Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if any of y'all had thoughts on vertebrate prey for larger ssp. of Chams. Logic dictates no way an Oustalets of Mellers or adult Veiled feed exclusively on bugs in the wild..we've all seen the various pics out there.

For those that do, do you feed strictly small rodents or do you mix in feeder lizards? I'm aware of the parasite implications on the latter but am wondering if that really has a deleterious effect?

Bill

many of the larger chams will definitely take pinkies, the question is , is it good for them ?, i personally believe it is in moderation , even free ranging captive chams do not have the metabolism of a wild cham , so moderation is the key , the calcium contribution of pinkies is questionable , but any way you slice it , there is still plenty of biomass that cannot be had from bugs alone , when i had veileds i would feed the smallest pinkie i could find about every two months. as for anoles, anoles have been successfully housed with some cham species, but as far as using them for feeders, i would house one with it for a while and let the cham make up its own mind, that not only provides the nutrition aspect, but the psycological benefit of hunting and overtaking its prey, plus there is probably a physical exertion benefit as well, again i think it is probably a bit rich , and would say moderation is the key, and where anoles are concerned, paratization would definitely be a concern if not cb & fecal checked for that specific purpose

here in lies the answer to your question , although parasites, would still be an issue, you would still want a clean food source. short answer to the question; yes , it provides retinol