Tuesday, February 26, 2008

In exciting veiled chameleon news...


For the absolute first time ever, one of our veiled chameleons ate a wax worm!!! Yay!

Yes, it was the female. That same bossy female who outweighs the male and hisses at him when he comes to munch gut-loaded crickets from the tupperware container in their cage.

Gut-loaded crickets? That's when you feed the crickets good healthy food like apples and carrots. Because whatever they eat ends up nourishing the chameleons. It's all that food-chain stuff you learned in science.

What's the big deal about wax worms? They last way, way longer than crickets. You can keep wax worms FOR A MONTH in the fridge where they stop wriggling and go dormant. Then you pull some out, let them warm to room temp and pop them, all moving and squirming, into the chameleons' cage.

And what do those of us in the know call veiled chameleons? Veileds.

Why am I giving you all this interesting trivia? So that you will be a hugely fascinating and popular hit at your next cocktail party!

Any pets at your place?

18 comments:

  1. Just the Yorkie unless you count the husband and kids!
    Oh, and the pet squirrel that lives on our deck. Actually there may be two of them, but we can only tell when they stand up on their back legs.

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  2. just a cat at my place who throws up hairballs all the time - yuck!

    Oh happy Chameleons!

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  3. Eww on the wormy things...!!

    We have a maltese/cairn/poodle cross. She is a very confused little dog.

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  4. Yow!
    Um... no. None that eat those things but I do have a 5 year old who looks like he would eat those things and worse. Does that count?

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  5. Heh! We babysat a bearded dragon once, and we had the same cricket and worm diet to deal with (that is, the dragon's diet, not ours). I preferred the worms because the crickets were NOISY!

    But other than my children, we have no wild animals :)

    Heidi

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  6. The wax worm stuff? I just never knew, and not sure I want to know anymore!

    I have birds, a cat, a dog, and fish.

    For my birds, I buy all sorts of fresh produce, I sprout seeds that I order on line, and I chop all the fresh produce stuff up, mix that with the sprouts, put that mix in ice cube trays, and I thaw one a day and give to my parrot. She LOVES that stuff. My Cockatiels won't eat anything but cockatiel food, but I keep trying none the less!

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  7. Um,Barrie. I was eating breakfast!
    Teri

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  8. Yay! But gross. Sorry. Wax worms in the fridge would freak me a little. :)

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  9. There were numerous pets around here at one time. Thankfully, only a dog and some fish right now.
    I've been down that crickets and worms path - fascinating but I don't miss it. At all.

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  10. Holy cow! Do you homeschool? You sound very much like every other homeschooling mommie I know.

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  11. eesh...his made me queasy! me no likey worms that wriggle...

    ~running away~

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  12. Aw, Barrie, I was just off to eat my lunch! ;)

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  13. ooohhhh...you call those "pets"!!! I had no idea -- they'd just be creepy crawlie things around here!!! LOL!!!

    Uh..no pets. Just kids. Well, same thing in some ways. They like to be fed, watered and "walked" (driven)...both are ticklish and like their tummies rubbed....

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  14. I'd never even heard of wax worms before..... I'm feeling deprived.....

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  15. Hmmmmm..........
    Bobby used to have a king snake that ate frozen mice......
    I found a dead scorpion in the courtyard a couple of months ago.
    Afriend said, "Why were you so upset?Did you think it was witchcraft?"
    I think I'll stick to cats and dogs.
    All best wishes....

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  16. That bug photo looks like the buckets of "food" they sell here in Korea at amusement parks and sporting events. MMMM yum.

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  17. I LOVE those worms. I find them fascinating. I can't help but think if humans could do that how refreshed we would be. Ya know plop me in a fridge and let me sleep.... really really sleep and I might feel YOUNG!!!

    Right now I have 2 dogs and 1 cat at home. A very large water turtle at school. Honestly too much to care for... along with the kids.

    That being said..... I am thinking of getting another dog. Gotta LOVE MY PUPPIES!!!

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Comments are always welcome!