Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are there any alternatives to feeding chameleons crickets or roaches as a main source of food? Are silkworms healthy as a primary diet? What about rolly-pollies? Crickets stink and I'm scared of roaches.

Silkworms are a great addition to their diet. I'm not sure if they should be the basis (variety is always better). Crickets stink if they are not kept clean. I don't order mine in large bulk quantities for this and other reasons. They don't stink at all as the smaller groups get fed out before many of them die. If you set them up in smaller groups they are easier to deal with. Some chams like rollie pollies but lose interest once they find they can't pick them up on their tongue if rolled up. Also, they are pretty small so you'd need to feed LOTS of them. I don't know how much of the nutritious gutloads they will eat as they are basically detritivores.

Dubia roaches are a GREAT feeder. If you haven't been around them they are worth getting introduced to. They are not as skittery as the classic cockroach that you may be worried about. They don't climb much at all, don't fly, are not as huge as palmetto bugs or hissers, and just easier to handle.

Consider culturing house flies. Many chams love the chase. But again, you would need lots of them every day.

Adding just a little bit to what Carlton already said
(hi Carlton! Long time, no see!)
Superworms, silkworms, hornworms are a great addition to roaches and crickets. My own personal opinion is that roaches are FANTASTIC!
If you want to try a safe, clean source for houseflies, try Skipio's. It's been at least 5 years since I ordered from Skipios, but they offer housefly pupae at a GREAT price. Looks like they now offer 1 oz for $11.50, 8 oz for $40. That's a LOT of flies!
skipio's

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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

You can use horn worms and superworms...supers are indispensable. Very easy to keep and hardly ever escape.Keep them in a shoebox...if it's 6" high you don't need a lid. Put them in bran or oatmeal..or a combo. Put a piece of sweet potato and carrot and they last quite a while. Don't refrigerate...keep at room temp.

It's probably not a viable option for you right now but one of the best feeder insects out there for chameleons is grasshoppers. You will want to get them from a pesticide free area and if you live in Fl. as I do you will want to avoid S.E. lubber grasshoppers as they are highly toxic. If you know of someone who raises stick insects those work as well just check up on what species you are using as once the common species here in Fl. is pretty toxic (it throws off a substance from its tail that has been known to blind people.). I do have a friend however who breeds panthers and outstelletts. He raises his own feeder insects and he uses several different types of stick insects for feeders among other things. I have also had excellent luck with butterflies and moths. Obviously monarchs aren't a good idea but I have used just about every species of swallowtail I can find (except one particularly rare type I find here in fl.-unsure of the taxonomy of it but I don't see it often so I leave it alone.), I have used the cabbage moths as well as the yellow sulphur wing ones (whatever the species is I'm not sure ...I'm not a lepidopterist.) I have not used the zebra longwings you find here in Fl. because I know the larvae feed on passiflora vines which are toxic, however I have utilized Gulf fritillaries for years with no problem and I recently found out they utilize passiflora vines as well. I am worse with moth taxonomy than I am with butterfly taxonomy but when I lived in upstate N.Y. I used every type of moth I could find and never had a problem with them. Here in Fl there is not as much moth diversity as there is in the northeast but I still use a few moths when I find them. There is a type of moth here whose larvae feed on Oleander plants and I am pretty sure the adults are one of the hummingbird type moths (like I said not a moth taxonomist) so I have avoided them entirely. There is another type of moth here that has a large amount of pink on its wings (warning color.). I once saw a documentary on fl insects and they show a spider actually trowing one of these moths out of it's web due to how distasteful they are. I figure anything so bad that a spider won't eat it is not worth the bother for chameleons so I leave them alone. I mention them however as they are one the more common moths you find here.