Safe Foods?

[SycoSquirl]

Ive been wanting to order my 9 month old veiled chameleon some different insects for him to eat to keep his diet varied, ive found mulberryfarms.com and saw that they sell painted lady butterfly larvae along with silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, crickets, superworms, mealworms, waxworms, roaches, reptiworms. Im just asking what do you think would be best because right now he is getting mostly crickets, and some waxworms as a treat until I run out of them ( i know they are really fattening which is why they are only a treat) I want to have 5-7 different types of food to offer him so his diet is varied, so any suggestions???
(I do dust with calcium everyday, d3 twice a month and herptivite twice a month)

 

[jamjam]

buy all the above! lol
not sure about the butterfly though.
this week i have silks horns phoenix mealworms butters and wax coming in. working on getting new bean weevil and fruit flies, than have crix already and dubia

 

[SycoSquirl]

cool =D just wanted to make sure lol thank you =D

 

[sandrachameleon]

......I want to have 5-7 different types of food to offer him so his diet is varied, so any suggestions???

good plan!

Good options to consider include:
Silkworms
Cockroaches (Dubia, Hissers, Turks, grn Banana)
Terrestrial Isopods
Indian Walking Sticks
blue bottle flies
Butterworms
Soldier fly maggots (phoenix worms / calci worms / repti worms)
superworms
snails
painted ladies

and wild caught options include
cabbage whites
least skippers
termites
grasshoppers

more info about feeder options: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html

 

[SycoSquirl]

thank you so much for the link, my mom would kill me for roaches so ill try some of the worms our, how big do walking sticks get because im afraid he wont be able to eat them at only 9 months old

 

[sandrachameleon]

thank you so much for the link, my mom would kill me for roaches so ill try some of the worms our, how big do walking sticks get because im afraid he wont be able to eat them at only 9 months old

they get to be 3-5 inches long, but they're also thin. He could eat the smaller/younger ones now. And when he's an adult in a few more months he'll be able to eat an adult walking stick.

 

[SycoSquirl]

they get to be 3-5 inches long, but they're also thin. He could eat the smaller/younger ones now. And when he's an adult in a few more months he'll be able to eat an adult walking stick.

Thanks =) I have no idea where I can get walking sticks but my vet told me my guy was 3-4 years old, not 9 months so ill look into getting him some =) I bought some mantis egg sacks today that I am hoping will hatch eventually, im still waiting on silk worms to get in stock somewhere (costalsilkworms said they had some in stock again recently but their website says they are out of stock =( )

 

[JosieJobo]

how many is enough variety?

I given mostly silks lately but just in between the right sise for him then locusts mostly have (some crx but i hate how they bite! not getting them again) mealworms wax worms as treets, oh and any bluebottle I can catch in my house. Is that enough variety I gess more is best but short on spair cash for a few months also terning some wax into moths and silks too.

 

[SycoSquirl]

I given mostly silks lately but just in between the right sise for him then locusts mostly have (some crx but i hate how they bite! not getting them again) mealworms wax worms as treets, oh and any bluebottle I can catch in my house. Is that enough variety I gess more is best but short on spair cash for a few months also terning some wax into moths and silks too.

as far as I know the more the marrier. Right now my main feeder is crickets (a lot easier to get for me) and i give a few superworms a day, I got mealworms, and give waxworms as treats. Im trying to get hornworms and silkworms and hoping the praying mantis eggs hatch so I can give some of those to my guy as well. You could also give painted lady butterflies once those are in stock again. Where do you get your silkworms from? Im in CA and havent found live ones ANYWHERE and all the online places ive looked at are out of stock

 

[Lazy Boy]

Dubia's are great and so easy. My guy gets dubias, crickets, silkworms, reptiworms & super worms. He's only 8 weeks old so no horns yet, he will get them when he can handle them.

 

[SycoSquirl]

my mom would literally kill me if I brought any kind of roach home.... Maybe when im back at school I can give my guy some

 

[JosieJobo]

im in England

I get my silkworms from online silkwormstore just got a few from a pet shop they were really expensive and are tiny! I have 4 cocooned hoping to bread my own you can't get hornworms in uk.

I have a massive garden thats all natural but im worried about feeding him wild bugs and im not sure whats safe, like spiders, may flys, woodlice, moths, snails.... we have 10000 of things but im nervous ive herd some bad things about too many I gess some as a treat wont hurt?? Anything definitely NOT SAFE (other than things that sting like wasps)

 

[gman82]

Dubia roaches r the best way to go I don't think there like normal roaches it had to be hi temperature for them to live so if they escaped they probably won't live but I can't guarantee that but I am starting my dubia Colony

 

[SycoSquirl]

I get my silkworms from online silkwormstore just got a few from a pet shop they were really expensive and are tiny! I have 4 cocooned hoping to bread my own you can't get hornworms in uk.

I have a massive garden thats all natural but im worried about feeding him wild bugs and im not sure whats safe, like spiders, may flys, woodlice, moths, snails.... we have 10000 of things but im nervous ive herd some bad things about too many I gess some as a treat wont hurt?? Anything definitely NOT SAFE (other than things that sting like wasps)

as far as I know most things are okay for our chams to eat as long as where your getting the insects you know for a fact is pesticide free. So I would be careful with the flies since they could have come from anywhere, and if you dont know what kind of spiders they are dont feed them either because they could have a poison that is toxic to the chams. As for snails I dont even know how people feed them to their chams, like would you take the shell off or leave it on?

As for the dubias my mom doesnt care if they aren't like normal roaches, they have the word roach in the name and look like one. She wont have anything of the sort in her house and will kick me out if I ever brought some in.

 

[Lovereps]

I get my silkworms from online silkwormstore just got a few from a pet shop they were really expensive and are tiny! I have 4 cocooned hoping to bread my own you can't get hornworms in uk.

I have a massive garden thats all natural but im worried about feeding him wild bugs and im not sure whats safe, like spiders, may flys, woodlice, moths, snails.... we have 10000 of things but im nervous ive herd some bad things about too many I gess some as a treat wont hurt?? Anything definitely NOT SAFE (other than things that sting like wasps)

Besides ensuring that all wild caught insects are free of pesticides, what I would avoid are spiders, bees and wasps, fireflies (aka lightning bugs aka glow worms) and any snails that spend part or all of their life cycle in water.
There may certainly be other ones to avoid but some internet research time can help.

You may be very interested in Sandrachameleon's excellent blog on the very subject of wildcaught insects https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/213-use-wild-caught-insects.html#comment2165

 

[SycoSquirl]

perfect =D thanks for sharing the information =)

 

[JosieJobo]

better safe than sorry

Hmmm thanks but after reading that I think ill stick to shop brought, as for the snail my little guy just shot one while it was asleep in its shell once while out in the garden, and crunched it up?? Im not worrying about if he dose eat anything while out but not sure ill offer anthing other than maybe moths are most uk safe? Also no positions spiders that know of but Ill leave them just in case lol xx

 

[sandrachameleon]

I have a massive garden thats all natural but im worried about feeding him wild bugs and im not sure whats safe, like spiders, may flys, woodlice, moths, snails.... we have 10000 of things but im nervous ive herd some bad things about too many I gess some as a treat wont hurt?? Anything definitely NOT SAFE (other than things that sting like wasps)

there is a list within the comments of this blog entry:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/213-use-wild-caught-insects.html

An option you might consider is collecting a bunch of the woodlice from your garden, wait for babies, then return the adults to your garden. That's how I started my little colony. Chameleons generally love them.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...orcellio-pillbugs-woodlice-rollie-pollie.html