at once and so often is likely causing him to not eat crickets as well.

Honestly I don't go below offering 6 different insects. But the minimum in my opinion for any purely insectivore should not be below 4 (this includes leopard geckos or anything else)

 

[Michelle Maxwell]

I get them from petco/petsmart at almost $2 a peace for the horn worm. when I got him he didn't eat crickets. I have for a week tried just crickets and no luck he don't take them. As for the dubias if they get out and die that's fine once I get a nice colony going right now temps are about bay 90-98-100 at night about 70s maybe high 70s

 

[Andee]

Yeah you won't need a heat pad for that. Honestly with temps that high make a nice ventilation hole (covered with bug screen of course) possibly a smaller second one just for good airflow. I honestly always recommend allowing a cooling period overnight (especially if you only go down around the 70s at night) so you don't have to worry then. If you get colder in the cold month then you worry about the heat pad. Then just get one and also get a thermostat and you should be absolutely fine.

As far as ordering hornworms, my favorite place online is Great Lake Hornworm. You will get everything you need much cheaper, and the hornworms are nowhere near as expensive. And they always come in super healthy to me.

 

[jamest0o0]

Honestly if he is healthy he will end up eating roaches, crickets, etc if you stop feeding him the junk food like wax worms. Look up some bug nutritional values, they're pretty useless as a regular feeder. why would he take crickets when he's getting all those wax worms. It's like offering a kid cake or salad. I made a similar mistake with my cham though, he got hooked on worms for ahwile and refused anything else. Just hold out, he won't starve himself. Not trying to be mean at all, happens to all of us! Chams are picky sometimes.

As for a colony go with roaches and listen to andee, she's pretty much the insect encyclopedia.

 

[Andee]

XD I wish I don't know near enough of what I want to know about insects .___.

As far as wax worms I used to feed one or two every day or every other day, but I never had an issue of any of my chameleons (rehabs or personal) preferring them to something else. Idk why maybe I am just lucky?

 

[jamest0o0]

Hah well i just mean 8 every other day is probably pushing it, no problem with dessert once and awhile eh? My cham has recently gotten much less picky though, i know he's hungry if he eats roaches though... maybe it was a hormonal thing with my guy.

 

[Andee]

Well yeah but I also fed like a couple superworms almost every meal, but I also did dubia too, and then usually one or two silkworms. Then depending on what else I wanted to do at the time. I switched it up to dubia being replaced with isopods or green banana roaches. A silkworm or super worm being replaced with a stick insect or a few flies. It's all about keeping it interesting and making sure not to over feed. If you are feeding everyday with an 12 month+ he likely has too much reserves and can pick and choose what he wants.

 

[Andee]

The real issue is, if he doesn't like crickets he likely won't eat roaches at all. The thing is you need to get him off the wax worms... and giving him only ten days to get off isn't really much of a wait. Chameleons will purposefully food strike for 2+ weeks... so the real question is, how much is he playing you? XD