Sowbugs anyone???

J

james L

Established Member
Hello all! I was wondering if there is any one out there who has ever used sowbugs as a staple for baby and pygmy chams? I have had soo many insect issues this summer so im trying some new feeders. I have made about 10 cultures with about 25-50 sows in each one. They are wild collected from my compost pile. Im not sure of the spieces, but im guessing its a small tropical to temprate species not native to the US. I have tried them on a few small veileds and it seems to be a hit and miss situation. Some like, some dont. But these guys were raised on pins and FF's there first weekish so im not sure if that has anything to do with some not wanting them. From what I read, they are full of calcium. Dartfrog people seem to like them, but chams arent frogs so im not 100% about them yet. Any info about personal experiences with sows would be great.
Thanks
James
 
I feed them to my pygmys and they love them, the species I breed is a bit larger than the tropical sowbug. If you want to try some out let me know, I have waaaaay to many.
 
Sandra, I knew to be worried about parasites but what are heavy metal bio-accumulators?
Danny, did you start off with WC's? What are your culturing methods? Also do you or have you ever used Surinam Roaches?
 
james L said:
Sandra, I knew to be worried about parasites but what are heavy metal bio-accumulators?
Click to expand...

They are known to be heavy metal bio-accumulators because they are able to injest and tolerate some (what should be toxic) levels of heavy metals by accumulting them in vesicles in the hepatopancreas (by "walling them off" inside their bodies). They have short lives, so this is a good short-term strategy (they arent concerned about long term). Chameleons or anything else that eats them take in all the accumulated "walled off" heavy metals - the more injested, adding up over the years, the more toxic this becomes.

You might think of it a little like mercury in tuna - some tuna is fine, but you shouldnt eat buckets of it because you'll be injesting too much mercury pollution.

lisa h said:
Sandra, are you interested in sending some my way? I'd love to buy some, but I don't see that any of the feeder places sell them.
Click to expand...

I've got some links somewhere of places that sell them. You could just go into your garden and collect them, breed them, and use the offspring (see the link provided previously). It takes awhile to get going, but its easy. and You know what the ones you are raising are eating and what they are exposed to, so they are much safer. You're not exposing them to pollutants. Parasites are still remotely possible being passed one generation to the next, but I've not had issues in this regard.
 
Last edited:
Very interesting Sandra. Once they start to multiply, could I start new cultures with the captive born ones or was this project a bust? I spent about 4 hours picking through dirt with a spoon for these little guys.........
 
Absolutely you could start cultures with the captive born ones. that's how my colony started :)

You might try giving your chameleon a single wild caught one, see if it likes them, before you go to the trouble of breeding them.
 
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