outside bugs?

[Jennifer06]

So is it ok to catch bugs outside to feed to your chameleons?

And i been hearing that wild hornworms are poisonous because the eat tomato plants but then i saw someone say they bought a tomato plant to feed to their hornworms, are they still save for your chameleons?

 

[sandrachameleon]

hornworms that eat tomatoe leaves are TOXIC. but using a tomatoe plant to encourage breeding is not uncommon (those worms do not get fed to chameleons, instead they are kept for making moths /eggs.

Some wild caught insects are excellent to add to your chameleons diet. There are inherent risks - parasites, pesticides, toxic bugs or bugs that have eaten toxic plants
but done with care and consideration, wild prey can make for a happier, healthy pet IMHO.

some options: grasshoppers (but not lubbers); termites (not soldiers, just the workers or new flying queens), moths, Katydids, cicadas

more info:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/213-use-wild-caught-insects.html

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Find a good spot away from neighborhoods or commercial buildings. Catch your bugs and keep them overnight. I feed them romaine, greens, dandelion, etc.. to kind of gutload them. Anything that lives overnight is deemed safe of pesticides. Normally anything thats been subjected to pesticides will die in much less than 24hrs. Like Sandra said I catch hoppers, katydids, dragonflies, mantis, moths, & the occassional stick bugs. I try to catch anything green, chams absolutely love green feeders. Mine go crazy for katydids and the big solid green grasshoppers.