Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey guys,i now keep and i am trying to breed green tree pythons.anyway,i have always loved aborial reptiles and i am looking at getting a veiled chameleon.i had one a few years ago,but he died from what i now know was an intestinal prolapse.the only problem is,i am not a big fan oof crickets.i dont want to go to the store everyday to buy them,and they are dirty and noisy to me,so keeping a bunch in the apartment is out of the question.because of my dislike for crickets,my chameleon ate mostly superworms that i kept in a tuperwear container on the shelf under his cage.is was convenient,but i think that is what caused his prolapse.i cant be sure but i think i remember reading somewhere that chameleons shouldnt eat too many cause they are too hard.anyway,id actually like to get a pair,but like i said,id like an alternative to crickets,one that i can store on a shelf and dispense as needed.im not totally opposed to crickets,i just dont want to keep them,and i dont want to go to the store every day.wax worms were great,soft and i could keep them,but i remember they where too small,and a full grown veiled would need either tons of them,or larger food source.basically im looking for maybe a larger,soft worm,that doesnt die very quickly,one that i could order a couple hundred and keep on a shelf,and dispense as needed.oh yea,one that doesnt cost a fortune.hornworms,although i have never seen them,seem to be huge,but cost a lot and i dont know how long they keep for. just out of curiosity,how many hornworms would an adult veilded need a day if that was all he was eating?also i have read about silk worms but i dont know how large they are,or if they stay alive for very long.or how much they cost.i tried earthworms when i had my veiled but he wouldnt eat them.anyone ever feed pinkies to their veileds?

Hornworms are huge and a full grown hornworm is enough of a meal for an adult Veiled to need only one a day. maybe even one every other day. Silkworms get about three inches long maximum. I feed my adult Male Veiled 4-8 a day. You can buy Silkworms and some chow and keep them for several weeks till they cocoon.
Then when the moth emerges from the cocoons you can feed them the moths. Roaches are great too but I won't go there yet. Especially since I am in FL and they might move in with me!
Don't buy too many hornworms at a time. they will grow to full size in just 14 days. I would only buy one cup at a time and only use them when your cham is older. i know you don't want to hear this but I would feed some crickets to him also because it will help keep him interested in feeding if you vary as much as possible. As an adult my Male Veiled eats some superworms with no problems.

Don't feed pinkies to chams much if at all. They are fatty and deficient in calcium. It would not be a naturally occurring major part of their diet. Silkworms are a good choice, but they do take some care. Mulberry Farms should have a website with culturing info to read. A few things about crix. They are only noisy if you buy adults. Buy younger crix and you won't hear the chirping. You can buy 50-100 at a time saving you that trip to the petshop so often. For one cham you don't need to buy the huge bulk orders from mail suppliers and a smaller number is no where near as smelly. Have 2 bins for smaller colonies...they will stay much cleaner. Clean the bins out weekly...a chore, but it will be a lot more bearable. If you put pellet alfalfa in the bin it helps absorb odor and frass, and the crix can eat it. Also consider houseflies or roaches as food. Again, they can smell and take culturing care, but they are another option. I think the main thing for you to decide is whether you want to deal with live insects at all. If you keep chams, you are going to need to deal with insects like crix, silkies, flies, roaches, etc. No getting away from it. Zoophobas are fine as feeders, but no cham can stay healthy eating just one or two types of prey. If caring for insects is a chore you don't want, you may have to stick to snakes.

keeping a hundred of something on a shelf and dispense as needed...well, it's ot too realistic. They need to be cared for, too and whether it is fly, beetle (mealworm, etc.) larvae or caterpillars (wax-, butter-, silk-, hornworm) they have a life cycle and will grow and continue to become moths/flies/beetles.

Waxworms are high in fat and should not be a staple. Hornworms grow fast so you need to get them small and feed off quickly. In order to feed hornworms to herps you need to use an artificial chow b/c they ingest toxins from their host plants (tomato and other in Solanaceae family). Silkworms need to feed on either artificial diet or Mulberry -those are your only choices for them. Butterworms are fine as a treat but not all chams like them and they don't move much. Roaches are very easy, clean do not smell, easy to gutload. Just be sure to get a species that does not climb glass. Crickets are really not that bad if you remove dead ones regulary (that is the main smell) and keep the cage clean. Earthworms, well when you think of it, it is rather unlikely that a cham would ever even see one except a female digging, but she is not interestted in food at that point

As Carlton pointed out, you may not want to get a cham since you WILL have to deal with insects. Period. If you go to the link in my signature below you will find lots of resources for info on chams. And here is an article on silkie rearing

lele
silkworm rearing

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0.1 Veiled - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

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