Hello everybody! It’s been a while but I was wondering if anybody saw their cham do this while eating hornworms?

[Cacti3]

Hi everybody it’s been a while! life has been busy and not the best. I’ve also been busy with school and other stuff since it’s school season right now. So, I haven’t posted in probably a year . But anyways, just now I was feeding Spyro some larger hornworms and I noticed when he was eating them the hornworm seemed to be fighting back and biting the side of his head? I was a bit worried as I didn’t know if it bit his eye or hurt his face. But, I watched as something I found pretty cool happen that I never saw him do before. I watched as he spat the worm out onto the substrate and it was left laying there for a second. He then ate the worm again even though it was dead and oozing..? Has anybody else seen their veiled do this before?

P.S he is perfectly fine and ate another hornworm I dropped into his cage accidentally right after the battle with the big worm. It’s also his birthday coming up and he’s turning 2! I still remember when he was a tiny little baby and looked so small in my lap

 

[ehdee6]

Welcome back!

The bigger hornworms (click link to stories), and superworms, are known to bite back. Usually, the Cham tries to aim for the head; but sometimes they miss.

I recommend feeding the smaller hornworms, and superworms, that haven't developed their teeth (mandibles).

Edit: the link should bring you to hornworm horror stories.

 

[Beman]

I second what @ehdee6 said... Note while you may not actually see an injury from a bite, a bite can cause major issues especially if it gets infected. Chams can easily get mouth rot due to this. If they target it incorrectly and the hornworm is able to bite the lip line or even the tongue, this can leave a lingering injury. This is why smaller feeders are always recommended. It is not that they can't take a large one down... It is limiting risk from doing so.

He probably spit it back out because he could feel the bites of the hornworm then ate it when it was no longer a threat.

 

[LizardLurkin]

If a hornworm gets rather large, you can...Break/cut off their mandibles....
It feels really bad to do, but protecting your cham is most important.

If I can kind of hear their bites when I grab the hornworm (it's like a tiny "chapachapachapa" sound) that's when I feel I have to do this.