Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings to the forum! I am the proud new owner of a male veiled chameleon named "Ichabob". I have Ichabob in a large mesh enclosure with two large pothos plants and those artificial vines. He also has a UV light and basking light. I buy crickets for him but this is almost the end of the crane fly season (they look like huge mosquitoes - mostly legs and wings)and I was wondering if it would be all right to feed them to him. If anyone here lives in Kentucky you know what these insects look like. They have no mouthparts - after they hatch from pupal stage the only thing that concerns them is mating and laying eggs.

Thanks for any input!

Marilyn

Marilyn-

Most wild bugs are safe to feed with the exception of bees (and other similar insects with a stinger) and fire fly's. However you need to be careful that the bugs you are feeding are pesticide free. Also allot of the bugs are not good as a staple diet for most chameleons, and may have more parasites then commercially available foods like crickets, mealworms, waxworms, silkworms, hornworms, waxworms, and supperworms. It also may be hard or impossible to gutload these pray items, so I would just stick with the store bought bugs, and offer a verity, chameleon love silkworms, check out mulberyfarms.com and ebay for them!

Hope this helps!
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John
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers

Thanks, John! That info was much appreciated!

Marilyn