Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey i know meal worms and super worms have the ability to eat through your cham after being eatten..does the same thing apply for wax worms??wax worms don't have the same kinda exo-skeleton as the super and mealies,soo i would think not..but want to be sure,since today is the first time feeding my cham wax worms..hes still a pretty small guy,but didn't have any problems eatting one..i acually cut them in half soo he could eat em..he is around 3-4 months old..still kinda small but growing quickly now..i've had him for almost 3 months,took him alittle while to start to eat crickets,but now he has no problem..hes only shed once since i got him..soo i'm tring to get him to start growing faster..when i first got him he was eatting 20 fruit flies a day and now he'll eat like 20-40 fruit flies and about 4 crickets..hope someone has some good advice,thanks
jon

Its a myth that superworms, etc. can eat through the chameleon's stomach...
http://www.chameleonnews.com/myths.html
"Fact: The stories one hears about superworms eating through a chameleon’s stomach are simply apocryphal. Superworms (Zophobas morio) are extremely sensitive to water and drown within minutes. It would be virtually impossible for a superworm to survive long enough in the digestive tract to do any damage even if swallowed whole. And because the chameleon almost invariably gives it a crushing bite before swallowing, the superworm rarely has enough time to drown. The rare story in which someone witnesses a superworm exiting the body of a dead chameleon almost certainly represents a case where the insect entered the body of an already dead or dying animal."

thanks alot for the reply..it did seem kinda impossible for that to happen,but i wanted to be sure..my lil guy loved the wax worms.he was diggin the wigglin..haha..here is a link to pics of my lil guy,the first pics are the most recent...http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/jonnyblaze_04/?sc=3
i'm tring to get him bigger now,he should be 3-4 months old..from what i'm told,4...but some people say hes too small for a 4 month old cham...

also,how many wax worms would you recommend me feeding him??he ate basically 1 today,i cut them in half soo he would be able to eat them.but fed him 2 halfs..thanks for the help everyone..never thought a chameleon would be as awesome as my lil guy is..very friendly,active,and smart..i had no idea they were as smart as i found out once i got him..thanks again
jon

You made me curious enough to do some research...it looks like moths have quite a bit of fat too...but not as much as the worms/caterpillars do...

Be aware that these moths aestivate and need the fat for that...
http://szgdocent.org/resource/ff/f-arth3c.htm
"There they remain in suspended animation, living off the reserves of fat built up as caterpillars. The moths are more than 50% fat."

http://www.insects.org/ced1/aust_abor.html
"As a food, the Bogong moth was rich in fat, with the average fat content of the male's abdomens exceeding sixty-one percent and of females, fifty-one percent of their dry weight."

http://www.australianfauna.com/bogongmoth.php
" The moth's body is 60% fat and very nutritious."

Some butterflies are quite fatty too...take the Monarch for instance...fat is needed to be able to migrate...
http://www.kindermagic.com/backyard_bugs.html
"Fat, stored in their abdomens, fuels their southward flight of up to three thousand miles."

Aestivating butterflies are fatty too...
http://www.amonline.net.au/factSheets/oleander.htm
"The butterflies go into a dormant state in which they live on their fat reserves"

In contrast...some butterflies seem to be less fatty...
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060321_butterfly_fat.html
"the larva had nearly three times more fat than the butterfly."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060320214642.htm
"butterflies experience a great loss in body fat during metamorphosis"

And this may be part of the reason why some butterflies are less fatty than moths...
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110693/butterfly.htm
"In contrast with butterflies most moths do not have a functional proboscis. Those moths live off one's fat reserves, obtained during the larval stage."

So...it seems that the caterpillar/worm stages have more fat than the butterfly/moth stages, but some butterflies have even less fat than the caterpillar stages.

Bears eat moths to put on fat for the winter hibernation...so I guess if moth fat can sustain a bear we still better not feed too many fatty moths to our lizards...the trick is knowing which ones are contain the most fat and which ones don't?
http://www.food-insects.com/Vol5 no3.htm
"Composed of 72 percent fat and 28 percent protein, these flitting morsels are a better energy source, ounce for ounce, than deer meat or cutthroat trout."

Its been a learning curve!

hey thanks alot for the info. i can tell you took alot of time to get the info..i appreciate it alot..how often or how many should i be feeding him do you think??thanks alot for the help
jon
ps-hope ya got to check out the pics,just updated them yesterday

You said..."hey thanks alot for the info. i can tell you took alot of time to get the info..i appreciate it alot"...you are welcome...it was a learning experience for me too.

You said..."how often or how many should i be feeding him do you think??"...I only feed them to my chameleons and other lizards about once a month and then an adult veiled chameleon will get about 4. This doesn't mean that this is the way to do it...its just what I do. I hope others will comment too.

You said..."ps-hope ya got to check out the pics,just updated them yesterday"...what pictures? I didn't see any. Do you have a link for them?

here is the link..thanks again for the reply so quick..he has gotten alittle bigger then in the pics,but those are close to how he is now..the first ones atleast,the last ones are of him around when i first got him..
Link

Just after laying eggs, my females get one or two waxworms twice a week, along with all the normal food. The rest of the time, and same goes for all the males, once a week max. However, I do also feed butterworms frequently, and as both waxworms and butterworms can be high in fat, I have to be mindful of not over doing it. Your little fella is growing, so the fat issues isnt as big a deal. I think you're safe to offer waxworms and moths every other day until he's a year old, then reduce. Other items to offer (instead of waxworms) are tiny earth worms, freshly moulted and gutloaded small-sized mealworms, small silkworms, and of course small crickets. I also offer wood sows once a week, and when there are brand-new baby roaches I offer them to all my chams over 6 months old.
Just my opinion. Hope it helps.

As for what is a normal size, my currently 4 month old hatchlings range from about 3 to 5.5 inches tip to tip. I dare say the smaller ones are females. I dont know how this compares to yours?

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SandraChameleon@gmail.com
BC Canada