Choking?

[JohnnyD]

I see a lot of advice for the proper size of feeders to prevent choking. Has anyone lost a cham due to choking on a large bug? I can't find any threads of people who had a cham actually die from this, only some owners who were scared that their cham might have been choking. Chameleons in nature certainly have more dangerous conditions to deal with and don't have bugs selected for them by size. Just wondering...

 

[Leedslad88]

A good rule is anything that roughly fits between their eyes. Although like you said in the wild they will catch things bigger, why even give them the chance at choking thats just poor management

 

[Miss Lily]

I seem to remember that someone on here has lost a cham to choking - can't recall who it was though. A couple of times I have worried about Tommy choking too - not due to the size of the feeder, but due to the angle at which he took it into his mouth. It looked like it was 'wedged' aacross the back of hiss mouth and that was with smaller feeders than he is capable of eating.

 

[Warrix642]

Def not myth, I have seen it happen.

 

[Carlton]

I see a lot of advice for the proper size of feeders to prevent choking. Has anyone lost a cham due to choking on a large bug? I can't find any threads of people who had a cham actually die from this, only some owners who were scared that their cham might have been choking. Chameleons in nature certainly have more dangerous conditions to deal with and don't have bugs selected for them by size. Just wondering...

It isn't only choking you need to think about with large feeders. A huge cricket will be a very large mass of food for a smaller cham to digest, with lots more chitin, rigid legs, spines, etc. Nutritionally, I think it is better to eat more small insects per meal than few larger ones. More surface area for supplements to stick to as well. Larger legs, shells, chitin make it more likely that something causes intestinal injuries too. In the wild chams probably eat many more small insects per day than large fat ones.

 

[JohnnyD]

That makes alot more sense. Good answer, thank you.