House Flies?

[J-Man]

The breeder I got my female veiled from said that they grow very fast on house flies. Are house flies ok for chams to eat? If they are, then would it be a good idea to leave a peice of fruit or something out (not something unhealthy, like garbage) and use those flies? I mean that seems like a very good way for food especially if the breeder was right and house flies are good for them.

J-man

P.S. I'm not cheap... I promise.

[Wuntu Menny]

From my experience, I've found that chameleons respond better to flying prey than crawling. There's likely some issues of instinctive behiour at work there. They immediately and intently track and stalk anything that flies.

While there is nothing wrong with houseflies as prey, you can't properly gutload or dust the flies to ensure that your cham is getting everything that they need. Flies are good for providing variety in your animals diet, but not as a staple item.

A good way to provide them is by purchasing the larvae, letting them pupate and put the unhatched cases in the cage. As the flies emerge, the cham can pick them off.

WM

[Trace]

Yeah, you are filled with unorthodox ideas tonight! :p

Actually house flies are fine to feed to your little girl. Go for it. I wouldn't use them solely for my chameleons, but as part of a wide variety of different bugs. They do like to eat different things, so house flies can be included in that regime.

I always put a slice or two of banana in my pygmy chameleon enclosures because as the fruit rots, it attracts fruit flies to the cage, that the chams proceed to eat. Yummy.

Don't forget Jeremy, you can harvest different "wild caught" bugs too. Butterflies and moths are a nice treat. It's grasshopper season here in Ontario and I just came home from a walk with a pocket full (I forgot a container) of those tasty insects for the posse here. Just remember to farm any outdoor bugs from an area that has not been sprayed with insecticides.

Trace the cheapskate

[choriona]

Only one of my chams seems to like house-flies. She has the duty of cleaning up after a day of keeping the doors wide open. I take her to every window where the flies usually end up (trying to find a way back outside I guess). She reacts right away to the sight of them and picks them off one-by-one. Such a good little helper. And its fun to watch too!
But the rest of 'em don't like to be handled as much so they mainly focus on how they can escape me, rather than on the tasty meal in front of them.

[meow_mix450]

Is it ok t feed chams praying mantis's because last year i breed them for fun...and i have egg sacks waiting to hatch so i was just wondering if i could???and another thing is wut about marnok butterflys srry about my spell errors, can i feed chams them or are they toxic to them???because i have a back field full of critters and bugs:D comes in handy sometimes, when i need big, small sticks, for my beardie:D

[choriona]

monarchs are toxic when they have been feeding on a certain tree species. Can't remember which one, but better play safe than sorry!

[Wuntu Menny]

Monarch caterpillars dine on milkweed. They are immune to the alkaloid toxins but store it in their tissues as a defense mechanism. Definitely not a good choice for prey.

Mantids, on the other hand are great. I started raising them as prey but soon found them too facinating and labor intensive to feed to the chams. Instead, I found it much more profitable to sell the bugs as pets. What sp of mantids do you breed meowmix?

WM

[J-Man]

Sounds pretty cool. Yeah I'd like to catch some moths for Clover. I think she's too small for most bugs I'd find outside... she's very little.

As for gutloading them... what about the fact that I will be leaving a peice of fruit out? they'll be swarming that and I assume eating it.

[meow_mix450]

well im not quite sure...because I just catch them for fun,and take care of them, like i do ever year:D(bug hunting)

So i got no clue what sp of mantids they are. But there was some green and brown ones. But last year I wanted to breed them so i did, and have been waiting for a year for them to hatch...but i still got to wait.(theres about 5 egg sacks)

Ya, i didnt mean to breed these guys for reptiles, cause i just started to learn about beardies and chams.:D learning a lot from these theards.

I know this isnt the beardie forum but were on the topic about insects can i feed my beardie mantis's and grasshoppers that comes from the a back field???

thanks for reading this, didnt mean to write a little story:P

[eyespy]

Mantids are protected species in PA, as they are valuable defense against gypsy moth caterpiller and other nuisance insects and you can actually get fined for using them as feeders. Houseflies and other wildcaught bugs are great supplements to a varied diet though as long as you know you have a harvesting area away from pesticides, fertilizers and fungicides.

[meow_mix450]

Well J-man i've been bug hunting since i moved where i am now...and the best way to catch moths etc, is to get pieces or fruit and any type of jam you put on your sandwich...if you leave it out there for a day or 2...you should be finding moths all type of bugs around it. (best time to find them is at night, thats when they come out) Another way is just walk into a field for a while you should find moths poping out of the grass.
hope it helps

[meow_mix450]

O wow i never knew that Mantids are protected species in PA.

[Oliverian]

Aaaaah! Feeding mantises to reptiles? Thats not my idea of fun! Those little guys are too cool to feed. Same as you, I used to catch them and keep them as pets. This year I hatched some egg sacks and let all but 3 go. They're so very cool. One of them eats out of my hands.:D:D As for the fly idea, I agree with Wuntu. Go for it! Good luck. ~TR~

[Wuntu Menny]

I actually got that fly idea from a guide on mantid keeping. I lost a lot of mantids from cricket predation before learning that little trick.

[meow_mix450]

Oliverian
Where did you keep the egg sacks???Out side or in your home???, and where they in a type of cage...i was wonderin that cause..my egg sacks hasnt hatched i dunno if it is because i left it in my home instead of out side:S srry to change the topic

[Wuntu Menny]

Meowmix,

Most N American mantids require a cold period to induce hatching. My suppliers put them in the fridge for a few weeks before selling them. I believe they cool them for 4-6 weeks to simulate a winter diapause. After the chill, return them to mid 80's and you should have nymphs in 10-14 days.

WM

[meow_mix450]

O wow thanks

[J-Man]

I have a question... what would I leave out over night to attract flies? if I leave fruit out then that will attract ants.. not flies... and I don't wanna leave anything like garbage or rotted meat or anything out because that would be bad for my cham. So anybody have any ideas as to what I should leave out?

[Wuntu Menny]

I would suggest buying the maggots and letting them pupate as I stated earlier. You can usually get them from cricket/feeder suppliers. I'd be a little concerned about possible pathogens and bacteria in free range flies, especially urban ones.

If you do decide to trap them, sugar water works well. There are even prebuilt flytraps employing sugar as bait. Unfortunately, they are also designed to drown them in the process. Most are configured similar to an inverted bottle with the entrance at the bottom and the bait suspended inside. The flies enter and can't find their way out.

WM

[J-Man]

Yeah I'll probably just end up buying the larvae. Though one of the reasons I liked this idea was in case I couldn't get my hands on some of my normal feeders. Thanks for the feedback

[Wuntu Menny]

I think you can fridge the pupae to delay development with the flies too. That may help stretch supplies a bit.