waxworms for young chams

[kidchameleon]

i fed my 9 week old veiled a small waxworm today, and she had no trouble eating it, and she seemed to enjoy it. is she too young to eat a few waxworms a week? or is this ok for her?
thanks

[meow_mix450]

try once every 2 weeks, 9 weeks is still pretty young. Dont feed anymore if it pass's her system and pooed then it should be o.k:)


Meow

[kidchameleon]

well she did poop today, im not sure if it was today's waxworm, but she pooped and it looked like it usually does lol.

[Collide]

I have heard stories that waxies are choking hazards for young chams, I have no proof to back this up it may just be a myth. just though id add that. ill look it up

[choriona]

Yeah, you want to be careful of the high phosphorous content that they have. I would stick to every second week as well. Even when they are older, this is a good idea, only you would give more at one time.

[panther_dude]

you mean the high fat content they have right?

[kidchameleon]

yeah, i know they do have high fat content, but im not sure about phosphorus

[choriona]

Yeah, they have an awful calcium to phosphorous ratio. So the low calcium content makes the phosphorous component spike high in comparison. And they are hard to get coated with vitamens to balance that out. Over time, if this was a regular component of their diet, it would start to mess with their metabolism. Thats why they can be given once in a while, but not be the main staple of a cham's diet.

[kidchameleon]

ok thanks choriona. i guess ill wait another month or so before i start giving waxworms

[sevenofthorns]

Actually waxworms have one of the better naturally occuring calcium to phosphorous ratios of feeder insects out there. You can check out grubco.com for nutritional information, or the link below. They both are missing nutritional information for butterworms, hornworms and silkworms.

http://nagonline.net/Technical%20Papers/NAGFS00397Insects-JONIFEB24,2002MODIFIED.pdf

[meow_mix450]

hmmm odd, but ya wait a month, but its good that your feeding her other stuff as well not just crikets, thats very good for chameleons:) good luck

Meow

[kidchameleon]

yeah i know, thats why i did it. i wanted to vary her diet. she eats a lot of crickets everyday. i tried giving her vegetaion, but she wont eat it. also, the mealworms i have are too big for her, and i her they can constipate her. i no longer have silkworms, and no petstores near me hacve fruitflies, so thats why i gave her a waxworm. i think i might order some fruit flies offline though.

[panther_dude]

ya wax worms are only fed once in a while because of high fat content