Only crickets for panther chameleons?

[Ryandog99]

I know chameleons eat crickets as their main staple as well as meal worms, etc. but do they have to eat crickets or can they just eat other stuff?

 

[carol5208]

No they don't have to eat crickets. Many people prefer Dubia roaches and other types of roaches over crickets because crickets smell! You can feed moths, dragon flies, mantis, silkworms, superworms, phoenix worms, hornworms, grasshoppers, katydids.etc. Many of these have to be caught of course. My chameleons love dragon flies, but I cannot catch them too often. Crickets are just used because they are readily available and easy to gutload. Basically variety is key. They can exist on one feeder, but down the road that is going to cause problems for them from lack of nutrition. They need a varied diet, where they get different nutrients from different prey items.

 

[Brad]

No they don't have to eat crickets. Many people prefer Dubia roaches and other types of roaches over crickets because crickets smell! You can feed moths, dragon flies, mantis, silkworms, superworms, phoenix worms, hornworms, grasshoppers, katydids.etc. Many of these have to be caught of course. My chameleons love dragon flies, but I cannot catch them too often. Crickets are just used because they are readily available and easy to gutload. Basically variety is key. They can exist on one feeder, but down the road that is going to cause problems for them from lack of nutrition. They need a varied diet, where they get different nutrients from different prey items.

Great post, Carol. If anyone is looking for some basic information on chameleon food and nutrition check out the link below.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

 

[Ryandog99]

Thank you for your response, Carol. I think I'll use meal worms as a staple, and pick up 6 days worth of them plus ~15 crickets every week. My mom doesn't like having to house crickets, so I'll just feed them to my cham directly. That and various other stuff I can get my hands on.