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Maintenance of chameleons Nutrition
Food
Food. (general information)
All existing chameleons, from the largest — Mellery to the smallest Brukesia, which lives in fallen foliage, are predators.
The main food of all chameleons is all kinds of crawling and flying insects, as well as their larvae.
Chameleons can potentially eat any non poisonous insects.
These can be all kinds of beetles, spiders, flies, butterflies, dragonflies and many other insects.
Surprisingly, chameleons are able to distinguish poisonous insects from edible ones from birth.
An extremely rare chameleon will dare to taste a wasp or a bee.
Such an animal will almost 100% be bitten in the tongue and with a high probability will die in agony, or will receive an unforgettable lesson for life.
But, as practice shows, even hungry chameleons ignore such "food".
Many large chameleon species also sometimes hunt small lizards (including their small relatives), rodents and even small birds.
In fact, the object of their attention can be any "animal" that they can catch with their tongue and swallow.
In addition to animal feed, many species of chameleons eat all kinds of vegetation.
Basically, these are not coarse plant leaves, fruits, berries, and even tree bark.
For some species, for example, for the Yemeni chameleon, the presence of vegetable food in the diet is mandatory!
Babies, as a rule, begin to be interested in them by 2-3 months of age.
Each chameleon will have its own taste preferences.
But, in our opinion, most of all they like such berries and fruits as grapes, cherries, tangerines, oranges.
They also enjoy eating kiwi, persimmon, bananas, apples, lettuce, dandelion leaves, non hard vegetables and much more.
It is worth offering fruits by cutting them into small pieces and fixing them on the branches of plants.
Alternatively, you can offer vegetable food with tweezers or from your hands.
Feed animals with your hands, the easiest and fastest way to win over an animal!
In our practice, plant foods are consumed by such types as: Yemeni, Panther, Parsoni, Small.
Most likely, all chameleons can consume certain types of vegetation to replenish moisture and vitamins.
The main types of animal feed.
The main and most "useful" from the point of view of the optimal ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrates is a cricket.
Reptile owners mainly use three types of cricket for feeding: Banana (Gryllus assimilis), House (Acheta domesticus), Two spotted (Grillus bimaculatus).
Each of these types has its own advantages and disadvantages.
For example, the most useful in terms of nutritional value is a House cricket.
Also, the house cricket has the highest resistance to diseases and does not require additional heating for maintenance.
The disadvantages of the house cricket include its extremely high "jumping ability" and the ability to take root and reproduce at home.
The largest, most prolific and fastest growing is the Double spotted cricket.
Its main disadvantage is the extremely loud "singing" of males.
The sound can be so loud that it will annoy you and even your neighbors at night.
Also, this cricket is quite hard and biting.
There are cases of painful bites on the tongue with a fatal outcome.
Perhaps because of the pain shock.
Also, the sharp wings of males are dangerous.
They can injure the reptile's esophagus.
Statistically, such cases are extremely rare and in fact can be classified as tragic accidents.
The only thing is not to feed disproportionately large insects.
The food should be significantly smaller than the chameleon's head.
To breed this type of cricket, a high temperature is required!
Up to 33 degrees Celsius.
Otherwise, the insects will grow slowly, reproduce poorly and often get sick.
The banana cricket is considered optimal by most chameleon owners.
It is quite large and soft.
His singing usually does not cause any noticeable discomfort.
Its disadvantages include: the need for heating for successful breeding, low resistance to diseases and strong cannibalism.
It is practically not inferior in "nutritional value", and in some parameters it even surpasses the cricket, locust.
Two types of locusts are usually used as food: Migratory (Locusta migratoria) and Desert (Schistocerca gregaria).
There is no fundamental difference between them.
Adult locusts grow several times larger than any cricket and usually one large insect is enough for the whole day even for an adult chameleon.
It is not easy to breed locusts.
For successful breeding, large containers or terrariums are required, in which it is necessary to maintain a temperature of about 35-40 degrees.
Without high temperatures, successful breeding of locusts is impossible.
Various types of feed cockroaches are very popular among breeders of chameleons.
These are mainly such species as: Turkmen (Shelfordellatartara); Marble (Nauphoeta cinerea); American (Periplaneta americana); The Argentine (Blaptica dubia) and some other species of non rigid cockroaches.
Cockroaches have a lower nutritional value than crickets and locusts.
This food is more "fat" and it has a significantly lower protein content.
It is important to feed cockroaches with protein food and fresh fruits in a variety of ways to increase their nutritional value.
The advantage of cockroaches can be attributed to very simple maintenance and breeding.
Unlike crickets, cockroaches are omnivorous, less susceptible to diseases, have a significantly longer life span.
Also, cockroaches are less susceptible to cannibalism.
And for example, the females of the marble cockroach, even at first, protect their offspring, covering the tiny cockroaches with their body and driving away too annoying relatives.
However, in case of hunger, or lack of moisture, stronger individuals will begin to eat smaller, or weaker relatives.
Most feed cockroaches require a temperature in the range of 27-30 degrees for keeping and successful breeding.
A lower or higher temperature will lead to the fact that the insects will stop reproducing, begin to get sick or even die.
When keeping and breeding cockroaches, keep the minimum humidity.
Otherwise, there is a high probability that the colony will become infected with ticks, which will be extremely difficult to get rid of.
In advanced cases, the only way is to destroy the entire colony and thoroughly disinfect it.
For more information on the maintenance and breeding of feed insects, you can find in the section - "Encyclopedia of feed".
Also, as a top dressing, in small quantities, chameleons are offered various insect larvae, such as: mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), zophobas (Zophobas morio) , wax moth larva (Galleria mellonella).
These types of feed have a very high level of fat and are not suitable for daily consumption.
Their frequent consumption can lead to chameleon liver failure.
The highest level of fat is contained in the larva of a wax moth.
It should be remembered that all these larvae contain insufficient levels of protein and calcium for the main type of feed.
Nevertheless, adding them to the diet in a reasonable amount has a positive effect on the health of pets.
Plus, for some unknown reason, these feeds are especially loved by chameleons.
Feeding these larvae for several days can lead to the subsequent temporary refusal of the animals from the main type of feed.
Offer such insects to chameleons as a "treat", no more than 5-6 times a month.
Adults of various large species of chameleons, such as Yemeni, Panther, Parsoni, etc., eat small rodents with great pleasure.
Usually chameleons are fed newborn mice or rats.
Feed rodents, it should be no more than 1-2 times a month.
This type of food in large quantities can also have an adverse effect on the digestive system and liver of the chameleon.
In the summer, many owners of chameleons feed the animals with insects caught in the fresh air.
Such food is most useful, but, in turn, it may contain parasites.
For example, various helminths.
As a rule, parasites do not cause tangible harm to chameleons.
But nevertheless, they can cause health problems in sick or weakened animals.
The decision to use such a feed or not, each breeder makes for himself.
Young chameleons are fed the same types of insects as adults, choosing the appropriate size of food.
Feed your animals as much as possible in a variety of ways.
This is the key to proper nutrition and good health of your pet.
The assortment of animal feed should consist of at least 2-3 species of insects.
It is not necessary to overfeed chameleons too much, especially for pregnant females.
They do not limit only fast growing young animals in the feed.
Do not forget that for the chameleon to assimilate a sufficient amount of calcium from food, systematic ultraviolet irradiation of the reptile is required. (for more information, see the section — "lighting and heating")
How to feed chameleons at home.
There are several of the simplest ways to feed chameleons.
The most convenient option is to feed insects by offering them to the animal with tweezers or hands.
Its main advantage is that you will always be able to accurately control the reptile's nutrition and will know for sure whether everything is in order with its appetite.
A decrease in appetite may be the first sign of possible health problems of the chameleon, or it may indicate that some of the key conditions of its maintenance are violated.
For example, the wrong temperature mode is selected, or the measuring devices give incorrect information.
As a rule, all chameleons, with rare exceptions, willingly accept the food offered in this way.
Of course, this can only happen if the animal fully trusts you and is not afraid of you.
Usually, chameleons get used to a person in a few days.
Chameleons obtained from nature may take much longer to get used to a person.
It is necessary to hold the insect with tweezers in such a way that the chameleon can easily remove the food without hooking the tweezers itself.
Otherwise, there is a risk that the chameleon, along with the food, will swallow the tip of the tweezers, which can lead to the breakdown of the reptile's teeth.
Broken teeth do not grow back again.
In pet stores, specialized tweezers with soft "pads" at the ends are on sale.
If the chameleon still "stuck" to the tweezers, do not pull your hand away in any case.
This can lead to injury or rupture of the tongue.
Damage to the tongue, one of the most common injuries received by chameleons.
If the tongue is damaged, we strongly recommend contacting a professional herpetologist.
In case of severe damage to the tongue, it should be removed.
Chameleons with an amputated tongue usually continue to live without experiencing severe discomfort.
The animal will take food with tweezers, grabbing it with its teeth.
An alternative way to feed pi tomca, use for feeding insects, a feeder.
It is easiest to make it from any "food" plastic jar (yogurt, sour cream, etc.)
The feeder should be securely attached to branches or snags, so that the animal could easily see the food in it and get close to it.
The feeder should not be transparent.
Before placing insects in the feeder, they should be rolled in vitamins and calcium.
Dead insects should be removed from the feeder.
Chameleons will not react to dead insects.
Some types of insects, for example, such as the marble cockroach, are able to move on smooth surfaces.
In order to avoid escape, this type of insects, it is necessary to coat the inner upper part of the feeder with vaseline.
Also, many owners of chameleons simply plant food insects in a terrarium.
This method is bad because insects, running around the terrarium, will hide in all sorts of cracks and technical holes of the terrarium, often becoming inaccessible to chameleons.
Many of them will drown in waterfalls and drinking bowls, spoiling the water, and some will most likely leave the terrarium and run around the house.
It is not necessary to feed insects caught in the apartment.
They can become a source of parasites or cause chameleon poisoning.
This is especially important if chemical traps for insects are installed around the house.
Vitamins and mineral supplements
It is no secret that insects living in natural conditions eat as diverse as possible, which is why their "nutritional value" is significantly higher than that of forage insects contained or bred at home.
In this regard, the insects offered to chameleons should be additionally enriched with vitamins and mineral supplements
In the market of vitamins and mineral supplements for reptiles, 2 companies are mainly represented, Tetra and JBL.
Both companies produce a full line of vitamins and dietary supplements necessary for all kinds of reptiles, including chameleons.
The Tetra company line is represented by such products as: Reptolife vitamin complex, Reptosol vitamin liquid concentrate, and the "calcium" food additive Reptocal.
The line of the JBL company is represented by such preparations as: JBL TerraVIt (vitamin and mineral complex), JBL Terra Fluid( liquid vitamin complex), JBL MicroCalcium (calcium in an easily digestible form).
As a rule, the feed is sprinkled with a powder from a mixture of vitamins and calcium in the proportion of 3 \ 1 (3 parts of calcium, one part of vitamins).
For adult chameleons, the amount of vitamins can be slightly reduced.
Most vitamins and calcium are required during the active growth of reptiles.
Please be careful, an overdose of vitamins is deadly.
Cases of calcium overdose are unknown.
The only thing is that an overdose of vitamin D3, often included in calcium supplements, is possible.
Drinking (general information)
In nature, chameleons most often replenish their moisture reserves by licking the morning dew from the leaves of trees and shrubs, on which they spend 99% of their life.
Natural dew, in its hardness, is close to distilled water and usually has a neutral acidity (Ph).
Accordingly, such water is ten times softer than tap water.
Based on this, the use of water purified using reverse osmosis filters is fully justified.
Such water has a hardness similar to dew, does not contain harmful impurities, bacteria and viruses.
It is important not to forget to change the filter cartridges, according to the instructions.
Do not pay attention to such horror story terms as "dead water".
Water is primarily a universal solvent that delivers nutrients to the cells of organisms with blood.
Chameleons get all the necessary trace elements from food.
All our chameleons from birth, we drink water purified with a reverse osmosis filter.
Also, you can use water purified with conventional filters, such as - "Jug".
In cases with such filters, you should be even more attentive to changing cartridges, since after some time, they become a" hotbed " of bacteria and practically stop purifying water.
It is also possible to give the chameleons water with standing (2 days), thawed and bottled water.
Once a month, you can offer chameleons, mineral water of low hardness.
For example, such as Esentuki 4.
How to water chameleons at home.
Chameleons do not drink "standing" water and only a few will be able to find a saucer of water.
In addition, pathogenic bacteria quickly begin to multiply in "standing" water.
The easiest way to get a chameleon drunk is to install a miniature waterfall in the terrarium.
With him, you will always be calm and confident that the pet will be provided with enough water.
Basically, the waterfalls of the company Exo Terra (Germany) are represented on the market.
Waterfalls are available in three sizes.
(S./M./L.)
They are made of non toxic and easily washable plastic.
The kit includes an electric pump.
The waterfall needs to be disassembled and washed once a week.
For additional disinfection, you can put a small silver object on the bottom.
(ring, coin).
In our practice, all chameleons, for a short time, found a waterfall and subsequently quenched their thirst with it.
Also, a convenient and hygienic option to give your pet a drink, use a drip drinker.
Such a drinking bowl can be purchased in some pet stores.
For example, high quality drip drinkers for reptiles are produced by the German company Lucky Reptile.
Also, you can make a drinking bowl yourself, using a conventional medical dropper.
It is easy to decorate a container with water, for example, under bamboo.
The drop rate is regulated by the dispenser included with the dropper.
The tip of the dropper should be placed in a place that is easily accessible to the chameleon, and a small container for collecting dripping water should be placed at the bottom.
Also, many breeders water their chameleons with a small syringe.
Some especially timid chameleons may refuse to take water in this way.
But, as a rule, any chameleon can be taught to drink from a syringe.
This method is good because with its help, you always offer your pet only clean and fresh water, and also, by this method, it is convenient to dose various liquid, vitamin and mineral supplements.
For example, such as Reptoboost or Reptosol.
(various preparations for reptiles are described in detail in the section - "vitamins and mineral supplements").
Please note that chameleons are extremely dependent on water and without harm to their health, they can stay without it for no more than three days.
For example, without food, a healthy, well fed chameleon can last more than a week.
The main signs of dehydration in chameleons are: sunken eyes; cheeks; viscous saliva.
With pronounced dehydration, it is necessary to use specialized drugs, such as Reptoboost, or in its absence, sold in pharmacies, Rehydrone, for the place of water.
If there are no objective reasons for dehydration of the reptile, we recommend that you immediately contact a professional herpetologist.
If absolutely necessary, it is necessary to force the animal to drink.
To do this, you need to pull the "hood" of the chameleon's lower jaw and pour a small amount of water into the mouth with a syringe.
You can not pour a lot of water, the animal will subsequently vomit.
It is necessary to forcibly water and feed chameleons only as a last resort.
Such actions lead to severe stress in animals and can cause more harm than good.
Many types of chameleons are happy to drink fresh juices from a pipette (syringe).
For example, grape juice, or juice from oranges.
It is strictly forbidden to offer juices from packages!
They contain too much sugar and various "chemicals".
Kristina 11.08.2014
To answer
Thank you for the detailed explanation of how to feed and water a chameleon, I will be given a chameleon for my birthday for 10 years!!!
And here I am cramming everything about chameleons:)))))))) I will be given my own chameleon in just 10 days!!!!!!!!
I love reptiles)))))))) and when I grow up they will give me a snake)))))))))))))))))))))!!!!!!!!!
Chameleonworld 17.08.2014
To answer
You are welcome!
Good luck to your future pets 🙂
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