Eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar AKA Caterpie

[Crashbandit05]

I found this guy at my work today and I can honestly say I have never seen one in person. Thanks to @trickedoutbiker for helping me to 100% identify and make sure he is ok to feed off. Hopefully I can get some pics and a video of Leif eating it Thursday when I'm off work. Edit: duh, forgot to say that it's an Eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar

 

[Daschmidt]

I found this guy at my work today and I can honestly say I have never seen one in person. Thanks to @trickedoutbiker for helping me to 100% identify and make sure he is ok to feed off. Hopefully I can get some pics and a video of Leif eating it Thursday when I'm off work.View attachment 168194

Your planning on feeding him to your Cham?

 

[Crashbandit05]

Your planning on feeding him to your Cham?

Yes.

 

[CharlieCharmingo]

Make sure to wait a couple of days just invade he ate something that could be harmful to your Cham.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

Make sure to wait a couple of days just invade he ate something that could be harmful to your Cham.

Those caterpillars feed on trees and shrubs such as lilac, willow, birch, tulip tree, wild cherry, magnolia....

Perfectly safe to feed to your chameleon. They are not poisonous at all, but they can emit a foul smelling odor to ward off predators. Totally non-toxic though.

 

[Nursemaia]

He's too cute to eat lol

 

[trickedoutbiker]

He's too cute to eat lol

I've had that mindset about quite a few of the neat bugs I have came across in the past....

To be in the chameleon hobby, you sort of develop this little insect hobby as well. Finding all sorts of different insects and seeing how your chameleon will react is half the fun of keeping!

 

[Crashbandit05]

Well here's the video, sorry for the bad quality and probably NSFW due to my language at the end. But it's funny IMO.

 

[JGspecial]

did he not like it or did he get bit??? that was a very odd reaction indeed.............

 

[Crashbandit05]

did he not like it or did he get bit??? that was a very odd reaction indeed.............

I'm assuming he didn't like the odor the caterpillar released. After he shook it to the floor, I could smell a faint odor that seemed to come from the caterpillar. So I let him go outside.

 

[giesle]

Wow. He didn't like that one bit. Definitely understand your reaction at the end after so much build up to feeding it to him. Sorry, I had to laugh.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

I'm assuming he didn't like the odor the caterpillar released.

That's exactly what it was. I told ya they aren't toxic, but they do emit a foul odor. Guess it doesn't taste very good in the mouth either...

My chameleon eats everything lol. He's never turned anything down, even the stinky bugs. That was definitely a little funny though. Not gonna lie. He wanted to spit it out, that's for sure.

 

[Crashbandit05]

That's exactly what it was. I told ya they aren't toxic, but they do emit a foul odor. Guess it doesn't taste very good in the mouth either...

My chameleon eats everything lol. He's never turned anything down, even the stinky bugs. That was definitely a little funny though. Not gonna lie. He wanted to spit it out, that's for sure.

Well after the caterpillar incident, he ate his first superworm, then two more after!

 

[Nursemaia]

That was a helluva reaction. Yours and the cham. I'll admit I shouted out when I saw that too.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

That light system looks really good on your cage too man. I jus watched the vid again and saw how neat it looked.

 

[Crashbandit05]

That was a helluva reaction. Yours and the cham. I'll admit I shouted out when I saw that too.

Lol it definitely gave me a scare. I thought he was going to fall off the dowel rod but he just gave me a look of "wtf was that" and turned back to his darker basking colors.

 

[Crashbandit05]

That light system looks really good on your cage too man. I jus watched the vid again and saw how neat it looked.

It's the ZooMed LED/UVB hood. It's not that bad for under $100. I wish the "plant grow LEDs" were better because my schefflera's eventually drop all but top 1/3 of their leaves. Hoping to get a LYR hood when I upgrade to the big boy enclosure.

 

[Nursemaia]

It's the ZooMed LED/UVB hood. It's not that bad for under $100. I wish the "plant grow LEDs" were better because my schefflera's eventually drop all but top 1/3 of their leaves. Hoping to get a LYR hood when I upgrade to the big boy enclosure.

I have a quad light from LYR. It's worth every penny.

 

[Crashbandit05]

I have a quad light from LYR. It's worth every penny.

I can't decide if I want that or a dragonstrand for Christmas.

 

[Nursemaia]

I can't decide if I want that or a dragonstrand for Christmas.

Light