Storing food

[techmikef]

I have a couple of questions.

1) How do you store the different types of feeders?

2) How much food do you have on hand at anyone time per cham?

3) Are there some foods that are easier to keep than others?
Which ones?
Setups for each?

Is it practical for someone with only one cham to breed there own food supplies? Or is it better to just buy it when you need it?

 

[Ferrah88]

I have two chameleons, so I don't have large amounts of food (One is really small (Ellioti), the other is well.. a veliled). I do however keep the following on a daily basis:

Crickets: I have a large cricket-container and regularly add new ones from the store. I need to add new ones because I tend to run out of the smaller ones for Marimo. They cost 0.99€ so it's not really a pain in the bum to buy them once every few weeks. I keep them by adding some dry foods to the bottom every once and a while, and adding in fresh fruits and veggies daily. They also have a couple of egg cartons in there so that they can hide. They keep for a long time, just be sure to feed off as many males as you can at first to keep the fighting to a minimum! I tried breeding them, but it didn't work. I'll likely try again sometime...

Blue/Green Bottle Flies: One of the best sized feeders for Marimo and fairly easy to keep. I order a large amount of them and by the time they arrive, they have mostly all pupated. They come loose in the container with no substrate, I find these ones stink less that way. I have a couple of left over small tubs that I get the crickets in and put some of the pupae in there (take as many as you think you'll need for 3-7 days) and put the rest into the fridge to keep cool. I then add a little cap or something of a honey-mixture to it for them to eat. I'll sometimes juice some fruits and veggies, dripping it on top and adding some spirulina or so, stirring it all up. When they come out, they immediately start eating and after a day or two, are strong enough to feed! Once all gone, I just clean out everything and repeat. (Also putting flies into the fridge slows them down for easy catching, unless you want the stress of lots of flies escaping You can also dust them if they've been cooled!)

Grasshoppers/Locusts: These I don't do anything special with and buy small tubs of ~30 small ones or ~15 medium ones which last for 2 weeks. Since I have so many different feeders, this is enough! I remove all strange food that the stores add in there, and give them a clean egg carton to hide on. Then I just add whatever fruits/veggies that they'll eat. I like adding dandelion leaves and other leafy greens (celery leaves, mustard greens, etc) because they seem to like those most. I will add apple and other fruits on occasion, but they don't seem to eat them readily enough.

Phoenix worms: I will usually buy 1 tub of medium or large and give them food every few days. Just throw it on top and remove the debris the next day (they usually only leave some papery outsides of whatever you put in there, they're pretty good at eating!). Past that, they don't need much else, just be sure not to put them into the fridge. Keeping them at room temperature is better, and they will eventually pupate and hatch into flies which chameleons also love!

Wax/Meal/Super- worms: I don't buy any of these often at all. When I do, I feed them meal/super- worms extras that I cut up for the crickets and grasshoppers. I just bought my first waxworms yesterday, but have put them into the fridge, leaving a couple in a different container to turn into moths. From what I read, they can't really be fed anything, but I will have to do more research first to see if that really is true! These feeders shouldn't be fed on a regular basis anyways, so you probably won't be keeping them THAT long anyways...

Hopefully this was slightly helpful! I'm not sure if breeding your own food would be good for one cham, unless you have a lot of extra space (which I don't yet have). My feeders don't take up much room, and I hardly have to buy new ones every month. I spend maybe 15€ a month on feeders, if I'm not buying expensive treats for them. I also cannot get any silkworms or hornworms here, which is why I haven't included them in my list. Hopefully someone with more experience will be able to chime in for you!

Each chameleon is different, and you need to know the age of the cham before being able to say how much they should get. Babies need a lot more, but smaller foods, whereas an adult will take larger feeders, but only eat every other day or so. Yuki would eat all day if she could I'm sure, but Marimo only eats a couple of feeders every day or two. He never really liked eating much I think...

 

[techmikef]

That was very helpful. I imagine when I get my first cham it will only be a couple of months old. I hope to get more great responses like yours. I like lots of information. It gives me a good base to work with once I get my cham. Im sure he/she will let me know what it likes and doesnt like.

 

[Ferrah88]

That was very helpful. I imagine when I get my first cham it will only be a couple of months old. I hope to get more great responses like yours. I like lots of information. It gives me a good base to work with once I get my cham. Im sure he/she will let me know what it likes and doesnt like.

Not a problem! If your first chameleon ends up being very young, you might want to feed it some of the following choices: Fruit flies (If you buy one pack, it should last a while. These also depend on how small the chameleon is, since the fruit flies are very small), blue/green bottle flies, pinhead crickets, baby grasshoppers, phoenix worms... basically anything small. I really wouldn't bother much with breeding, unless feeders are expensive, or like I said, you have the space for it. Feeders don't cost a lot here, so I don't mind paying for feeders when needed. You just have to make sure to gutload the feeders before feeding them if you buy them, usually waiting a day or three before hand. That way they are packed with nutrition instead of cardboard or whatever odd food the bugs end up getting! However, breeding your own feeders gives its own kind of satisfaction, so always keep that in mind!