Why Variety?
- Thread starter yojon3000
- Start date
Neverland
New Member
Dog food is nutritionally modified to contain everything a dog needs.... Crickets aren't.
hmm but the first reply made it seem that they dont like having the same food everyday like humans...
pssh
Avid Member
They will often go on hunger strikes when giving only a certain feeder or very limited number of feeders. It is also much more difficult to give the proper nutrients with only one type of feeder. Like people, they don't want to eat just one type of food every day for their whole lives.
Neverland
New Member
Chams can get very bored very quickly with the same food and go on hunger strikes..
Basically the more variety the better.. Just like us
Neverland
New Member
so from what im getting is to avoid hunger strike?
And to aid nutrition.. Even if your crickets are getting the best gutload and your supplements are excellent he'll still need a get varied diet.. Just to be as healthy as he can be.
Rodger
New Member
Any dog i have ever seen likes more than just dog food . Captive animals can only eat what is available & does not get the vitamin variety that a wild animal does . I have seen animals eat dirt for a craving . It depends on how much you value the health & happiness of your animals . The comic strip i seen in a newspaper gives a great example of what sustains life vs pleasure . It showed a goldfish swimming in a bowl the size that carivals give them out in . The caption said " Let's see .. what shall i do today " .
Rodger
New Member
All animals get bored including us . During hunting season , i pen my mini horses & mini donkeys in a 50 acre field & they get bored in there . When i open the gates so they can range the whole 165 acres , I can really tell how happy they are . Plus they can forage in the woods to get vitamins etc that are not available in the meadow field .
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
a variety of prey allows for a wider range of nutrition potential
it also keeps your chameleon interested - some will even stop eating if they get bored enough.
its also more natural - they eats hundreds of different things in the wild, not just one or two things.
Aim for no single prey type to make up more than 20% of your chameleons diet. Certainly not more than 50%.
pssh
Avid Member
Was that to me, or everyone?
ChamMan7
Established Member
The joy of keeping these animals is not only having a stunning and gorgeous chameleon, but watching them thrive and grow. The healthiest chameleons are often the animals that are living in an environment that most closely replicates their habitats in the wild, and this also includes food. On the island of Madagascar I assure you these guys are not eating only crickets. Keeping chameleons healthy does not necessarily mean only keeping them physically healthy, but also mentally, which is one of the hardest obstacles to overcome with captive specimens. The easiest thing you can do to keep a healthy animal (meaning physically and mentally healthy) is vary their diet.
ChamMan7
Established Member
so from what im getting is to avoid hunger strike?
And no... it isn't to simply avoid hunger strikes. You supply your chameleons with varying types of feeders to replicate natural conditions and to supply them with the necessary nutrients which, as someone else stated, crickets lack. Also, as someone else said, dogs eat food that is made to provide all the necessary nutrients. When you can find an insect that chameleons will eat that contains all their needed nutrients without needing a varied diet, please share this with us. Chameleons needs are extremely different and more complex than a dogs.
Rodger
New Member
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
ok here is one thread from Kinyonga about varied diet taken from feces samples http://www.ugr.es/~vermed/pdfs/camaleon.pdf
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Texas Ranger
Avid Member
IMO it is good for chams to have different feeder just for a visual stimulate. But as far as if you are wanting to just feed crickets that's fine to as long as you change your gut load up weekly. I have friend that have been raiseing and breeding chameleons for over 10 years and all they feed is crickets and that is it. But they change there gut load every week. And if one goes on a hunger strike which my friend has only had thia happen maybe 5 times in his whole cham owning and breeding and all he did was get a small count of hornworms feed him a few and then offered crickets again and the cham has yet to have a hunger strike or issue again...... So no you do not have to offer different feeders but I do think your cham will enjoy a change up every once in a while.....
pssh
Avid Member
I do not agree with using less than 4-5 different feeders.
Oh. I was a little confused, thanks for clearing it up
Hi , that was my attempt to continue what you said , which i agree with
Oh. I was a little confused, thanks for clearing it up
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