Trying to make superworms the main staple of his diet
- Thread starter Dagreek
- Start date
ChiefRedman
Member
me either, my guess would be it just molted ?
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
Super worms are an ok feeder, not an ok staple feeder at all though. They should only make up 10-20% of your chams diet. They have a lot of chitin, and are rather fatty. They can be hard to digest in large amounts. They also have huge mandibles that can bite your chams tongue or inner mouth and wound them enough to not eat for a while.
I suggest silkworms, hornworms, and the occasional butterworm (if your cham is not allergic to them), phoenix worms are a definite staple as they don't need to be dusted at all and can be fed as flies.
Dubia roaches, green banana roaches/giant green bananas, crickets, grasshoppers, mantids, stick bugs. These all make good feeders too.
There should be at least 4-5 feeders in your chams diet.
I suggest silkworms, hornworms, and the occasional butterworm (if your cham is not allergic to them), phoenix worms are a definite staple as they don't need to be dusted at all and can be fed as flies.
Dubia roaches, green banana roaches/giant green bananas, crickets, grasshoppers, mantids, stick bugs. These all make good feeders too.
There should be at least 4-5 feeders in your chams diet.
ChiefRedman
Member
Just remember , Wax worms are high in fat so you dont want to make them a "staple feeder" but they will taste nice to your chams, and they will love you more!
Olimpia
Biologist & Ecologist
Why not look into roaches? Something like dubia roaches (if you're not in Florida) is a great feeder because they don't climb smooth surfaces, don't fly, don't chirp, and don't smell, so you can keep a number of them in a plastic storage tub with egg crates and they will breed on their own with food and water.
Roaches are a great substitute for crickets, for sure, because they are much meatier and gutload super well (and I think they are much less dirty).
But I wouldn't make up the diet entirely out of worms, especially when that includes waxworms as part of the triad. Silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, superworms, etc. are fine but as parts in a bigger diet. So you can eliminate crickets if you want (at least most of the time) but you need to provide other things as well, whether that's roaches, stick insects, preying mantises, etc. Something lower in fat and higher in shell (chams need fiber and roughage too!)
Roaches are a great substitute for crickets, for sure, because they are much meatier and gutload super well (and I think they are much less dirty).
But I wouldn't make up the diet entirely out of worms, especially when that includes waxworms as part of the triad. Silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, superworms, etc. are fine but as parts in a bigger diet. So you can eliminate crickets if you want (at least most of the time) but you need to provide other things as well, whether that's roaches, stick insects, preying mantises, etc. Something lower in fat and higher in shell (chams need fiber and roughage too!)
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I add my voice to the advice NOT to use superworms (or mealworms or waxworms) as a large part of the diet. You also do not want to so heavily coat a prey bug in calcium that its white - just Lighly dust.
depends on the type of roach. generally faster than superworms. here are some links that should help you:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/Roaches/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/03MayWells.html
http://www.nilesbio.com/prod317.html
http://www.anapsid.org/hissingroaches.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaptica_dubia
Roach Breeding Tip
http://theroachranch.com/care_sheet.html
http://www.nyworms.com/dubiacare.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/roac...h/cageandcare/
http://www.nyworms.com/turkistancare.htm
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...are-sheet.html
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/cockroach.html
and re gutloading:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...just-crickets-roaches-gutload-everything.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
depends on the type of roach. generally faster than superworms. here are some links that should help you:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/Roaches/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/03MayWells.html
http://www.nilesbio.com/prod317.html
http://www.anapsid.org/hissingroaches.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaptica_dubia
Roach Breeding Tip
http://theroachranch.com/care_sheet.html
http://www.nyworms.com/dubiacare.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/roac...h/cageandcare/
http://www.nyworms.com/turkistancare.htm
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...are-sheet.html
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/cockroach.html
and re gutloading:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...just-crickets-roaches-gutload-everything.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
