Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Each has a 100w SunGlo bulb raised 4" above the top of the screen (screen enclosures). It runs about 12 hours a day, I am going to increase to 13 hours (today). I am now feeding them in the morning and they eat throughout the day as they see fit. I attempted a feed cup and for the male by 6 pm he had eaten 9/10 crickets. They female ate about 3 and the rest were then released into the cage for her hunting pleasure. Also for the next few weeks they will not be handeled intentionally (there was a hand feeding incident with a mealworm and the female, shes so cute she only wanted to crawl on me). Both are being fed 10 crickets dusted every other day with my mineral stuff, tomorrow I will buy vitiman stuff. Also the crickets are gutloaded with my gel "has it all" food, mixed salad with carrots and even that purple stuff, and wheat chex (and two cotton balls soaked with water for hydration). So far how is everything? Is the lighting adaquate?

Side note: To get full criticism I left out some of the good. I mist manually with a pressure sprayer set to its finest. The water is the hot from the tap with about 10 drops of reptisafe. They are misted anywhere from 4-8 times a day depending on location. Outside they are misted more because the water evaporates and makes no mess. Also I place them outside in direct sunlight and out of. This morning at 8 AM (70* out) they were placed in the shade and as the sun moved they recieved direct sunlight. At noon they were placed indoors because the outside temperature reached 95*. If a change of indoor lighting is needed I know it isn't needed ASAP because I give them lots of time in natural sunlight. They recieve this time at least every other day.

I value your guys' input and it's helped immensely so far. Could you give it a review?

A couple of little things. Remember to cut back the amount of dusting you do as they get older. At about 9 months to a year cut back minerals to once a week and vitamins once a month. I prefer using a fortified cereal like Total in my gutloads. Also add in things like spirulina and bee pollen. A chunk of orange is good as it supplies another source of moisture but also because the vit C. can help them resist mouth infections.

So when throwing in things for gutloads just about everything but meats should be used? All fruits and vegitables? Or are there some vitamins not suitable for chameleons? Can the bee pollen and whatnot be purchased at a healthfoods place liek Trader Joes?

Are there things to gutload insects other than crickets? I have mealworms and waxworms (the small female was the first to eat a waxworm today ), should they be gutloaded before being fed to my chams? Should the flies I buy from grubco be gutloaded before I feed them to the cham? Finally, I was considering feeding wc flies, bees (minus stinger), and whatever else I can find that appears healthy and edible, I figure in far east county of San Diego, about 10-15 minutes from Tecate (Mexico), things will be more natural and pesticides aren't widely used because there are no crops, just horses and desert. Bad idea right?

P.S. My reptile place doesn't even feed their feeder crickets. Why is this? Since I've started feeding the greens, chex wheat, and cricket gelatin (with a cotton ball of water) I've seen deaths in the colony drop dramatically. The crickets are actually growing, and those that do die are my fault when I drop an emptied toilet paper roll on them.

a good cereal like wheaties or total is good..as far as veggies and fruits go you can make a finely chopped mash and keep it in the fridge..it will usually keep for a week as long as you don't use stuff that rots quickly (bannanas) or fruits that are high in citric acid or very juicy...i use red peppers (vitamin C), green peppers, carrots, apricot, squash, apple, plum, kiwi, black eyed peas.

meal worms will also eat this as well as the cereal, not sure if you can gutload waxworms (you shouldn't feed too many of these)

you can find bee pollen at a vitamin store.

when feeding your crix be carefull about how much calcium you give them because it will kill them..i couldn't figure out why my crix kept dying until i read something on a ks forum about too much calcium killing crix....i used to use dandelion greens, kale and swiss chard in my mash...as soon as i took it out, the crix were fine and lived for a couple of weeks...if your going to feed the cereal and an orange slice then save your money and don't use the "cricket cubes".

as far as wild caught insects, be carefull...stick to bugs without warning colors (red and black or anything brightly colored)...nothing with prickly hairs or spikes (alot of caterpillars or anthing known to release a toxin in self defense like a stink bug.

why don't petstores feed crix??..cause they suck (general statement, i know some are good)...they usually just give them potatoes for moisture

phew, i'm donte

A variety of veggies, grains and fruits are great for most feeders. Waxworms are trickier. I usually only get a few at a time and keep them cool in my small bar fridge rather than try to feed them much. I think there are some gutload recipes for feeder insects on either www.adcham.com or www.chameleonjournals.com. Yes, you should gutload flies if they will make up a major part of the diet. Look at Grubco's site...they may have a diet listed there. I've used one made by WalkAbout Farms, but just found out I can't get it anymore. Not sure what I will do now. Pet shops don't feed their crix because they don't expect to have them very long, and they order in such large quantities they can deal with the losses. Crix, roaches, superworms can all eat basically the same stuff...more greens for superworms. As for feeding wild insects, if you are sure no one is spraying anything go ahead. You can check with your county to see if anything is broadcast sprayed for things like mosquitos.