How do you feed your chameleons?

Ive got a 1.1 pair of jacksons chameleons, I think the female is gravid. Now, Ive read about what they eat: Crickets, silkworms, butterworms, ect... Yet I could not find anything on how to feed them. So Ive been hand feeding them about 3-4 1/2" crickets a day. I dont think just putting crickets in there would be such a good idea (275 gallon screen cage), or maybe it would be. I just need some help, I havent found any information on how to feed these guys.

For crickets I used a cheap large flower pot (the kind without holes at the bottom). The ones I have are about 12" wide and 14" deep. I put some gutload in the bottom and a piece of fruit so they can continue to gutlad until eaten then prop it in the foilage. Of coarse if you are using adults crix some may be able to get out but any that do are usually very quickly eaten by the chameleon.

For worms I just used a pie tin propped in the foilage and placed the worms in it.

Some owners do feed loose crickets in the screen cages, I have as well. The only thing is that if it is mess wire they can chew through it, it is is 1/4" they can get out and the biggest issue is if they hide in the foilage for a few days not eating they become a shell instead of a good food source.

Ahhh! Thank you very much!

I use tall deli cups to feed my chams. All of my cages have live plants in them and I either attach the cup to a branch or place it in the bottom of the cage. Any container with slick sides will work (ie. tupperware or other storage container) as long as it is tall enough to keep crickets in. If the container is clear, tape paper around the outside to keep the cham from trying to eat them through the side. Make sure that there is a branch going up to the container close enough for them to shoot the crickets w/ their tongues.

Jeremy

Thanks for the info Jeremy!

Check out some websites, but free-ranging is preferred if your cage is large enough (not recommended for smal cages where the bugs are likely to climb, and chew on, the chameleon at night), as you animal will feed more naturally, which is to say more often, than cup-feeding. Always good to put a fresh piece of vegetable (carrot, spinach leaf, frozen green-bean, etc) in the bottom of the cage nightly if free-ranging. Will reduce the likelihood of nibbles on your cham.

I would and do not free range feed any of my reptiles unless they are kept on gutload until eaten.

If the food item is not properly gutloaded the reptile is eating a shell and not much else as you taught me Jim.

I as the average hobby keeper would much prefer to feed well gutload insects by a cup or bucket method than to cheat my reptile of nutritional value.

Wendy, I never taught you that free-range feeding is to feed your chameleons "shells". It certainly presents some different challenges, but the insects do not need to have continuing availability to gutload for the system to work. The biggest problem with cup-feeding, while it certainly has advantages, is that not all chameleons take well to it. Approximately 25% take to it poorly, if at all, and 25% only moderately. In a proper free-ranging system, even without gutload available all the time, juvenile chameleons consistently grow faster. This is based on about 4000 comparative observations, give or take.

But we all know that they need to be gutloaded and gutload for a cricket last until they "crap it out" so if the insect is not gutloaded it it a shell.

I never had any problems with cup/bucket feeding but Ive never fed imports only CBB and 2 tamataves.

I do understand the logic behind a cricket only being as good as what it eats. But it does not become non-nutritious so quickly as to be a shell, and the proof is in the pudding. There's a balance to be struck, for sure, to include not putting too many crickets in at a time. One thing we do here, especially in smaller cages where free-ranging crickets can decide to "gut-load" on the sleeping chameleon, is to put a piece of carrot or spinach leaf in the bottom of the cage. Carrots are not good gutloads, but they do keep the crickets from chewing the chameleon. They may be a source of beta-carotene, a precursor to Vitamin A in many animals, but a POOR source of Vitamin A for your chameleons (sorry Rep-Cal). Chameleons need real (pre-formed) Vitamin A. I don't have the time to explain all now, but did want to dispel the beta-carotene myth with regards to chameleons. Look for a product with Vitamin A palmitate as an ingredient. It is more common in liquid vitamins.