Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all
I feed my chameleons crickets, mealworms, hissing roaches, butter worms, silk worms, wood sows (isopods), and kingworms.

Additionally, I occasionally give them stick insects. Even though all the chameleons LOVE the stick insects, I hesitate to offer these more often as I am unsure of the nutritional value these have. Anyone know about the nutritional value of walking stick insects?

I'm also thinking of adding pheonix worms to the mix. Does anyone use these and/or have information on their nutritional value?

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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada

I've never used them, but they are the larva aka maggot of the black soldier fly. They are supposed to be high in calcium. Below is a link on nutritional breakdown--
Link

As far as phasmids nutritional breakdown, I couldn't find much on the net. I would venture to say that it would be similar to katydids & grasshoppers (the vegetarian species); as some opportunistically feed on other insects and carrion. Another factor would be the particular plant most often eaten by the phasmid species. Some plants are higher in calcium than others-as well as other nutrients important to reptiles/amphibians.

Hopefully, someone can add to this....

Thanks for your responses!
I feed my stick insects Blackberry leaves almost exclusively, though sometimes they also get raspberry, mullberry and wild rose leaves. I am hopefull that this diet means the insects are therefor good sources of: iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium and Vitamin E. But without some kind of solid data, I hesitate to assume this is true.

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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada

I would say that out of all those plants, mulberry tree leaves would have the most calcium content which can be deducted through the higher calcium content of silkworms in relation to most prey insects (and their larva)--there are citations of this on the internet. Earthworms have about the highest calcium content.

You may be able to get an analog of the ingredients of raspberry, blackberry & rose leaves by doing some inductive investigation. Raspberry & blackberry are in the Rubus genus. Rose leaves are in the Rosaceae family which includes, apples, peaches, plums, rosehips, etc. Mulberry is in the fig family,
(Moraceae).

The following site has a breakdown of these fruits & should give an idea of most of the nutritional composition in these plant families. Raw fruits should give a rough idea of plant composition; however, the carbohydrates(sugars)in the fruits would tend to be a fraction of what's in leaves.

*Sorry I can't help more with this. Hopefully, someone can add to this.*
Link

The carbohydrate (sugars) in the Leaves would be a fraction of what's in the fruit(s).

Sorry for the mistake.