Swallowed adult female roach without chewing - problem?

[Kent67]

Soooo, here's a new one: as the title says, I hand-fed a small but adult stage female dubia to a large chameleon last night. This girl is a chewer and would normally work on something that size for a while before swallowing it but this time, as she was turning it in her mouth, it seemed to run forward and past her tongue before she could get a good chomp on it. She tried several times to bring it back up with her tongue but eventually just started doing that swallowing motion and that was that. I have no doubt the roach died quickly once it reached her stomach but I'm concerned about that harder exoskeleton not being pierced and broken up like would normally be the case. Anyone have experience with something like this?

 

[pigglett79]

Haven't had any of mine swallow a roach whole, but my jackson has swallowed snails whole before. I imagine it all gets digested the same whether pre-chewed or not.

 

[Olimpia]

I assume we're talking something like a dubia? I wouldn't worry, they're no where near as hard as Hissers, for example. It should digest away, even unpierced. Remember that at the very least, between all the segments on their bodies they have weak spots.

 

[Kent67]

Yep, adult dubia. Both good points to help set my mind at ease. I've definitely had a Jackson or quad swallow a whole snail before. I'd also not considered the between segment areas. I sure hope they're weak enough to let those digestive juices in! She still has her appetite after 24 hours at least.

 

[pssh]

I haven't had an issue with it yet. A few bigger males and a mellers have done this and they all did just fine. A couple looked a little surprised at first, but otherwise everything went along smoothly. Plus roaches have a fairly big opening in their rear end, so I would assume that is where the digesting would start...

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I have had that happen on occasion and have not had any problems.

 

[djfishygillz]

I think you will find out in about 24 hours how much he digest it either way lol.

 

[Kent67]

She's still acting fine so it must not have been too much of a problem. She definitely looked surprised!