Wild Garbage Flies

[cushcameleon]

So I was doing my mass cage cleaning today and I had Cush free-ranging outside on his plant. I was washing the cages off in a back alley and when I looked over at Cush I had noticed he was eating something. I ran over to him and saw that several flies were circling him and he was picking them off with tremendous accuracy. I realized that the flies he was snacking on were coming from my nearby outside garbage can. Should I be worried?

 

[chameleon97]

Besides the newly accuired parasites, it'll be fine.

-Steve

EDIT: get a fecal done...

 

[Lizardlover]

I know a few people who have had their chams get coccidia from eating wild flies. get a fecal done so treatment can begin if necessary (and it probably is)

 

[Jonas]

Its a wonder they even exist/survive in the wild...

 

[Syn]

Its a wonder they even exist/survive in the wild...

I doubt they have anything wonderfully delicious, either.

 

[Jonas]

Ist it a bit drastic and fear-inducing to start talking about occidiosis from eating wild flies?
Is this a huge problem in the states, occidia in the trash?

 

[cushcameleon]

If there were some type of parasite in the flies, how long would it take for the fecals to show contamination? The more opinions I get, the better.

 

[Jonas]

I would guess there would be oocysts in the feces in 3-7 days, but I still think it is amazingly random to pay for a feces test for eating flies. Check for cancer at the same time, there is a small risk of that too. Make sure to get the full body scan...

I doo get upset with this type of hysteria, for that I appologise. My first question remains though, if there is a huge problem with coccidia in the US then my reaction is totally uncalled for.

 

[Edward Kim]

I've always used wild caught insects (especially flies) as my primary food source here in the states. Dealing with infected animals is heartbreaking and is probably the reason why people get touchy with this subject. Personally i've never had major issues with parasidic infections. They may have been infected, but they never showed any signs (thee delicate balance). Remember your feeders, you expect to be clean, probably have parasites too. Just keep your cham well fed and happy, let their immune systems do the rest.

 

[Jonas]

Large problems with parasitic protozoa like the one mentioned above tends to spread the most in large groups of animals, like chicken farms. Im wondering if the cricket farms aren't more prone to contract these problems than the odd wild fly...
Scary thought.

 

[xanthoman]

probably better if it hadnt eaten wild flies, but i wouldnt panic just yet, chams eat parasites in the wild all of the time, many chams both wild & captive, live with parasites for extended periods of time with no ill effects, i dont think its so much of an issue as to weather it ate parasites but, whether or not those parasites will manifest themselves in such levels as to be a burden to the animal, and that might take some time to ascertain. im not certain you could even determine if there had been an infestation from a single feeding, even if you did a fecal float and managed to find some signs of parasites, that doesnt neccessarliy prove thet they have taken hold ?, i suppose he could just pooh them all through without them even hatching ?. im not really familiar enough with the parasite life cycles to give a definitive answer. but personally i would wait at least a month before spending money on fecal exams. and then theres the issue of, for the cost of a vet visit plus fecal exam, you could buy your own microsope and with a little study you could at least look for something suspicious , although if you find it, then you are faced with a vet visit anyway, im sure there are others on the forum who are actually better versed on the parasite issue than i, i would imagine at some point dw will chime in , and i would give a lot of weight to his opinion , him being one of cf's more experienced microscopy people and all. / edit/ jonas makes a good point , and i recently stated as much in another post, nothing against any sponser of cf or any supplier specifically , but i think if we saw some of the conditions where SOME of our other feeders come from, we would be equally worried as well .anyway just my 2c worth