Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 1 mo. old vield chameleon I have read that their main food should be crickets. Since crickets can be hard to care for (and one of my least favorite bugs) I was wondering if there's an alternative food that I can feed my little guy.
I was thinking about getting him some little feeder roaches but don't want to make him sick. I know mealworms aren't good for them because they can get constipated. I also give him silkworms which he likes a lot but I'm not sure if that can be his main food source.
Any suggestions?

Roaches are a GREAT alternative feeder for your veileds. Ditto the silkies.
There's really nothing wrong with feeding him mealworms as long as you do it in moderation.
Just make sure you gutload your feeder insects (where possible) and provide as much a variety as you can and you can say goodbye to nasty crickets!
>>I have a 1 mo. old vield chameleon I have read that their main food should be crickets. Since crickets can be hard to care for (and one of my least favorite bugs) I was wondering if there's an alternative food that I can feed my little guy.
>>I was thinking about getting him some little feeder roaches but don't want to make him sick. I know mealworms aren't good for them because they can get constipated. I also give him silkworms which he likes a lot but I'm not sure if that can be his main food source.
>>Any suggestions?
-----
Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Awesome! Thanks! I hate crickets! :-P

While you Veiled is still young, it is advisable to offer crickets as the main food supply. Silkworms can also be offered. These two insects (crickets while they are small), are the highest in protein, which is very important for the growth of your Veiled. Once it is about 4 - 6 months old, you can start to offer alternatives, such as mealworms, superworms, roaches, larger silkworms, butterworms and nightcrawlers. I know crickets can be a pain, but the ease of gut loading crickets is important for the health of your Chameleon.

The Lizard Lounge
Lizard Care

Thanks for the advice. I have a good supply of silkworms and mini crickets for my other pets so maybe I'll just give him a few roaches as treats until he gets older.

having lobster roaches getting loose is a real drag. oranghead and discoid are both non-climbers. That said, Luna loved lobster, but I couldn't deal with the risk of getting loose (which happened so now I have the other two.

lele
-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Hey,

TAKE LELE"S advice!!! Having lobsters escape is a REAL drag!!! I do not use roaches anymore cause of it.... Perhaps I will get non-climbing roaches one day. However, I don't see why you do not like crickets. Keeping them in your room is a drag cause of the noise at night(only the adult crickets chirp). If the smell is the problem, then you are doing something wrong. I keep over 7k crickets at all times; I can't smell anything. I mean ANYTHING!!! I can put my face right up to their tank and not smell anything. Potatoes is the main cause for their smell due to the ammonia released when they eat them. Feed them greens and oranges. Thats what I use and they do great. I do not see any need for roaches if the crickets are gut-loaded properly. What ever way you choose, either crickets, silkworms or roaches should be used as a staple food.

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

Lele and Adam, what were your problems with the escaped ones?

They are illegal here in Canada, and I have discoids, a non climbing species. What were the problems you had with them escaping? Did they establish colonies around the house?

I doubt they could survive in the coldness here, but I just want to know what these tropical species could do in an environment here if they escaped. I got them because I was told that since they are tropical, they couldn't survive long out of proper caging.

-Brock

Hey,

I kept a few thousand lobsters in a big tupperware container. I have no idea how they got out to this day, but they did. I went into the chameleon room one day and saw one sitting there on the rug. I freaked out. I cleaned the rest of the room very good and found 3 others. I had the chameleon room sealed off from the rest of the house for the next week. Never found any others. But the chameleon rom is the perfect enviorment for roaches to thrive. Lots of hiding places, good temp, and the rug is sometimes wet for them to drink. I am lucky I caught it before they spread..... I will never keep roaches again. Especially the climbing species.....

Ank-Inc.
Adam.

Adam - the non-climbers are SO easy! Darwin is not eating much these days, but the roaches will "keep" for a long time and will still be available for him next spring when he wakes up! Silkies grow too fast, crickets grow and die. Supers and roaches live for a very long time.

-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I live in a cold climate (NH) but it is warm indoors all winter - especially in office/herp room (warm enough for them to survive, even if their cycling might be slowed down).

I kept Luna and all the feeders upstairs and one day I was downstairs in the total opposite end of the house and lifted something to find an adult lobster with about 20 nymphs. UGH! I know many people do the vaseline, bug blocker and other means to keep them from climbing, which I did for a while, but it is quite messy and it was just not worth the hassle. The discoids and Orangeheads are fine. Though I did recently switch caging on a pet hisser and forgot that they CAN climb and she got out. Would not be surprised if she is living just a matter of feet away from me!

So that is my personal experience with climbers, though I know many keepers/breeders use them.

lele
-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet