? on feeding biting worm type foods

little leaf

Avid Member
is it possible for say a maggot or meal worm type food to survive being swallowed, and then " eating " your chams innards ? or biting their mouth ? I have some fly larva, home grown ;) :p but as I watched them eating, they really have a nasty set of " teeth" - now I am nervous to feed them with out smashing their heads - YUCK ! I think my chams are now responsible for more of my gray hairs then my kids !! :eek: :p

thanks :)
 
I have to say, the super worms will bite me when I hold them by their tails and I have wandered the same thing, glad you brought this up.
 
is it possible for say a maggot or meal worm type food to survive being swallowed, and then " eating " your chams innards ? or biting their mouth ? I have some fly larva, home grown ;) :p but as I watched them eating, they really have a nasty set of " teeth" - now I am nervous to feed them with out smashing their heads - YUCK ! I think my chams are now responsible for more of my gray hairs then my kids !! :eek: :p

thanks :)

there is no truth to the myth that mealworms or superworms will survive in a chameleons digestion to chew its way out. Take a teaspoon of water and put your superworm or mealworm in it, and see how fast it drowns. Now imagine first being chewed, then surrounded by digestive fluids (not just a wee puddle of water it could try to crawl away from).

in rare cases a large superworm might maybe try to pinch/bite your cham, but frankly your cham is designed to eat live things and will learn very quickly to shoot for the head and crunch /chew to essentially eliminate any risk.

Ive handled many large black crickets, superworms etc and any that has rarely tried to bite me never broken the skin.
I've never had a chameleon injured (well over 10 years of keeping and breeding chams) from maggots /larva, nor beetles or crickets or roaches etc. The only thing I might be particularly cautious about would be spiky things like large mantid, or soldier class termites.
 
there is no truth to the myth that mealworms or superworms will survive in a chameleons digestion to chew its way out. Take a teaspoon of water and put your superworm or mealworm in it, and see how fast it drowns. Now imagine first being chewed, then surrounded by digestive fluids (not just a wee puddle of water it could try to crawl away from).

in rare cases a large superworm might maybe try to pinch/bite your cham, but frankly your cham is designed to eat live things and will learn very quickly to shoot for the head and crunch /chew to essentially eliminate any risk.

Ive handled many large black crickets, superworms etc and any that has rarely tried to bite me never broken the skin.
I've never had a chameleon injured (well over 10 years of keeping and breeding chams) from maggots /larva, nor beetles or crickets or roaches etc. The only thing I might be particularly cautious about would be spiky things like large mantid, or soldier class termites.

ok, I just wondered, I know the crix chew thew the softer screen, and bags- lol and i know maggots are made to chew flesh - and the are so squishy, I was not sure if just chewing one would kill it enough make it harmless when eaten - I know some of the rescue kittens we have gotten in, I will spare the detail, but its crazy what I have seem them do to flesh - I just did not want to feed anything that could harm my little guys - Thank you for the info :)
 
ok, I just wondered, I know the crix chew thew the softer screen, and bags- lol and i know maggots are made to chew flesh - and the are so squishy, I was not sure if just chewing one would kill it enough make it harmless when eaten - I know some of the rescue kittens we have gotten in, I will spare the detail, but its crazy what I have seem them do to flesh - I just did not want to feed anything that could harm my little guys - Thank you for the info :)

Maggots usually like rotting/unhealthy rather than healthy flesh.
 
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