Please help my cham ate a wasp!

Harland Williams

Harland Williams

New Member
I just got 2 hibiscus trees and wanted to let him check them out so I was sitting out side with him and out of no where he ate a wasp :eek: is this going to hurt him,should I take him to the vet now.
 
Last year my female veiled ate a big black bumble bee and I nearly had a heart attach but she was fine. As Ryan said just keep an eye on him but he should be fine.
 
Ok I'm not really sure if he is ok or not he keeps sticking his tongue out like he does when he tries to drink so I'm not sure if he got stung or hes just thirsty but I'll keep a eye on him.What would happen if he got stung in the mouth or on the tongue?
 
Harland Williams said:
Ok I'm not really sure if he is ok or not he keeps sticking his tongue out like he does when he tries to drink so I'm not sure if he got stung or hes just thirsty but I'll keep a eye on him.What would happen if he got stung in the mouth or on the tongue?
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I don't know that anyone knows the answer. Understand though that many reptiles react very differently to envenomation than do you or I. What might have us howling, and needed a trip to the doctor or hospital, may only be a minor discomfort to them. I cannot imagine being stung by a wasp the size of my foot !

I would suspect that if the sting were capable of causing a threatening swelling situation, you would notice it. I also don't know what a vet could do that would be practical or effective.

My only real experience with bug bites to chameleons is having seen the effects of 20-30 black widow encounters on large chameleons. It causes a sore, longish to heal, but otherwise none of the other effects that some humans suffer. These are not bites from an attempted eating, as the chameleons seem to otherwise leave those spiders alone (while eating many others), but where a chameleon gets too much into the web of a black widow, triggering an attack. FYI, black widows will kill and devour very small chameleons, as will wolf spiders, while large chameleons will eat adult wolf spiders.

Lastly, I have always put great faith in a chameleon's ability to effectively discriminate food sources. While some lizards, such as beardeds, cannot or do not, with firefiles being an egregious example, bees and wasps are common in Madagascar ... perhaps different types, but essentially similar. And they work it our there.
 
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what would you have to do if that happen or could you do anything? He seems ok I gave him a drink and he stopped the licking thing so I think I can calm down.
 
Harland Williams said:
what would you have to do if that happen or could you do anything? He seems ok I gave him a drink and he stopped the licking thing so I think I can calm down.
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I doubt there is anything that could be done if this were truly a threatening situation. We've all seen the videos of bears sustaining stings to their nose to get to the honey, and my assumption is that 100 bites to their nose is not as I imagine 100 bites to my nose ....... :)
 
Almost all spiders give me the creeps but I'm not afraid to kill one.I've been bitten by the brown recluse 3 times,first time put a hole in my leg.I was able to get meds to stop the next 2 needless to say I still have a nice circle for a scar on the upper back part of my leg.I've been at war with the spiders in my garage for a long time and so far I'm still getting even.
 
Chameleon Company said:
An adult male panther or veiled will eat the biggest wolf spider you can catch !
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Don't wolf spiders get to be around 3" in Florida? They're huge! It is interesting that they stay away from the black widows, and certainly they seem to know what they like to eat. Mine will ignore the crickets in favor of a superworm or dubia any day. At least that's what he's doing for now.

About eating the wasps, it must be something they do normally in nature. Otherwise natural selection would have selected against such behavior. In other words the rate of survival must be quite high.
 
radstusky said:
Don't wolf spiders get to be around 3" in Florida? They're huge! It is interesting that they stay away from the black widows, and certainly they seem to know what they like to eat. Mine will ignore the crickets in favor of a superworm or dubia any day. At least that's what he's doing for now.

About eating the wasps, it must be something they do normally in nature. Otherwise natural selection would have selected against such behavior. In other words the rate of survival must be quite high.
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I have never seen one down here believe it or not, and I never hope to either!!!! I almost stepped on a rattlesnake (it was hiding in the corner of an office I was cleaning out) scared the crap out of me. I hate spiders and snakes. Oh yeah, we have all kinds of creep crawlers in Florida!!!
 
carol5208 said:
OMG! Is that your cham eating that!!!! YUUUUKKK!
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Yes. I have caught large wolf spiders (the females are much more substantial, btw) and presented them to adult males in a 32 oz deli cup. Fed one to a Faly male a few days ago. They luv 'em. I do not mean to hijack the thread, but the tangent does help to illuminate how chameleons not only surprise us with their diets at times, but also can pretty much be trusted to discriminate accordingly.

Early in my hobby experience, many moons ago, I had certain ideas about chameleons based solely on my own inexperience. Over time, they taught me what to think based upon their voluntary choices, at times making me feel silly, but then enlightened. I think many of us continue to have such moments.

Here and now, I'm glad that bee-food worked out OK :)
 
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