Planting trees and harvesting bugs?

[Christel]

I'm planting some fruit trees, and I know I will find a plethora of insects and snails in my pasture, from mealworms to earthworms, crickets, grubs, pill bugs, and these weird looking small black roaches. Are all of the above edible for a veiled chameleon? For the record, her current diet is still crickets first, some small mealworms, bits of mango, and her kale plant. She just got a collard greens plant today, hoping she'll like that one as much as her kale.
Thanks!
Oh, and there are NO pesticides nor fertilizers on my land other than composted materials by mother nature.

 

[The Wild One]

Don’t feed meal worms they have no nutritional value and are hard to digest. Try super worms, use them as treats though. Maybe 1-2 times a week at most.

 

[Lennoncham]

No earthworms. Not sure on the grubs I guess it depends what they are.

For snails you will want to collect them and breed them. Separate the eggs from adults to hatch and feed off the babies. (They can carry rat lung worm.)

the others should be fine.

 

[Christel]

Rat lung worm? Huh. Never heard of it... is it only in certain snails, or all of them? If so, I'll take them off the menu, as I'm running out of room in my tiny home to raise more bugs, LoL!

 

[Lennoncham]

Rat lung worm? Huh. Never heard of it... is it only in certain snails, or all of them? If so, I'll take them off the menu, as I'm running out of room in my tiny home to raise more bugs, LoL!

it is a parasite.
it could be in any snail that comes into contact with rat feces from an infected rat.

as long as you separate the eggs right away it “shouldn’t” be a problem.

 

[Christel]

Here's a picture of a grub, or beetle larvae. This one is too tiny for the peacock, so if I can't feed it to her, the chickens can fight over the treat. ?

 

[Christel]

it is a parasite.
it could be in any snail that comes into contact with rat feces from an infected rat.

as long as you separate the eggs right away it “shouldn’t” be a problem.

Ok, well, never mind then.
I did look it up, it is mostly in Pacific areas, and a couple cases were deep South Texas, none reported in my area, however I won't take the chance, so no snails.
Thanks, ?

 

[The Wild One]

Here's a picture of a grub, or beetle larvae. This one is too tiny for the peacock, so if I can't feed it to her, the chickens can fight over the treat. ?View attachment 259759

Hold on..... peacock????

 

[Christel]

Hold on..... peacock????

Yup. Charlie. He's about 8 years old.

 

[The Wild One]

Yup. Charlie. He's about 8 years old.

One word..... pictures On a different thread of course. I don’t want to derail this...

 

[Christel]

One word..... pictures On a different thread of course. I don’t want to derail this...

Happy to oblige ? I'll let you know when.
Actually, I have a short video of him getting a treat, I'll send you the link. ☺

 

[Christel]

Adding to the 'pasture plankton' possibilities, what are the thoughts on millipedes, centipedes, spiders, caterpillars, and baby frogs? This last one with the thought in mind that possibly in the wild, tree frogs *might* be part of their diet....

 

[Lennoncham]

I wouldn’t recommend any of those. With exception of maybe certain caterpillars but you need to know what they are and what they eat in the wild.

For example we feed hornworms, fine when raised on a captive diet. Wild hornworms eat tomatoe plants or tobacco plants both of which are toxic to chams.

 

[Christel]

I wouldn’t recommend any of those. With exception of maybe certain caterpillars but you need to know what they are and what they eat in the wild.

For example we feed hornworms, fine when raised on a captive diet. Wild hornworms eat tomatoe plants or tobacco plants both of which are toxic to chams.

I get that on the hornworms... albeit, my tomatoes won't be planted for another month or so... ?
As far as what the other bugs are eating in the wild, it's my pasture that they are eating. Grasses, old hay, or whatever a natural diet would be for those bugs. I guess I thought some of the millipedes would be good with their hard backs. Ah well, I'll cut them back loose ?

 

[Lennoncham]

Not sure on the Millipedes but I have read they can spray acid and be toxic to chams. But people do use them as part of their clean up crew in bioactive enclosures. Might depend on the type.

 

[Christel]

LoL, all of the aforementioned ended up being a moot point, at the end. It went like this:
I gathered all the little roaches and small beetles, placed them in her cup, lightly dusted them, and went to feed... She approached me, and I presented the cup. She looked in the cup, rolled her eyes a couple times, then looked back up at me as if to say "and, what is this?" I rotated the cup, causing them to scramble around and she looked again. After a moment she backed up slightly, looked up at me, and gave me a stinkeye before walking away!
To entice her, I added about 3 crickets to the cup, and presented again. She promptly ate the crickets, then walked away again, looking back as if to say, "bring me crickets, or go away". LoL!
Bottom line? No more pasture hunting, except for the wild crickets. ?

 

[cyberlocc]

Be careful with hoppers too, depending on your area.

Grasshoppers are fine, Lubers (type of Hopper) and are not okay.

Look up your local hoppers, and see if any are lubbers, and which are lubbers, dont feed those.

 

[Christel]

Be careful with hoppers too, depending on your area.

Grasshoppers are fine, Lubers (type of Hopper) and are not okay.

Look up your local hoppers, and see if any are lubbers, and which are lubbers, dont feed those.

Ok, thanks. Wingless grasshoppers, got it. Haven't seen those around here, and didn't think I could feed grasshoppers anyways ?. I'll watch for them.
On another note, regarding super worms... Asked about them at the store, and was asked if I was aware that I needed to BEHEAD THEM before feeding, as they could "eat their way out of the chameleon". REALLY???? ?

 

[cyberlocc]

Ok, thanks. Wingless grasshoppers, got it. Haven't seen those around here, and didn't think I could feed grasshoppers anyways ?. I'll watch for them.
On another note, regarding super worms... Asked about them at the store, and was asked if I was aware that I needed to BEHEAD THEM before feeding, as they could "eat their way out of the chameleon". REALLY???? ?

Lubbers can have wings.

Grasshoppers, are confusing. Lubbers are a subspecies of Grasshopper, so all Lubbers are Grasshoppers, but not all grasshoppers are lubbers.
Same with Locusts, All Locusts are Grasshoppers, but not all Grasshoppers are Locusts.

Just try and see what your locale Grasshopper species are, and make sure there is no lubers, lubbers are usually brightly colored, yellows and reds, and blacks. Not all, here in AZ we have 4 species of Lubber, and 2 of them are shades of greyish green, no bright colors still lubbers, and have wings.

One of our Lubbers in AZ,

Most of AZs lubbers (I think there is one more I have read about)

Just to give some food for thought .

 

[Christel]

Hmmm. They are *just* at the Eastern area of DFW, a couple counties away, however if I just stick with crickets, **green** grasshoppers, and small katydids, I should be okay ?