Undigested food

[Marc10edora]

This morning I went to clean up my chams poop and noticed an undigested phoenix worm. The weird thing is that, it was still alive. Is that normal? Could this mean that I am overfeeding him and his body didn't need it?

 

[PukaKeha]

Thats pretty crazy that it was still alive lol

 

[DraftDayz]

That is odd. My Theory: He didn't chew his food. Their tegumen might be hardy enough to withstand the chams gastric juices. Therefore, if the body is still intact when swallowed, the worm can live, maybe. I guess its kind of like when you or I eat corn without chewing properly.

 

[Jordan]

I have seen my female pass almost whole leaves before. I assume this is different as most animals can not really digest vegatation. Seems bizarre.

 

[Marc10edora]

It is odd. I wonder if it gave him a stomach ache. But he seemed perfectly fine this week. Phoenix worms are so small, that I think he just gulped it down whole.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

We talked about this 2 or 3 months ago when I was experimenting with phoenix worms.
If the cham doesn't pierce the worms skin (ie: chew it) it won't digest.
Will Hayward suggested piercing the worms before feeding them which
works as long as the cham sees and eats them right away before they die.
This seems to be a situation exclusive to fly larvae.
Piercing it even just once with a sewing pin does the trick and it may be
worth the trouble, they are really high in calcium.

-Brad

 

[Will Hayward]

Past thread: https://www.chameleonforums.com/phoenix-worms-2660/#post18531

 

[Marc10edora]

Thanks for the tips. My phoenix worms are already turning into flies. I'm gonna let my cham eat those and give him some exercise. But I'll try the peircing method next time.

 

[Sean1978]

Resurrected!

I'm pretty sure my Veiled just passed a live Phoenix worm. I have been feeding him a lot of them the last few days as I'm short on smaller crickets.

I googled it and seemed to come up with a few other cases of this happening.

 

[Marc10edora]

Resurrected!

I'm pretty sure my Veiled just passed a live Phoenix worm. I have been feeding him a lot of them the last few days as I'm short on smaller crickets.

I googled it and seemed to come up with a few other cases of this happening.

Yep, it happens. Especially with adult chams. That's why they are better for smaller chams.

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

Dubia

I have had a couple chams pass whole dubia roaches but there always dead.