Is a healthy non-cricket diet possible to achieve? I know variety is key, would gutloaded dubia/hissers and worms suffice?Maybe occasional crickets. I had a chams when I was younger but couldnt stand haveing the crickets chirp all night and the stench. Ive been really looking into some Ambilobe panthers but Im not ready to take on crickets along side the 20+ fruit fly cultures I have for my dart frogs. If anyone has any advice on a formulated diet that would be awesome thanks!
non/minimal cricket diet?
- Thread starter SippyCup
- Start date
Solid Snake
Avid Member
Most "experts" like to see 3 main feeders, ei: no one feeder makes up more than 33% of the diet. I try to feed mostly dubia, and fill in with crickets. Ive heard many condem crickets as feeders, as roaches are much more favorable. Crickets are just nasty all around, and dubia is much easier to care for.
Ill take a cricket running through my house any day over roaches just saying.Talk about nasty LOL. See what your company thinks when you have a roach running across the floor at night when they go to use the bathroom or flip on the lights some where.
pssh
Avid Member
The term "staple food" is what you would want to avoid ideally. Crickets are not necessary as a food source, they are just easy to get. Using crickets every now and then to help switch it up would be great. Different species of roaches and worms would be great.
The feeder roaches, in my experience, are much, much, much cleaner than crickets. Most of them don't even look like the typical roaches people think of. Dubia nymphs and females actually look like beetles sort of.
The feeder roaches, in my experience, are much, much, much cleaner than crickets. Most of them don't even look like the typical roaches people think of. Dubia nymphs and females actually look like beetles sort of.
Solid Snake
Avid Member
Sorry, numlock was off! I edited and fixed it! Ive never had a dubia get away, but crickets just seem to have a knack for escaping 
pssh
Avid Member
There you go! That's a good recommendation.
EDIT: I've dropped a small tub of dubias before, I found them dead within a month in the corners! I breed a ton of different species too, and they all die before the month mark is up. The only roaches that have survived in my house are the adult hissers. I had an escape problem several months ago and I'm still finding one or two a week in the reptile room! They scare the poop out of me when I lift something up and hear a really loud hiss!
EDIT: I've dropped a small tub of dubias before, I found them dead within a month in the corners! I breed a ton of different species too, and they all die before the month mark is up. The only roaches that have survived in my house are the adult hissers. I had an escape problem several months ago and I'm still finding one or two a week in the reptile room! They scare the poop out of me when I lift something up and hear a really loud hiss!
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Absolutely. Crickets arent a requirement. There are many choices, including roaches, butterworms, silkworms, hornworms, superworms, terrestrial isopods, termites, snails, mantid, ...
and if you feel like it, but a half a dozen crickets every now and then as a treat for the chams LOL buy ones that are only four weeks old and they're not loud
I suggest a different feeder option from one day to the next, as many choices as possible, NO STAPLE
Monzon
Established Member
Don't overlook flies. Smaller species generally cannot resist houseflies. For larger species, blue bottles flies are also available. When my animals are outside (June through September), I would estimate that different types of flying insects - house and blue bottle flies, bee mimic flies, damsel flies, moths, fruit flies, and dragon flies - make up at least 85-90% of my chameleons diet. I would guess that in their natural environments, this would be similar for many species of chameleons. A search for "feeder flies" will reveal an ever increasing list of fly suppliers. Blue bottle pupae can be kept refrigerated for up to three weeks. When ready for use, simply place the pupae (which are like big grains of reddish brown rice) into the cage in a small covered container that has a hole cut in its side. Placing twenty or thirty pupae into the cage this way every couple of days will insure a steady hatch of fresh, juicy flies emerging. I have never worked with a chameleon that wasn't an eager consumer of flies, but I have worked with many that "go off" other feeders when they have choices.
camimom
New Member
I second this!
I would much rather deal with the crickets chirping, (whcih i cant hear because i keep the cham room door shut 24/7) and a weekly cleaning of the cricket bin, then the issues of roaches.
i cannot justify buying roaches and INTENTIONALLY bringing them into my home.
What i do, is crickets for every feeding, then every couple days i add in some pheonix worms, (or soldier flies if it has developed), a superworm, a hornworm or two, and switch up which bug i use every couple days.
