Horn worms too Big?

[NosyBe15]

How big is too big to feed my 10mo male panther? I have a bunch left now and I am thinking they are almost to the point where they are too big. I am thinking my cham is about full grown

I fed him one of the bigger ones yesterday, and he took a while to get it down. Do I need to worry about them choking on the bigger hornworms? Or due to them being "softbodied" can they eat the larger ones?

 

[nightanole]

Mine had no problems when he was 200grams. Since they are soft bodied you can go much larger. They are just bags of water at that point. Ive seen some lepard gecko people nick the end of the worms so the bigger ones go down by squirting out all the green water


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quOVqPh9_iI

 

[bbprinting]

Man that worm was hanging for dear life until the bitter end, lol.

 

[NosyBe15]

Mine just snags them out of my hand. But a very similar size so I guess its ok. On his first bite it does pop like a water balloon.

 

[rkgardner2003]

I was just going to post on this same thing! I got a shipment at the end of last week and 1/2 of them look too big already about 2-3 in. I'm scared he's going to choke on them! I can't afford to keep giving the big ones to the chickens! My guy is about 10 months old too..is it better to buy eggs vs the pod since all they do is eat and get huge in there?

 

[NosyBe15]

I dont quite know. I am sure there are some other forums that have horn worm care. I think I read that you can slow them down by putting them in the fridge on and off. But dont quote me on that one.

On my lunch break I went home and gave him one. He got it down, took him a little longer then usual, but he got it. Seems they just have to keep chewing them and taking it in more, then chewing more, then taking it in more and so on until they get it all.

But yea, Im nervous when I give him the bigger ones. I think some might almost be 4 in now. I will probably just toss those huge ones outside. Not quite sure. Just hate to waste them because they arent the cheapest feeder.

 

[jannb]

You can slow down the growth by keeping them cooler but the frig is too cold for them. I keep mine in a wine cooler and take them out for a day every few day or they will die if kept cool all the time.

Hornworns are soft bodied but they do stick like glue and I read on here once where a giant Melleri had one stuck and holding on and the owner had to help get it uncaught from the back of his throat. I even had a female panther have one latch on the the roof of her mouth when I was out of town and the pet sitter/house sitter was here. https://www.chameleonforums.com/had-scare-morning-51851/

I would recommend being very careful feeding giant hornworms.

 

[Thegreatfonz]

I fed my 7 month old panther a 2-3 inch hornworm and it ended up biting him on his turret. I guess he didnt hit the worms head and it swung around and bit him and he thrashed about for a couple of seconds.. definitely gave me a scare and the worm wasn't even that big..

 

[NosyBe15]

Yea the more and more I think about it, the more it looks like I will be sticking to ordering the smaller ones and letting them grow. I probably have about 20 now that are going to be on the too big side.

Luckily the silk worms that came were all small, So it will be a while before they are too big.

I was giving the horn worms to my 9.5 month male and the smaller silks to my 4mo old female.

At first I was thinking the big ones would be fine, since I have seen a video or two of Chams eating pinkys, (i would never even think to try that) Those have to be harder to eat then the hornworms.

But its almost getting to the point of its not worth the worry of having him choke or something.