Is this forcing him to climb on me?

[Cacti3]

A few days ago, I opened up spyros cage to feed him some hornworms. At this time, he was at the top of his cage and we basically we at the same height and in each others faces. Well, height wise. He ate all 4. But, when he was going to go hide at his plant, I stuck out my hand low enough so he could choose if he wanted to go on it or not.

He grabbed onto one of my fingers. With his front and back foot. Then he went to hide. I was really happy at the time but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I kinda forced him to come on me. I know I didn’t literally like force him, but it just kinda felt like it.

A few days later, basically the same thing happened again.

Also, this doesn’t have much to do with anything, but today I fed him hornworms again but I put it on my wrist this time and farther away from him. He took it, but a minute later, I instantly got an itchy and burning rash. Not sure what happened. I dont know if it was the hornworm or something else.


Also here’s just a picture of Spyro because why not.

 

[MissSkittles]

No, I don’t think you forced him to do anything. He was simply taking advantage of the strange fleshy branches that were there.
About the itching burning rash after the hornworm - sounds like you may be allergic to them or possibly something in their food or poo (they walk on their food and scat). I would say to wear gloves when handling the worms and make sure to still wash your hands right after.

 

[Cacti3]

No, I don’t think you forced him to do anything. He was simply taking advantage of the strange fleshy branches that were there.
About the itching burning rash after the hornworm - sounds like you may be allergic to them or possibly something in their food or poo (they walk on their food and scat). I would say to wear gloves when handling the worms and make sure to still wash your hands right after.

Yeah, I might be allergic to them but maybe it was because I put the hornworm on my wrist instead of my hand.


The only thing I’m worried about with gloves is Spyro’s tongue getting stuck on it or something. Do you think that would happen?


Also, it just feels great to have them trust you. Like, Spyro won’t care at all if I look at him or come really close to him. But, when anyone else even just walks by his cage he will puff up and sometimes hiss at them or hide. But oh how great it feels when they climb on you and trust you.

 

[MissSkittles]

The only thing I’m worried about with gloves is Spyro’s tongue getting stuck on it or something. Do you think that would happen?

I was thinking about nitrile or vinyl gloves. With feeding hornworms, you probably should be wearing full PPE anyhow…protect against the squirt.

 

[ehdee6]

Their tongue won't get stuck to the glove, it would be like missing and hitting a plastic cup.

When you take an allergy test, they often test between your wrist and forearm. It's one of the more sensitive areas of skin.

 

[Cacti3]

I was thinking about nitrile or vinyl gloves. With feeding hornworms, you probably should be wearing full PPE anyhow…protect against the squirt.

Oh I have vinyl gloves. I’ll see the next time I handle a hornworm again if I get a rash again. If so, I’ll wear gloves from now on.


Also I just hate it when there’s a hornworm and when you try to take it out from its container to feed it to your Cham, they also lash out and try to bite you with their mandibles….

I hate it it might also be the reason why I don’t like them and think they’re weird. Especially when they’re latched on so hard where you either have to wait for them to climb on you or you just have to basically yank them off.

 

[LizardLurkin]

I always grab the caterpillars by their heads and gently pry them away.

It's really funny to me how aggressive they are, considering their bites won't hurt...

 

[MissSkittles]

I’m not a big fan or hornworms, but my lizards are so what can I do. I currently have some hawk moths that just emerged that I’m waiting on to make some eggs (provided they aren’t all the same gender). It’s nice to have tiny enough gummy worms to give my leopard geckos some.

 

[absolutbill]

For the itching and scratching - I get it too, and I think it's from their nails as opposed to the worms (though it is a possibility). Just wash your hands and wrists, wherever you were touched, with soapy water after handling, and you should be fine - the itching will go away and the spots will fade quickly.

 

[Cacti3]

I always grab the caterpillars by their heads and gently pry them away.
View attachment 365646
It's really funny to me how aggressive they are, considering their bites won't hurt...

I know lol. And then when I hold them so they can’t grip on me the swing and shake around and try to bite me. One time when they did that it bit my nail and it felt so weird.


It’s like they think that they’ll do so much damage to us by biting us but in reality it’s just kinda funny and weird and it doesn’t even hurt it just feels strange.