Phoenix Worms

[Symbiot]

Just bought a cup of about 100 phoenix worms online and was wondering how some of your cham's have liked them? I heard they are very high in calcium and great feeders. I would like to know how some of you experienced cham owners out there feel about them. Can phoenix worms be feed to a baby chameleon daily? I will be feeding him small crickets as well of course. I have a 6 week old nosy be, ambanja, ambilobe morph.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

I feed them, one of my chams loves them, others don't go for them. But these little buggers don't hold on, so its tough if you have a Cham that wont feed from a cup or your hand. For me anyway.
If you have an idea, let me know! Im so open to suggestions!
Anne

 

[sandrachameleon]

Just bought a cup of about 100 phoenix worms online and was wondering how some of your cham's have liked them? I heard they are very high in calcium and great feeders. I would like to know how some of you experienced cham owners out there feel about them. Can phoenix worms be feed to a baby chameleon daily? I will be feeding him small crickets as well of course. I have a 6 week old nosy be, ambanja, ambilobe morph.

I personally didnt think they were worth the money.
If the chameleons doesnt "chew" the soldier fly maggot (pheonix worm) can pass right through without being digested. Are a bit high in fat but they do have a good calcium content. Fine as an enrichment feeder, but I would not use daily. Perhaps weekly.

Sounds like your chameleon is quite a fun mix - i look forward to photos as he colours up.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

I gotta call them anything but "maggot"!
Guess I watch to much CSI!!
Especially wiggling so much more than my silks, horns or butters

 

[Texas Ranger]

I think they are great Also check out butterworms they are better then phoenix worms JMO.

 

[Symbiot]

I personally didnt think they were worth the money.
If the chameleons doesnt "chew" the soldier fly maggot (pheonix worm) can pass right through without being digested. Are a bit high in fat but they do have a good calcium content. Fine as an enrichment feeder, but I would not use daily. Perhaps weekly.

Sounds like your chameleon is quite a fun mix - i look forward to photos as he colours up.

I got a great deal though. 100+ xsmall, small, medium, or large phoenix worms for 5.99 + 4.99 shipping. Interesting to know that they can pass through chameleons without being digested in not chewed. Crickets fed "cricket crack" and greens will still be my staple feeder.

And thanks I can't wait to see his coloration come through as he gets older! He's 50% nosy be, 25% ambanja, 25% ambilobe. Already see a little blue coming though on his head.

 

[chameleonoobie]

Once Phoenix worms (Black Soldier Flies) get full sized (the fifth instar of the grub phase) they stop eating and want to go dormant to pupate into the adult fly. It takes twelve days in a deli cup with Aspen. You could let them change into the adult fly and let your chameleon eat those instead of the grub (maggot) The adult fly has no mouth, it cannot bite anything, sting or regurge on anything like a blue bottle fly. They aren’t a disease carrying fly like a house fly. They tend to fly to the top part of the cage and are easily picked off by a chameleon.
This is what the adult fly looks like, sort of like a wasp, but totally harmless.

 

[wsidepinoy]

...i had about 30 of those flies pupate inside my large deli cup i had em in, and they freaked me out, cuz they do look like mini wasps ! i didnt know they didnt even have a mouth LOL i feel like i just lost some food !

cuz i totally let em go !!

 

[allencg101]

what do pheonix worms look like???

 

[Bernie]

From experience they dont move very much for a worm. I can see why some Cham's dont touch them

 

[DeremensisBlue]

I personally didnt think they were worth the money.
If the chameleons doesnt "chew" the soldier fly maggot (pheonix worm) can pass right through without being digested.

Did you have chameleon poop with Phoenix worm parts in it? I am surprised that something as soft as a Phoenix worm (especially after the requisite first chomp) would make it though the digestive system intact.

 

[OrangeCrush]

Since everyone is talking about feeders what other types of worms are high recommend? And which ones can be offered daily? I would like to mix it up for my Cham. I gets pretty much just crickets an a occasional small mealworm. So any help is great thanks everyone

 

[jdog1027]

Just bought a cup of about 100 phoenix worms online and was wondering how some of your cham's have liked them? I heard they are very high in calcium and great feeders. I would like to know how some of you experienced cham owners out there feel about them. Can phoenix worms be feed to a baby chameleon daily? I will be feeding him small crickets as well of course. I have a 6 week old nosy be, ambanja, ambilobe morph.

Some chameleons don't seem to recognize them as a feeder. I start hand feeding all of my chameleons at an early age, so typically if I hold it up with my fingertips, they come at me with tongues blazing because they have learned to associate that with food. I also cup feed from an early age. Phoenix worms that have matured to their final instar darken in color, become very 'firm' or tough skinned and become very sluggish, sometimes ceasing to move at all. At this stage is when the chameleons sometimes ignore them, and require to be hand fed. I raise my own Phoenix worms and they are very active up until this last stage of development. They are also much more soft bodied and lighter in color, much more like a maggot of other flies, but much larger. Yes, I feed my baby chameleons small Phoenix worms and I have had babies raised on a diet that is about maybe 20-30% Phoenix worms. They are much more soft bodied when small and so far I've yet to see any problem that I could associate with feeding these feeders to youngsters. Phoenix worms are easy to culture, and depending are where you are located geographically, they may even be indigenous to your region. They are also ravenous and will consume large amounts of food and also a wide variety, making them good candidates for gutloading. YouTube 'Black soldier flies' or 'bio bucket' composter for details on culturing them.

what do pheonix worms look like???

They look like a maggot with more pronounced segments at early stages. At the final stage of development, they turn very dark brown and firm with a tough outer skin. They are also somewhat compressed with a definite ridge along the side of their body.

 

[Psychodrake]

My Cham LOVES Phoenix worms! He could easily go through a bulk amount in a week, but because they're supposedly more of a treat item, I only feed them out maybe one or two days a week. It's the only food he'll actively take from my fingers as though it was a life or death situation. The crickets never seem to wiggle in my fingers though (When I lightly hold them, of course).

So I like them in the end. They're a healthy food item and if your Cham likes them then that can be a god send for keeping nutrition stable. My only worry is that as he grows, they'll become too small for him and he'll start ignoring them.

In terms of Phoenix's as a staple, I don't think it's recommended with Phoenix worms, though I'm not sure. I try to keep my guys diet as varied as possible with crickets, dubia's, locusts, calci-worms, silkworms and mealworms with the odd waxworm as a treat. In the end I guess they're about 20-30% of his diet.

 

[Bernie]

In the UK we call them calciworms due to their calcium content. Should we be dusting these still, or not? My guess would be not to.

 

[Psychodrake]

In the UK we call them calciworms due to their calcium content. Should we be dusting these still, or not? My guess would be not to.

Yeah I'm in the UK too with calci-worms as the "Official" name (Though people seem to have a habit of calling them phoenix). They don't need dusting at all I was told by the supplier of mine, they already have a good c: p ratio. I get all mine from here

http://www.silkwormstore.co.uk/index.html

They have a bulk option for calci-worms, 500 for £7. Keep any reptile going for a while.

 

[Bernie]

Yeah I'm in the UK too with calci-worms as the "Official" name (Though people seem to have a habit of calling them phoenix). They don't need dusting at all I was told by the supplier of mine, they already have a good c: p ratio. I get all mine from here

http://www.silkwormstore.co.uk/index.html

They have a bulk option for calci-worms, 500 for £7. Keep any reptile going for a while.

Thats where I got mine from. I may have had a bad batch but I found they hardly wriggled at all.

Think I'll give them another try though with my 2 new baby Chams

 

[Psychodrake]

Really? What size did you order? It's possible that the large ones have started the pupal stage.

When I order mediums there are usually a few that just don't wriggle much but if I give the tub a little shake I can usually find a huge amount of active ones.

 

[Bernie]

Pretty sure I ordered large ones - so yes looks like they had reached that stage. I'll try medium next time. Their p&p rates are quite high. I suppose if you order enough its not too bad.

 

[Creature13]

Soldier Fly Larvae

My 3 panther's love Black Soldier Fly Larvae. They eat them from my hand. They are loaded with calcium. No dusting required.