chamaleon diet

Question
I'm currently feeding my chamaleon with gut loaded calcium dusted crickets. He doesn't really eat the frut or veggies I offer... My question is if instead of buying the crickets if it is possible to feed him crickets from the wild? I have a 20 acres property and there are lots of them. Also, what do you think about feeding my chamaleon with caterpillars? there are a bunch of insects in my property and I wander if it is ok to give them to my chamaleon.  Please let me know what else should I do to have him healthy and with a varied diet. His environment has a pothos and an ivy but I've never seen him eat from them.

Answer
Hello Doris, it is not okay to feed your lizards wild caught insects or worms. Caterpillars aren't good either. These (lets just categorize them as insects for now) insects can be carrying many diseases caught from the outside world, either animal feces that they have eaten, or walked in, chemicals sprayed on the ground either pesticides or plant fertilizer, all sorts of parasites, and its just all around not a good idea.
Caterpillars are also not a good food choice.

It is very dangerous, even if you have not sprayed any chemical perhaps a neighbor, or somebody else has. Its best to get them through a pet store or provider online where they were captivily bred in clean conditions.

Best of luck
Yexalen