Found mold in cricket food - worried

[Steve A]

Okay so we began making a food for our crickets using greens and carrots, blending and freezing it into cubes. I put 2 cubes (plus some small pieces of carrot, flukers cricket diet + insect fuel) in the crickets food trays.

We put the food in there the night before last. Yesterday, I did not notice any mold. Today I went to clean the crickets cage, and feed them again, and I saw a bunch of white mold in the food tray. I've discarded most of the crickets, but I had already transferred some from the tubes of the cricket pen, to the new cage.


My worry is that at least today, my chameleon ate crickets that *possibly* ate from the moldy dish. How worried should I be, and what types of signs should I be looking for tomorrow of possible illness?

I've decided to NOT give them more of the frozen food for now, but instead, just cut up some collard greens, carrots, and do a mixture of the flukers cricket diet + insect fuel.

Will this be okay for now, until I get this figured out? I almost feel like I would be more comfortable just feeding them fresh veges like this. I'll remove this and replace it each day going forward regardless. I just didn't expect mold after like 1 1/2 days. I will add more greens later once I get a chance to get to the store. This is just what I have at the very moment.

Is it safe to feed the rest of these crickets to my chameleon? (I am assuming absolutely not and if that's the case...I will dispose of them tomorrow without feeding any crickets to my chameleon tomorrow).

My options if these crickets are NOT safe:

1) Feed my chameleon a mix of BSFL, silkworms, hornworm(s), superworm(s) until the next batch of crickets come (1 - 2 days..... they were already on the way)

2) go get crickets at petsmart tomorrow after work (rather not give him crickets from petsmart if I can avoid this.... but if there is real danger from this mold situation.... I'd of course do that if necessary).

How should I proceed with this situation??

I really hope I am overreacting here, yet again. But this is scaring the crap out of me. I really did not expect to find mold in there so quickly. I really hope my little guy is not in any kind of danger I am not 100% sure that the crickets he ate today even came in contact with that mold. But of course.......it's highly likely I think.


side note: How do you feel about me adding the flukers + insect fuel to the crickets diet like this? Should I avoid doing this and just stick to fresh veges?

Thank you all so much. Hoping for good news here

 

[Beppo]

Okay so we began making a food for our crickets using greens and carrots, blending and freezing it into cubes. I put 2 cubes (plus some small pieces of carrot, flukers cricket diet + insect fuel) in the crickets food trays.

We put the food in there the night before last. Yesterday, I did not notice any mold. Today I went to clean the crickets cage, and feed them again, and I saw a bunch of white mold in the food tray. I've discarded most of the crickets, but I had already transferred some from the tubes of the cricket pen, to the new cage.


My worry is that at least today, my chameleon ate crickets that *possibly* ate from the moldy dish. How worried should I be, and what types of signs should I be looking for tomorrow of possible illness?

I've decided to NOT give them more of the frozen food for now, but instead, just cut up some collard greens, carrots, and do a mixture of the flukers cricket diet + insect fuel.

Will this be okay for now, until I get this figured out? I almost feel like I would be more comfortable just feeding them fresh veges like this. I'll remove this and replace it each day going forward regardless. I just didn't expect mold after like 1 1/2 days. I will add more greens later once I get a chance to get to the store. This is just what I have at the very moment.

Is it safe to feed the rest of these crickets to my chameleon? (I am assuming absolutely not and if that's the case...I will dispose of them tomorrow without feeding any crickets to my chameleon tomorrow).

My options if these crickets are NOT safe:

1) Feed my chameleon a mix of BSFL, silkworms, hornworm(s), superworm(s) until the next batch of crickets come (1 - 2 days..... they were already on the way)

2) go get crickets at petsmart tomorrow after work (rather not give him crickets from petsmart if I can avoid this.... but if there is real danger from this mold situation.... I'd of course do that if necessary).

How should I proceed with this situation??

I really hope I am overreacting here, yet again. But this is scaring the crap out of me. I really did not expect to find mold in there so quickly. I really hope my little guy is not in any kind of danger I am not 100% sure that the crickets he ate today even came in contact with that mold. But of course.......it's highly likely I think.


side note: How do you feel about me adding the flukers + insect fuel to the crickets diet like this? Should I avoid doing this and just stick to fresh veges?

Thank you all so much. Hoping for good news here




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I ere on the side of caution. This has happen to me before and I threw them all away sand cleaned the bin really good. I also worried if I hadn’t noticed and he had gotten bugs prior to me noticing but he was ok. Hopefully your guy will be too.

 

[Steve A]

I ere on the side of caution. This has happen to me before and I threw them all away sand cleaned the bin really good. I also worried if I hadn’t noticed and he had gotten bugs prior to me noticing but he was ok. Hopefully your guy will be too.

Ok I will discard them tomorrow. I figured that made the most logical sense, but I was just curious if this was a situation where it somehow was nothing something to worry over.

Ugh I really hope so too. I've just been doing so much. I can't believe I let this happen. At least it's technically happened before and your chameleon was okay. That gives me hope everything will be fine. He will just have to wait for his new crickets to come. He's gonna be super excited tomorrow once he sees there are silkworms again, anyway. Those are his favorite.

 

[Steve A]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/mold-in-with-crickets-will-she-be-harmed.125270/

this makes me happy lol I hope this is true. ugh my darn heart! But I don't think 1-2 days max without crickets is gonna hurt him. So.... I'm just gonna stay cautious, dump those crickets, clean the life out of that cricket pen, and move on with life.

 

[Beppo]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/mold-in-with-crickets-will-she-be-harmed.125270/

this makes me happy lol I hope this is true. ugh my darn heart! But I don't think 1-2 days max without crickets is gonna hurt him. So.... I'm just gonna stay cautious, dump those crickets, clean the life out of that cricket pen, and move on with life.

Yeah I’m sure we’re not the only ones it’s happen to either. But I was freaking out as well, I thought I was being so proactive about everything. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Silks are mines favorites too! And I love having silk moths!

 

[Steve A]

Yeah I’m sure we’re not the only ones it’s happen to either. But I was freaking out as well, I thought I was being so proactive about everything. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Silks are mines favorites too! And I love having silk moths!

I am debating letting some silks pupate into moths.

my issues are

1) I need to learn how to properly set them up for this?
2) silkworms seem to be some precious resource that no one can keep in stock. And they are LITERALLY his favorite thing lmao. Of course.

I think tomorrow I will look up what I have to do... because I actually over purchased silkworms (lol..) so I am almost surely gonna have some that are gonna get too big for him to eat so those ones are the ones I may try letting pupate. Thank you for being there @Beppo.... this situation scared me more than anything else so far lol.

 

[Beppo]

I am debating letting some silks pupate into moths.

my issues are

1) I need to learn how to properly set them up for this?
2) silkworms seem to be some precious resource that no one can keep in stock. And they are LITERALLY his favorite thing lmao. Of course.

I think tomorrow I will look up what I have to do... because I actually over purchased silkworms (lol..) so I am almost surely gonna have some that are gonna get too big for him to eat so those ones are the ones I may try letting pupate. Thank you for being there @Beppo.... this situation scared me more than anything else so far lol.

Of course! And if you just put some of the card board rolls from paper towels or toilet paper in there with the silk worms to give them somewhere safe to make their cocoons and then you can easily remove it without disturbing them

 

[Steve A]

Of course! And if you just put some of the card board rolls from paper towels or toilet paper in there with the silk worms to give them somewhere safe to make their cocoons and then you can easily remove it without disturbing them

oh nice. then I can just transfer that to another cage until the moths come out right?

I may do that. I bought the silkworm keeper bin from coastal silks :-D so I have a little room to do that in. I'll throw a roll in there tomorrow. TY for the info!

 

[Beppo]

oh nice. then I can just transfer that to another cage until the moths come out right?

I may do that. I bought the silkworm keeper bin from coastal silks :-D so I have a little room to do that in. I'll throw a roll in there tomorrow. TY for the info!

Yeah exactly I just put them in a tote with good ventilation … but you really dont even need a lid if it’s deep enough because they can’t fly anyways… poor things

 

[Steve A]

Yeah exactly I just put them in a tote with good ventilation … but you really dont even need a lid if it’s deep enough because they can’t fly anyways… poor things

oh wow the moths cant even fly?? interesting lol Kinda bummed I was hoping I'd get a show of him eating a flying moth lol!!

 

[elizaann2]

Yeah exactly I just put them in a tote with good ventilation … but you really dont even need a lid if it’s deep enough because they can’t fly anyways… poor things

Can’t fly eat or drink. Poor bugs

 

[Steve A]

Good morning,

Spike seemed good this morning before I left. In fact he shot right up to the top of his enclosure immediately when lights came on lol as he's been doing lately. Very eager to start his day I think he knows his silks are back lol

He was so patiently waiting for me to finish setting up his bugs

 

[elizaann2]

What a sweet little thing! I"m ordering more silks for my little guy. He loved those things!

 

[Steve A]

What a sweet little thing! I"m ordering more silks for my little guy. He loved those things!

They're Spikes favorite! Although I think BSFL might be becoming his new favorite lol. I love feeding them too because they're mostly really easy to deal with. Only thing is they tend to bunch up with their darn silk lol

 

[elizaann2]

They're Spikes favorite! Although I think BSFL might be becoming his new favorite lol. I love feeding them too because they're mostly really easy to deal with. Only thing is they tend to bunch up with their darn silk lol

I know! It’s so funny how they do that! Sounds like he has a good healthy appetite. My boy still loves crickets the most. I’d really like for him to get into bsfl but we will see what happens.

 

[Steve A]

I know! It’s so funny how they do that! Sounds like he has a good healthy appetite. My boy still loves crickets the most. I’d really like for him to get into bsfl but we will see what happens.

idk how you were presenting the BSFL to him but the green dish made all the difference in the world. And so did getting bigger ones. I had smaller ones, he wouldn't touch them. Then did medium ones and now he loves them. I've been dropping the smaller ones into the soil of some of the plants so they'll pupate eventually and he can eat the flies.

I had 2 of them flying in his enclosure before he arrived and he must have ate them real quick lol they were living in there for a few days or so and they disappeared immediately.

 

[elizaann2]

idk how you were presenting the BSFL to him but the green dish made all the difference in the world. And so did getting bigger ones. I had smaller ones, he wouldn't touch them. Then did medium ones and now he loves them. I've been dropping the smaller ones into the soil of some of the plants so they'll pupate eventually and he can eat the flies.

I had 2 of them flying in his enclosure before he arrived and he must have ate them real quick lol they were living in there for a few days or so and they disappeared immediately.

I do have the green dish just like you have. I have only caught my guy eating out of it a handful of times, he seems to prefer his lunch log with crickets. The dish has a variety of supers, wax worms and bsfl. I don't know why he hasn't been super drawn to it yet so I'll just keep trying. I have tried a variety of sizes as well but nothing seems to attract him. He does love the flies and will eat the silkworms if I free range them in his enclosure. i think my guy is just weirdly picky...?

 

[Steve A]

I do have the green dish just like you have. I have only caught my guy eating out of it a handful of times, he seems to prefer his lunch log with crickets. The dish has a variety of supers, wax worms and bsfl. I don't know why he hasn't been super drawn to it yet so I'll just keep trying. I have tried a variety of sizes as well but nothing seems to attract him. He does love the flies and will eat the silkworms if I free range them in his enclosure. i think my guy is just weirdly picky...?

lol I am watching my guy right now and he's eyeing up the dish that has 2 superworms in there still.....but he's not eating them.

He also has not touched his silks (I put them in the WHITE bowl ) or the hornworm I put in there from what I see. Luckily I have another green dish. I just have to add some more ties to put it in his enclosure. I'll do that when I get home and I guess I'll try to hand feed him those worms

Maybe your guy just prefers to hunt them.

 

[Tacci]

Good morning,

Spike seemed good this morning before I left. In fact he shot right up to the top of his enclosure immediately when lights came on lol as he's been doing lately. Very eager to start his day I think he knows his silks are back lol

He was so patiently waiting for me to finish setting up his bugs

Such a sweet little boy. What species is he? Looks very similar to a dwarf or carpet chameleon Glad he's ok. My cricket's food also get moldy at times, but I always replace it immediately. Luckily, my girl has also never gotten sick.

 

[Steve A]

Such a sweet little boy. What species is he? Looks very similar to a dwarf or carpet chameleon Glad he's ok. My cricket's food also get moldy at times, but I always replace it immediately. Luckily, my girl has also never gotten sick.

He seems all good! He is a Sambava Panther he is 4 months old.

I simply didn't give him any crickets today. I'll be disposing them today and cleaning everything.

I gave him over a dozen bsfl, 2 superpowers, 5 silks, and a hornworm. But I am pretty sure he only ate his bsfl because of the dish I put them in. Won't even touch the super worms that are in the same dish lol. Finicky guy