Is this moth safe to feed off?

[dimil]

For a 16 month old Panther? I almost collided with it this evening on the back patio. TIA

 

[wavingsnail]

The problem with feeding prey items that are wild caught is that you have no idea what parasites and pesticides/poisons they've been exposed to.

It's a gamble.

 

[RescueHerp]

like waving said, you're also exposing them to germs and bacteria etc that arent normalized to them. that said in nature most things that are toxic/poisonous advertise it with flashy colors. I don't feed any of my herps "wild" anything there's no way of knowing if that moth fed on something that may be minutely toxic to the chameleon though.

 

[Virgil1972]

Keep it for a few days to see if it lives. If it don't die it probably wasn't exposed to any pesticides.

 

[Bush baby]

Pesticides would be the least of my concerns; i'd be more worried about some nasty parasite getting into my cham and/or bacteria that my cham hasn't built up an immunity to.

 

[Virgil1972]

Pesticides would be the least of my concerns; i'd be more worried about some nasty parasite getting into my cham and/or bacteria that my cham hasn't built up an immunity to.

There is a risk of that with other feeders to. A cham can exposed to bacteria from the owner to.

 

[Carlton]

For a 16 month old Panther? I almost collided with it this evening on the back patio. TIA

I think this is a hawk or sphinx moth, not sure which one. One of these is the adult stage of the tomato hornworm. I don't think they eat, so keeping it a "few days" won't tell you much. It won't live that long either way.