Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well the chams i am wanting to get,the small 3 inch veiled's,i was told only eat about 6 lg crickets a day, iwas told they don't eat worms. well i have a ton of superworms tiny to lg,also waxies that i have breed. will the two veildes eat super worms or do i just have about 3,ooo worms to get rid of?i am also starting to breed non-climbing roaches. well they eat those?or do the veildes have to get older before they except diffrent prey? any help! thanx

...well, mostly. Large crickets for a 3" veiled sounds a bit big. The rule of thumb when offering prey is that it should be no longer than the cham's head is wide (b/t eyes) and this holds especially true with feeders such as crickets, mealies, superworms and roaches because of the high chitin (exoskeleton) - they can get caught, cause blockage/impaction. Wax, silk and butter worms can be a bit larger b/c they are soft bodied.

the roach nymphs (use size rule) will be great. even thought they cannot climb glass, they can climb screen, plants, etc. so it is best not to free range them as they will just bury themselves in plants. If you do free range any feeders be sure to get any strays out of the enclosure before night so they do not nibble on your cham's toes! If you think you may have some in there leave some food (carrot, apple) for them to munch on at night.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

First, I would not be feeding chams that size, crickets that size. I think the rule of thumb, and correct me if I am wrong, is an insect size should be no longer than the width of the mouth. Now, I know supers will not make this, but most insects are a little longer than the chams mouth is wide. I think the important thing to get is not to provide items so large that your cham may choke on. Most of the time they will accept smaller items and I have read that smaller crix retain nutrition better than older ones. Maybe that was because their gut was larger in proportion to the rest of their body thus giving the cham more raw gutload.

Another concept that I will leave open is how much to feed. This varies by the specimen, but I believe people are relying on the cham's weight and the weight of the prey food daily fed. Any comments?

I also have heard to go sparingly with the supers and diversify your diet. I try to split the main staples between crix, silks and roaches, then offer supers, hornworms, other roaches and the occasional ghopper and wild caught stuff.

Supers last a long time, so keep them, and there are resources on the web that tell you how to breed them. Or just leave them out for the Blue Jays.

Chams will eat roaches, but give them appropriatel sized prey. Mine seem to be drawn to lighter or redder colored ones. They especially love periplaneta americata, American Cockroach or 'palmetto bugs' as the reds call them and the Surinam roach, Pycnoscelus surinamensis, but both climb.

As for what they'll eat at an age, they have preferences like us, just offer a variety of foods. I have had a cham eat nothing but supers and wax when he got older, and it took awhile to break him from it; it was just possible he preferred to binge on McD's for awhile. It will be more difficult for you to offer a diverse diet, but better for them. And, if you are having trouble getting one to eat, having something different may get them to resume feeding.

As I said in previous post the rule of thumb is space b/t eyes, not mouth, and just about everythiing else you said (sometimes I wonder if poeple read the current post to see what someone else has already said - not an attack, just an observation)

All my herps (even the anoles) all got tired of silkies sooner than any other feeder - not sure why. So, as insecttrap said, be sure to have a variety and his favorites will become apparent, although probably ever-changing, just to keep you on your toes
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I definitely agree that that variety is important, but make sure the prey items are an apropriate size for your chameleons. Use a good gutload where possible.
I've also used houseflies very good results in the past. Do NOT use wild caught houseflies, make sure you order them from a clean source. I use skippio's.
Prey items that I have used with good results with veileds have been silk worms, hornworms, waxworms, superworms, mealworms, orange head roach nymphs, crickets, houseflies. I've also used stick insects and preying mantids. Be careful when using these last two, as some phasmids spray defensive sprays, and mantids that are too big could do some damage.
Superworms and mealworms are really great for use with chameleons. There's no truth to the rumor that superworm will eat their way out of a chameleon's stomach. And mealworms are a great addition to a cham's regular diet. Just don't base the whole diet on mealies. Although I use crickets, I don't like them. They're too nasty IMHO. They're noisy, they're smelly, they can bite your chameleons and cause harm and they can become contaminated with bacteria or other internal parasite, which they'll pass on to your chameleons.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com