Shiva finally likes something other than crickets!!!

[azrael]

My husband painstakingly finally got Shiva to like something other than crickets. He has taken the occasional worm or dubia here and there but never anything consistent. It took putting a hornworm in his mouth a couple of times while he was eating a cricket. Now, Shiva readily eats hornworms. He ate 3 today!

It was so cute, at one point my husband held one close to his face, he didn't even shoot it, he just reached over and took it gently in his mouth from my husbands finger. He's such a well mannered cham.

 

[inlinefourpower]

Be very, very careful with hornworms! They are extremely fatty and without even realizing it and with alternating cricket feeding I nearly killed my little buddy. He stopped using his back legs and dragged himself all over the cage, it was horrible. I took him to the vet and after expensive bloodwork the problem seemed to be his cholesterol which was over 500. It was causing his kidneys problems and he consequently wouldn't move his legs. I put him back on a cricket only diet and started feeding my crickets better quality food and lately he's been icing towards recovery.

I know there are a lot of stories out there about feeders and everyone says some feeder is perfect so don't take my word as gospel. Just only feed your chameleon hornworms sometimes, two times a week tops. That's my take on it.

Congrats on getting your picky eater to try something new, though!

 

[Bush baby]

I guarentee Shiva will eat Blue bottles!

 

[Lazy Boy]

Be very, very careful with hornworms! They are extremely fatty and without even realizing it and with alternating cricket feeding I nearly killed my little buddy. He stopped using his back legs and dragged himself all over the cage, it was horrible. I took him to the vet and after expensive bloodwork the problem seemed to be his cholesterol which was over 500. It was causing his kidneys problems and he consequently wouldn't move his legs. I put him back on a cricket only diet and started feeding my crickets better quality food and lately he's been icing towards recovery.

I know there are a lot of stories out there about feeders and everyone says some feeder is perfect so don't take my word as gospel. Just only feed your chameleon hornworms sometimes, two times a week tops. That's my take on it.

Congrats on getting your picky eater to try something new, though!

Its funny you say that as everything I have seen or read says otherwise. Were you ONLY feeding horns? What did you gut load them with? Did you dust them? I personally wouldn't feed any feeders more then twice a week besides maybe crickets, dubias and silks and even them three times a week max.
Here's the values I see for horns posted in most places

Protein: 9%
fat: 3.07%
Calcium: 46.4mg/100g
Moisture: 85%

I guarentee Shiva will eat Blue bottles!

My 6m panther will eat Blue bottles but not like worms. Wish he would like them more.

 

[nick barta]

Be very, very careful with hornworms! They are extremely fatty and without even realizing it and with alternating cricket feeding I nearly killed my little buddy. He stopped using his back legs and dragged himself all over the cage, it was horrible. I took him to the vet and after expensive bloodwork the problem seemed to be his cholesterol which was over 500. It was causing his kidneys problems and he consequently wouldn't move his legs. I put him back on a cricket only diet and started feeding my crickets better quality food and lately he's been icing towards recovery.

I know there are a lot of stories out there about feeders and everyone says some feeder is perfect so don't take my word as gospel. Just only feed your chameleon hornworms sometimes, two times a week tops. That's my take on it.

Congrats on getting your picky eater to try something new, though!

It would seem you (and possibly your vet) are concluding that leg paralysis is from eating fatty hornworms…not a conclusion supported by facts. Hornworms have 3.01% fat, Crickets have 6% fat.
Hornworms are the lowest fat feeder out there…Heck, Butterworms are 5.1% fat, placing them as the second lowest fat prey item we all use.

Now if you said i have been feeding my little buddy only Mealworms (12.70% fat), Super Worms (22.20% fat) and Wax Worms (17.90% fat), there could be an argument to be made the kidney failure was cholesterol related. With Hornworms? Not going to happen IMHO!

Glad your cham is getting better, the best you can do for him is to offer variety that is gut loaded, and do vitamin and calcium supplementation as required.

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[azrael]

Thanks for the feedback. Hornworms are just a treat to introduce variety. Crickets are still the staple.

Maybe I will try blue bottles next. Best place to get them?

 

[Lazy Boy]

http://www.mantidpets.com is the place for blue bottles. They have gut load and all. Check out the cup o fly I just made one at home.

 

[azrael]

http://www.mantidpets.com is the place for blue bottles. They have gut load and all. Check out the cup o fly I just made one at home.

just put an order in. Let's see how things go!