pinky mice and crickets

[lizzleberry]

hi,
just wondering,
can i feed a full grown male yemen chameleon pinky mice?
and how often?
i have seen a lot of debate on this forum, but does anyone actually know? and anyone actually done it?
i live in the UK, and rhodents only come dead - frozen or not frozen.
so far my chameleon is only 1.5 months old so obviously he is still just eating his crickets, locusts and the odd wax worm as a treat every few weeks, but id like to see him get big and i want variety in his diet, so if a mouse is a once every few month treat - id like him to have that.
also, does anyone have any tips on dusting and gut loading crickets?
so far i only use TRex chameleon dust on them, as recommended by my reptile specialist vet, and i have started gut loading them with apples and they come in tubs with oats. i told myself that once my tub of chameleon dust is finnished, i am going to get hold of some of the proper vitamines and stuff, so i need as much info and recomendations as possible
thanks
liz

 

[ScreamingIncognito]

my routine

hey not to sure about the mice.. i do know chameleons will eat things that are not invertibrate such as if you try to stick a small frog in the cage or something. though im not sure how good it is for them.. also you may want to re think your dusting and gut loading ESPECIALLY while they are young as you really really dont want to take care of a sick cham or one with metabolic bone disease.. here is what i like to do. i i have a cricket keeper and as i buy crickets i ONLY put in enough crickets for the next day into the keeper and leave them in there overnight with a water sponge and wet gutload i make myself (collard green, carrot, apple, orange, sweet potatoe) for moisture and i rotate what i gut load with daily to vary what nutrition my cham gets like one day will be apple the next orange then carrot then pre bought dry gut load sometimes etc. that way the crickets are nice and full of good stuff when they get to the cham the next day and have not emptied themselves. and you can also clean your keeper regularly this way i clean it every 2 or 3 days now as far as dusting goes i use 3 separate things mine are all exoterra first i use calcium WITH D3 once maybe twice a week. and i use a multivitamin once or twice a week and the rest of the time i dust with just plan calcium WITHOUT D3 and every other week i give a few days of no dust at all to let the kidneys and liver and stuff rest a bit. this was something i had not thought of untill brought up by the breeder i bought my cham off of. this is the basic guide she follows i do believe and has been working well for me. hope this helps a little!

 

[DavidBuchan]

You can, but they provide no benefits that you can't get with insects. They are far too high in fat and protein to use often. Most people on the forum never feed pinkies, or fish, or anoles, or any other vertebrate.........
Here is a good start on basic gutloading info. - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ferretinmyshoes/446-basics-gutloading.html
If you look for sandrachameleon in the blogs section it has everything you could possibly want to know........
For variety it is best to get different insects, that will be much better than vertebrates

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

David hit the nail on the head! Vertebrates are not a notable part of chameleon's normal diet in the wild and too many animal proteins in the diet of an animal that's not a carnivore can wreak havoc on their kidneys leading to kidney damage and gout. Gout is a very painful incurable buildup of uric acid crystals in the joints. Suboptimal. Everything your chameleon needs can be obtained through an all insect diet with good gutloading! For more variety add in mantises, moths, roaches, butter worms, silkworms, hornworms, Phoenix worms, etc. Sandrachameleon has the best gutloading blogs around. A quick and dirty guide to gutloading: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ferretinmyshoes/446-basics-gutloading.html

 

[sandrachameleon]

Check out these links for information that will help you:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/171-where-buy-feeders-online.html