Treat bugs how often?

[ABCham]

Hi everyone I have a new chameleon that is maybe 4-5 months old. A couple nice people here guesstimated the age for me.

I have given him hornworms which he runs to, he loves them, and I want try other treat bugs.

Now I have been providing the food and treat bug sheet but my question is how often should I be given treat bugs?

In about a month I will be trying acclimate him more to me and would like to use treat bugs as incentive to come closer to me but I also don’t want to overfeed him/get him “addictive” to treat bugs.

How often should I be giving treat bugs?

 

[nightanole]

Depends on the "treat". Horn and silkies are basically bags of water, not much calories, and really help with hydration. And have a short expiration time, so feed as much as you like.

Supers and meal worms on the other hand are bulking items, and you can end up with worm addicts. They should only be once a week. aka treats should not be "expected"

 

[ABCham]

Depends on the "treat". Horn and silkies are basically bags of water, not much calories, and really help with hydration. And have a short expiration time, so feed as much as you like.

Supers and meal worms on the other hand are bulking items, and you can end up with worm addicts. They should only be once a week. aka treats should not be "expected"

Great thanks I’ve been treating with hornworms only so far

 

[BleuSaphir]

When I do buy them, I add it one day and skip the next. Repeat. Until all is no more.
Hornworms are great for extra hydration.

 

[MissSkittles]

Horn and silkies are basically bags of water

I have to disagree about the silkworms. They are quite nutritious and make a great staple feeder, and yes, they are hydrating as well. I’ll provide info to back this up later…no time now.

 

[jannb]

Silkworms make a great staple feeder. When I buy horns I give them often because of how fast they grow. I only buy them once every other month or so. For treats like super worms no more than one a week.

 

[nightanole]

I have to disagree about the silkworms. They are quite nutritious and make a great staple feeder, and yes, they are hydrating as well. I’ll provide info to back this up later…no time now.

100 grams of the larvae of Bombyx mori consist of 54% protein, 8% fat, 6% fiber, and 6% ash, as well as 390 kcal of energy

Im still not sure how they measure it to get that calorie density. If it is correct, then we would have some very fatty chameleons. For instance 100g of olive oil is 900kcal, and 100g of uncooked muscle is only 165 cals.

Meanwhile "dried" meal worms are 2000kcal per 100g, and have triple the amount of fat as the silkie listed above. So it might be that when they list percentage in the studies, it is "dried". This is the case for most foods.

This might be the case like if you had a pet human and fed it "the most protein dense plant per calorie" it would starve to death on a full stomach because it would be 1kg to get 100 calories, so 45 pounds of veggies a day to get your 2000 calories to live.