Open your feeder bin. If mealworms are present, plan to phase them out and replace with dubia or BSF larvae over the next two weeks.
Why mealworms do not belong in a panther's regular diet.
Hard chitinous exoskeleton, low calcium, high fat. Mealworms produce impactions in chameleons more often than any other commonly sold feeder.
Mealworms (Tenebrio larvae) are popular because they are cheap and ship well. They are also poorly digested by panther chameleons — the chitinous shell is too tough relative to the soft-bodied insects panthers evolved to eat. Repeated mealworm meals produce visible chunks of undigested shell in the stool and, over time, gut impactions that need vet intervention.
If you must feed something that ships easily, choose dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae, or hornworms. Mealworms have a single legitimate use: adult superworm-style treats for very large adult animals, sparingly. Even then, dust them and limit to two per feeding.
DSQUARED Reptiles — Living Art. Curated Genetics.
From the field notes archive.
The morning baseline photograph.
A single weekly photo, taken at the same hour and angle, will tell you more about your care than any forum thread ever could.
Tightening screen tension on a year-old cage.
After twelve months of misting cycles and live plant weight, screen panels sag in ways that quietly compromise climbing surfaces.
A 72-hour gutload window for dubia roaches.
Dubia gutloads peak somewhere between 48 and 72 hours after the colony moves onto a fresh diet. Here's the schedule we run.