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What is Gut-Loading, When you Should Do it, and How!
To again, Keep Things Simple . . . Gut-loading is the process by which you increase the nutrient load in your “feeder” insects. This process should take place 24-48hrs before your pet Chameleon will be fed. We keep our Crickets in clear plastic Totes with egg crate (cardboard - shapes change haha) layers inside. Our Crickets are kept in an area with temperatures around 75F, and a humidity of 50%. You don’t want to over-crowd your bugs! “Bug Food” and Water are kept available inside the totes. We do this by keeping small plastic lids inside the Totes with Bug Food on one, and Water on another (either commercially bought water gel, or a small amount of water with a paper towel or small sponge on top to prevent drowning). “Bug Food” can be bought commercially such as Bug Burger by Repashy (great for a 24-hr gut load), or you can easily make it yourself (especially when you keep crickets for longer periods of time on hand)- which will last you awhile. We do use carrots, sweet potato, kale, cabbage, apples among other fruits & vegetables as fresh ingredients for our feeder insects. Fresh food does need to be removed regularly so they don’t mold over and get yucky! While we do use a combination of everything mentioned above to feed & “gut-load” our feeder insects, here is some of what we’ve used in our Bug Food mix: Alfalfa Hay, Bee Pollen, Wheat Germ, Oats, Multi-Vitamins, Superload Want a breakdown of what we added? Need help keeping your Bugs alive? Message Us @SpeedsChams for Help!
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Intimidated by Live Plants? Unsure of how to set up your Chameleon Cage?
Let’s Start by Keeping It Simple! Some of our Favorite (and easiest/forgiving) Plants are the Umbrella Plant (Shefflera) and Pothos. So if your not sure where to start, these two are your best bets!! The Umbrella can be kept in a pot at the bottom of your Chameleons Cage, and can grow up to 3’ in a year (given the right conditions of course). The Umbrella Plant will provide great coverage throughout the entire cage as it grows, providing different canopies of shade. It sure fills out a cage! Pothos is a great plant for climbing! While it won’t provide dense coverage right away, once this plant takes off - you can help train it to grow where you want it. This step is quite easy once your plant establishes itself and starts to shoot off with new runners. Simply place new runners around existing branches in your cage. While we haven’t felt the need to use any additional help here often, (we let nature takes its course) - you can use Velcro Tomato Plant Tape to secure your runner to a branch nearby. Just remember to remove it once your plant starts to grow, so you don’t restrain or damage the plant from growing long term. Depending upon the size of the Pothos Plant you purchase (whether it be a 10” pot, or a 4.5”), will dictate how and where you place your plant. If you’re starting off With a 10” pot - you’re going to place this towards the bottom of your cage. If you’re starting out smaller - we love using Flukers Bend-a-Branch to create a ring around the plant pot, and attach it to a main branch in the cage. This will help create plant coverage higher up in your cage, while giving time for your plants to grow and establish themselves in your Chameleons Cage. Now that you know which plants to buy - where do you purchase them? How do you prep them for your Chameleon Cage? And Last..but not Least - How do you keep them thriving? Normally we pick up our Plants at our Local Lowe’s, Home Depot or Garden Center. Before placing them in our Chameleons Cages, we take a few steps to ensure they will be safe! Ideally, you re-plant each plant in organic soil. Being realistic - we know this is a step not everyone is going to take. The next steps are a must however.. Plants should be washed down, - meaning all the leaves should be wiped down, and plants should be flushed with fresh water to remove residual fertilizer. There should be no visual fertilizer pellets (usually a green/blue color), or perlite (white pellets) sitting at the surface of your plant pots. We normally do this in a bath tub, and allow the plants to sit and dry off. Now, how to keep them thriving..this brings us back to the basics. What do plants require to live? Light & Water!! For Lighting - We use (2) t-5 strip lights on top of our Chameleon Cages. One of course for your UVB Lighting, and the Second for a 6500K Plant Bulb (If using timers for your plant bulb - aim for 6 hours per day, and adjust accordingly) Next up is Water! Now, most “house plants” don’t love wet roots. While they love a mist on all their leaves, they don’t like sitting in a pot of water! Proper drainage is important at the bottom of your plants pot. Due to the water requirements of your pet Chameleon, this can become a problem (for plants) depending on how you provide water to your Chameleon (hand misting or using automatic misters will be a whole other topic). There is no “cookie cutter” answer for how much or often you need to water. We need to pay attention to how things are growing and adjust our “formula” based upon what we see. Whether more or less water is needed, or more drainage (or more or less light)- its a case by case basis or plant by plant basis. Have Live Plant Questions or Problems? Get in Touch with Us Today! We ❤️ Live Plants!! |
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