Some questions about wax worms.

BirdieF18

New Member
Hi I just bought 10 wax worms I know they should not be fed often at all that's why I got the least amount possible. They don't normally have any worms in apart from mealworms so I just got a few. I just wanted to know a few things how to I keep them I got them in some wood shavings. This is propably a stupid question but do I gutload them the same way as I would do crickets or hoppers? I know they are fatty, low in nutrition and chameleons love them and may go on hunger strike if he gets them too often but if I ever needed to fatten him up would these be a good feeder or are there more healthy and safer alternatives to a wax worm? Thanks
 
Wax worms don't really need to be gut loaded. I honestly don't even know where you'd buy that stuff. They're low in nutrition but if you Cham likes them then who cares if they're "unhealthy". Just feed his some every now and again. As long as they're kept cold they live for over a week. I have a 7 week old chameleon who only had 1 cricket his whole life. It won't eat crickets, it ate one and didn't bother with the others. He only likes mealworms. I feed mine 6 small mealworms a day and I dust them with d3 and calcium once a week, and I just took it to the vet. It's perfectly healthy. Doubled his size in 3 weeks. My Cham isn't big enough to eat wax worms. But I did ask my vet, as long as your cham will eat both worms and crickets and you'd rather feed it worms for ease, you're perfectly fine as long as you feed it 15 crickets a week. Hope this helps!
 
Hi there. Wax worms can be given on occasion to change things up for your chameleon. Just don't over do it because like you mentioned they're not the ideal feeder. I would store them in oats in a place where the temp is between 45-55 degrees. You should gut load them like you would any other feeder, if they're willing to eat the veggies.

If you want to "fatten" your chameleon up don't give them too many of one thing. Fattening up with wax worms would be like a person eating potato chips to gain weight, it's just not healthy on the organs! I'm sure animals can get fatty liver etc....I would just offer them a balanced diet with perhaps a few more bugs at each feeding.

Is there a specific reason why you want to fatten your chameleon up? Do you have a pic?

I hope this helps.
 
Fattening up with wax worms would be like a person eating potato chips to gain weight, it's just not healthy on the organs! I'm sure animals can get fatty liver etc....

Yes chams can get fatty liver syndrome, which is a serious condition. In fact I think I just read a post on here a few days ago regarding this condition in chameleons.
 
wax worms are literally just blobs of fat (i breed them) they can be kept in the wood shavings and placed in the fridge you dont gut load or anything you dont need to put them in oats unless your breeding them but only give 3-4 a week actually 2-3:p
 
Hi there. Wax worms can be given on occasion to change things up for your chameleon. Just don't over do it because like you mentioned they're not the ideal feeder. I would store them in oats in a place where the temp is between 45-55 degrees. You should gut load them like you would any other feeder, if they're willing to eat the veggies.

If you want to "fatten" your chameleon up don't give them too many of one thing. Fattening up with wax worms would be like a person eating potato chips to gain weight, it's just not healthy on the organs! I'm sure animals can get fatty liver etc....I would just offer them a balanced diet with perhaps a few more bugs at each feeding.

Is there a specific reason why you want to fatten your chameleon up? Do you have a pic?

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the help i do not need to fatten up my chameleon right now. I was just thinking if this would be a good way to bring my chameleon out of a hunger strike when he has one and from what i hear probably will. Your comment really helped. It makes sense what you said i just never thought of it that way.:)
 
Thanks for the help i do not need to fatten up my chameleon right now. I was just thinking if this would be a good way to bring my chameleon out of a hunger strike when he has one and from what i hear probably will. Your comment really helped. It makes sense what you said i just never thought of it that way.:)

Glad I was helpful. Think of this...If you want to bring them out of a hunger strike they may get addicted to wax worms and start a new one! lol
 
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