Wow, that seems like a big worm for your cham. My cham is about 9 inches from her nose to the tip of her tail but I worry since I can't be with her all day that giving her larger worms would hurt her.
If it didn't hurt him, he's definitely fine. My veiled would probably try to bite me if I tried taking anything back. Cause she likes to try and attack my hands when I put food in her cage after she wakes up.
My little girl loves hornworma but I was always nervous to give her more than the medium sized ones but the eggs don't hatch as fast as they grow. I don't doubt that she would eat the bigger ones, I just want to make sure she won't get it stuck or anything. You're cham is about the same age as my veiled and such a beautiful panther by the way. I will wait for more responses.Horn worms are so 'squishy' that I don't think the conventional rule of thumb (i.e. no food items wider than the distance between eyes) applies. I don't necessarily have any guidance for you, but I can tell you this much... As soon as a Chameleon bites down on the body of a Horn worm, this 'squishiness' gets compressed quite a bit.
Just FYI, here's a picture of my Chameleon eating a nearly full-size Horn worm (i.e. ~2.5" in length) at 4-5 months of age.
At some point my Chameleon would simply refuse to eat the larger Horn worms... Almost like he knew when they were too big for him to eat. Perhaps someone with more expertise and/or requisite experience will chime in with some guidance for us newbies.
I agree that we tend to worry more about our babies than we should but I would rather be safe than sorry. I will see if she will eat the larger worms since they are her favorite and I'm here with her on Sundays.I honestly don't go with the rule of thumb " as big as the gap between their eyes." I've fed my younger veiled full grown Supers at 4 months old and never had a problem with impactation or her choking. And I've always given her crickets larger than the eye gap with no problem. That rule was more or less made to protect your chameleon from the "what if" factor. Saying they're more likely to choke on it. And allows for easier digestion as well. Much of the time though they're going to know if they can take it down or not. They'll size it up. Most animals know their bodily functions quite well and will decide if something is going to be dinner or not. Go ahead and try giving your cham a large Hornworm. If she seems to struggle or doesn't deficate as usual, you'll know the feeder was to large. I think we all tend to be over protective and paranoid when it comes to our babies. Good luck!
One feeder to large isn't going to hurt anything. Give it a shot
My guy did the same thing, gorged himself with dubias and then said "Nope, I want some crickets and worms" I still catch him eyeballing the dubia like he's thinking "I want you to get just a bit bigger!"
My girl doesn't seem to be a picky eater, so I hope she'll eat the dubias I bought. What do you do with the feeders that he won't eat?
Chocolate covered or just plain?!?!Snack on them yourself... #nutritious
