Reptile & Amphibian Forums

thanks to all of your helpfull answers and suggestions! i will take all of them into mind! last night i saw sharon digging agian last night in a different plant container thing and i sprayed her cage with water and then covered it up with a sheet. but dave said to make sure the cage is dry...she is in a huge screen and wood cage i built for her , and i just wanted to let you know that its dry before i spray it agian and im going to put regular water in her sray bottle when i get off work and try my best to feed her tonight. also i dont get paid alot of money(150 a week) to get more theing then crickets , i have to buy 150-200 crickets about every week or everyother week because my crickets die ALOT and it get to be alot of money and i have to pay some bills and ect ect, so i can only afford crickets right now , BUT i do have mealworms i believe they are. i can buy them every now and then...does anyone know of cheep or resonabley priced worms or other 'treats' i could buy my veild to get her fat and plump agian? well thanks agian for all your responces

brittany

Depending on how many critters you feed crix to it may be more economical to buy smaller numbers and take better care of them. If you are only feeding the one cham you might be better off to get them once a week at a pet shop and feed them well. Fewer will die from overcrowding and disease (they are also cannibalistic) and you'll get more out of those you do buy. Set up 1-2 plastic storage boxes (separate crix by size as the larger will eat the smaller if there is no food) with paper towel, egg carton or tp rolls so they can hide from each other, feed them fresh dark leafy greens, fruit, and cereal grains and keep the boxes clean. Depending on the age of the crix (if you are buying large adult crix they are near the end of their life anyway) they should live several weeks. I've kept up to 6 chams at a time and never got those bulk orders of crix...a trip to a shop once a week worked just fine, as I always took good care of my feeders.

There was a good article on keeping and breeding crickets that had some good hints that I think will help you keep your crickets alive longer.

www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/jan2003/crickets/crickets.html

I hope she lays her eggs soon. I know you don't want to spend lots of money but if she does not lay her eggs soon you will need to take her to a vet for an x-ray to see if she is eggbound.
Good luck with her, Sonia