Safe to feed???

[Chamero]

I found this bug in our mulch pile.

I was wondering if any of you know what it is and if it is safe to feed.

It looks like itd be an awesome treat...and I have tons of em...

I live in Southern California if that helps with the I.D.

Any ideas of what it is?

 

[Ryan123]

a grub??? and i wouldnt feed anything wild....why take the risk???

 

[Chamero]

Yea I guess its a grub...but is that a generic term for all larvae types or this specific type...???

If it was safe though, I would of course gutload accordingly.

 

[justjumpit621]

It doesn't look like a grub, it looks like it could be a caterpillar. I don't know about toxicity. It doesn't have any bright colors so I would think it would be okay but you'd need to feed different food for a few days.

 

[Ryan123]

i still wouldnt try it a rattle snake isnt colorful its poisonous.....tropical pigs are poisonous until you cut out a gland.... not all poisonous spiders are bright.....the box jellyfish is clear and its poisonous....the sea snail is the most poisonous animal in the world and its a creamy yellow....i wouldnt depend on color to decide if something is poisonous or not.... ummmm why risk an expensive animal like on a bug especially when certain bugs are worth less than a penny a bug (crickets, flies, etc...) umm it looks like a grub especially if its in a mulch pile it may be a caterpiller but yeah idk i still woulndnt take the risk



oh and idk if this really pertains to this all that much in my mind it does but you can catch a disease after killing a doe (female deer) if you break her milk sac during field dressing and the same as with a buck (male deer) if you dont cut off his testes right away....just like the posoinous tropical pig until you cut off its gland it remains poisonous who knows??? horn worms are poisonous too if they are wild sorry to ramble on

 

[Jakedn]

Doesn't look poisonous to me, it looks like it could be a tasty treat for a lucky chameleon. If it were me I would feed it off as long as you are sure it hasn't come into contact with pesticides. If you plan on feeding these regularly though, I would suggest you keep up on getting him fecals as they could have some parasites.

 

[SS4Luck]

i wouldnt try it on the off chance it had some really bad parasite or something

 

[Ryan123]

a pig doesnt loo poisonous either and neither does a snail or some snakes or others bugs but they still can be a deer doesnt look like it can give you a disease but it can some foods dont look bad but are idk i wouldnt feed it and if you want something big and juicy for your cham thats where big fat juicy horn worms and silkies ome into play not some grimey bug.....

 

[xanthoman]

there are a number of bug indentifier search engines on line , the problem is it can be impossible to discern the difference in the larval (maggot) stage, as hundreds if not thousands look nearly identical at that stage, generally i would recomend against feeding most wild caught bugs because of the parasite issue, but especially anything out of any sort of compost pile, almost all compost piles are riddled with mites

 

[nightcrawler]

If it was me, and I was not 100% sure what it was, then I would consider it poisonous. Even if its not, I dont no for certain, and a tasty treat to me might kill my pet. I wouldent jeopardize my chameleons life just because I guessed it to be safe.

I say no, unless you know! (yes you can quote me on that)

 

[Chameleonboy]

lol I think we are just trying to say throw it away just to be safe, and feed your cham what you are sure is not toxic and cant harm him.

-Clemonde

 

[Chamero]

Thanks guys, and nice information there Ryan123

As for the bug, it was not fed to the cham.

I was just wondering if it could be made "safe" to eat, even if it started out poisonous. (No Pesticides)

The hornworm starts out poisonous and is still fed to our chams. Was wondering if the same rule can apply to this guy.

If not, Ill just get a hold of some silks and hornworms.

P.S. I dont think its a caterpillar because there are tons of them buried in the mulch and I never see them transform or out of the mulch.

 

[Chameleonboy]

Goliaths are toxic ONLY when eating the tomato leaves. When and if on chow they are safe and not toxic for our chams to eat.

-Clemonde

 

[Chamero]

So can I assume that if this "grub" is fed some sort of chow, it can be assumed safe? I do have some silkworm chow.

 

[Chameleonboy]

So can I assume that if this "grub" is fed some sort of chow, it can be assumed safe? I do have some silkworm chow.

I am unable to answer that question for you, I have no clue what that is. I think if you do a search on the forum you may find what you are looking for. I cant find it but I do remember this "grub" discussed before in previous topic's. I think it was someone who was posting from Beijing china. Hopefully someone can find it.

-Clemonde