Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im about doen with crickets awols, and will be raising silkworms. My question is how often (if at all) do you need to dust the worms, would it be the same frequency as crikets? thanks Dave

Silkworms aren't really appropriate as a chameleon staple. For one thing, my chams loved them at first but now won't touch them. In addition, they can't be properly gut loaded.

As for your question about dusting: you ask if it's the same as for crix. That depends on how often you dust your crix! I only dust my crix (very lightly) about once every 2-4 because they're well gut loaded. IMO, excessive supplementation is very toxic to cham livers & kidneys. The less you need, the better your overall husbandry. If you use a good gutload (and most commercially available gutloads are terrible) you need to supplement VERY little.

Bottom line: silkies are not a good staple for chams.
Ed

I don't know if it is needed however I would advise you to not listen to that last post, no matter what you use the chams will get bored of it, they are a good food for chams, better than crickets IMO.

Whoa there. I never said that silkies weren't good to feed to a cham. I simply said they aren't good as the staple prey item. I still feed the occassional silkie and I urge everyone to feed as large a variety of prey items as possible. I like to feed mostly crix & superworms but also feed the occassiuonal waxworm, mealworm, mantid, walking stick, moth, and silkworm.

Please don't jump on me for saying something that I never said!
Ed

I don't know where you live, but that variety of insects is not widely available! I have not had the chance to use silkworms with my cham (soon to be chams) as of yet, but i have heard that the staple diet of chameleons should be, in the best situation, equally crix/silkies.

I live in PA and believe me, getting the walking sticks is very tough and mantids are available only seasonally because I don't have the space or patience to raise them from the egg cases that you can buy on line. I've tried that but they are very cannibaliostic little devils. My chams get crix & superworms for the vast majority of their diet. But mealworms, silkies & waxworms are all available at numerous websites. And you can get earthworms at your local bait store. I recommend using the supplier/breeder whose facilities are closest to you to cut down on deaths during the hotter & colder times of the year. I use http://www.superwormfarm.com/ and silkies are available from Mulberry Farms. Some people collected pill bugs & slugs as well. I use a moth trap in the summer.

Pretty much anyone can feed waxworms, mealworms & silkworms as the occassional snack. The silkies eat so much and grow so rapidly that I can't even imagine keeping a continuous supply, even if I had a year-round supply of mulberry leaves (which I don't). And the mulberry chow gets pretty expensive because they eat so much.
Ed

I don't know anyone whose chams get crix & silkies on a 50:50 ratio. Most poeople report that their chams get tired of silkies pretty quickly if fed them that often. Of course, all chams differ and some think they're the cham equivalent of Godiva Chocolates. But mine (hoehnelii & jacksonii xantholophus) ate the readily for the first few days and then wouldn't topuch them. I'm currently waiting for some silkie eggs to hatch out. Maybe the chams will like them again in another month or two or three.
Ed

In my opinion Silkworms are a good staple. You will still need to dust the silkworms the same as your crickets, They have a good nutritional value, they don't give your chameleon the calcium it need. I wouldn't reccomend forgetting cricket's, i'd use them with your silkworms as feeders, like said in other post - your cham will most likely get fed up with silkworms after a while.

>>Im about doen with crickets awols, and will be raising silkworms. My question is how often (if at all) do you need to dust the worms, would it be the same frequency as crikets? thanks Dave
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-Jamie Whitehouse
-corn_snake_123@msn.com
-formally known as corn_snake_123

Hey guy! I have thought of you often, but figured you were herping "across the pond." LOL!!

As to the original post...silkies are higher in calcium so one may want to limit dusting with cal. I, too have found that Luna just LOVES the silkies and then she will have no part of them. Right now superworms are her favorites whereas a week ago I was ready to dump them; and she will never turn down the occasional treat of a waxworm.

As we all know (and newbies are learning, just like the rest of us - we were ALL newbies once and we should never forget that) variety is the best and as for nutrition, dusitng, etc. there is still much to be learned.

For what it is worth I thought I would re-post the Nutrition article from ChamNews.

lele, etc.
Nutrition

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta

Glad to hear I've been missed, lol. I've been coming and reading - Just havn't bothered posting for some reason. I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things . I also had computer problems.
Thanks for the warm welcome back.

>>Hey guy! I have thought of you often, but figured you were herping "across the pond." LOL!!
>>
>>As to the original post...silkies are higher in calcium so one may want to limit dusting with cal. I, too have found that Luna just LOVES the silkies and then she will have no part of them. Right now superworms are her favorites whereas a week ago I was ready to dump them; and she will never turn down the occasional treat of a waxworm.
>>
>>As we all know (and newbies are learning, just like the rest of us - we were ALL newbies once and we should never forget that) variety is the best and as for nutrition, dusitng, etc. there is still much to be learned.
>>
>>For what it is worth I thought I would re-post the Nutrition article from ChamNews.
>>
>>lele, etc.
>>Nutrition
>>
>>-----
>>0.1 veiled - Luna
>>0.2 green anoles Jaida & Jetta
>>0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
>>0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia
>>0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
-----
-Jamie Whitehouse
-corn_snake_123@msn.com
-formally known as corn_snake_123

Um....I thought that superworms were just big mealworms and were to be only used ocassionally, if this isn't the fact is it ok to feed them to young chams or do they have a tough exoskeleton?