The ill effects of Butterworms

[Chameleopatrick]

I have had the exact same thing happen with my chams over the years.

Carpets, panthers, quads and even my wiedersheimii But its always extremely random and Rare.

It usually will go away in a day or two if its minor with a little extra water to drink.

I did have a carpet chameleon about two years ago that had that on her whole lower jaw, while she did eat for a while she did get progressively more ill and passed. I actually had a theory that it was infected cricket legs. A specific time I remembered feeding a her a cricket with the lower part part of its hind leg missing with a black spot on the upper thigh of the cricket. It was probably eaten off by another cricket during its molt. YUK

Make sure you feeders are clean and dont have any insect waste on the worms prior to feeding. Also, if the mealworms have an oder, dont use them.

 

[crocky]

I just got my butterworms and they all have the orangy/reddish tint. I tested it out on my bearded dragon and he took it very quickly as he will eat anything but spit it out pretty quick before he chewed it up and did not want anything to do with it after that...hmmm....makes me wonder. the substrate they have in with them is full of silk so I wonder if during shipping they started to do this and since it took several days un refrigerated they are not usable now . I don't want to chance it with my Cham now that I have read this and the ones I have all have red in them....

 

[dlegare]

It took almost 3 months but he is perfect now. It freaked me out bad because after his skin went yellow it turned black and he stoped eatting for a week. But after that he went back to normal and started eatting just fine it just took some time for the spot to heal .

Did you ever find out why that reaction occurred?

Your Cham is gorgeous.

 

[Olimpia]

I just got my butterworms and they all have the orangy/reddish tint. I tested it out on my bearded dragon and he took it very quickly as he will eat anything but spit it out pretty quick before he chewed it up and did not want anything to do with it after that...hmmm....makes me wonder. the substrate they have in with them is full of silk so I wonder if during shipping they started to do this and since it took several days un refrigerated they are not usable now . I don't want to chance it with my Cham now that I have read this and the ones I have all have red in them....

I got in 100 butter worms two weeks ago and all of them were red/orange and had managed to make a silk mess of the wood shavings, like they always do every single time I order them. All but 9 are gone and I haven't had any issues, just like the previous dozens of times I've ordered them over the last 6 years.

I still think this is a case-specific reaction that individual animals must have, like some dogs are horrifically allergic to corn. Or the one dog I used to have that was allergic to protein. Otherwise we'd see cases like this pop up on a much more regular basis. But we see maybe one here and there. That's why I'm still not worried about ordering them, because it doesn't feel like a wide-spread effect these worms are having on chameleons.

It's still worth finding out why this is happening though, obviously.

(Edit) I have fed them to leopard geckos, crested geckos, AFT geckos, beardies, a savannah monitor, and chameleons. Something like 30-40 animals over 6-7 years and not a single reaction.

 

[A1forall]

All of OUR Chams love em. No problems here!!!

 

[coldbloodedAL]

Now this is just an idea, that is likely unlikely(if that makes any sense lol)

Could it have something to do with the tiny amount of radiation they are treated with before being exported from Chile? I am aware the amount of radiation is minuscule, but maybe a batch every now and then is treated heavily?
.

 

[AngieL]

Now this is just an idea, that is likely unlikely(if that makes any sense lol)

Could it have something to do with the tiny amount of radiation they are treated with before being exported from Chile? I am aware the amount of radiation is minuscule, but maybe a batch every now and then is treated heavily?
.

I wondered that too! I know they do that so the worms can't pupate and breed!

I've seen this quite a bit on the gecko forums, every time it happened because the worm burst open while being chewed and the animal got worm goo on the affected area. And at the same time loads of animals have no reaction to eating them but those animals didn't burst the worms.

I've fed them to my girl a few times but never to my Leos for this very reason!

 

[crocky]

I got in 100 butter worms two weeks ago and all of them were red/orange and had managed to make a silk mess of the wood shavings, like they always do every single time I order them. All but 9 are gone and I haven't had any issues, just like the previous dozens of times I've ordered them over the last 6 years.

I still think this is a case-specific reaction that individual animals must have, like some dogs are horrifically allergic to corn. Or the one dog I used to have that was allergic to protein. Otherwise we'd see cases like this pop up on a much more regular basis. But we see maybe one here and there. That's why I'm still not worried about ordering them, because it doesn't feel like a wide-spread effect these worms are having on chameleons.

It's still worth finding out why this is happening though, obviously.

(Edit) I have fed them to leopard geckos, crested geckos, AFT geckos, beardies, a savannah monitor, and chameleons. Something like 30-40 animals over 6-7 years and not a single reaction.

Good to know, thank you for the info!!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I too have never had any ill effects on my chams or turtles and I've fed off 1000's of butterworms.

 

[crocky]

Thanks! I just found it very weird (probably would not have if I had not seen this post) that my dragon spit it out after chewing a little on it, he never spits anything out, he spit it almost like it stung him or bit him and he typically does not even take time to chew. Good to know that you guys feed them with no ill effects even when they have the reddish orange color. Going to try one maybe tomorrow

 

[pssh]

I've never had an issue with butterworms, regardless of color or amount of silk in the tubs.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I dont refridgerate butterworms (I like to keep them at room temperature, so that they will eat - keeping them in the fridge robs you of the opportunity to gutload them)

I have fed off hundreds if not thousands of butterworms (ranging from yellowish to red) to my panthers and frogs and have never seen this issue.

its so weird that this discolouration occurred with your animal (and I've heard it with gecko keeper occassionally too). I wonder if your butterworms were really really really fresh off the boat and thus the radiation treatment hadnt dissipated yet?

Actually I think Olimpia's suggestion that it is specific to particular individual animals is more likely.

 

[Andie]

Hi,

I just wanted to ask if your Parson's cham is male or female. He/she is very beautiful.
I saw some online that had the big extension to the nose, that I didn't find very appealing.

Yours is just beautiful.

 

[Action Jackson]

Female. Thanks for the nice comment.