Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My sick jax cham passed away. He had a "sloppy" urate earlier today with a hint of blood and I found him at midnight with a significant amount of blood coming from his cloaca. I wasn't shocked to find him dead, he's been very sick, but when cleaning out the cage I find this... thing. It's bigger then a super or meal worm, even most crickets, and thats all that he's been getting the past couple months, well when he would eat. Any info on what this is- is GREATLY appreciated.

-Steve

Hopefully lele or one of the other insect experts will see your pic, and have an answer for you.

I've never seen an internal parasite that looked like that...but...I'm certainly NO expert on them.

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your cham though...no matter what the cause.
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Kim

That looks like the pupae from a superworm. You must have had some get loose into the cage where they could hide and pupate.

Rich

Excellent picture of the pupae!
Yes, I know they look like little aliens, but this is definitely NOT a parasite. They DO look a bit menacing if you don't know what they are...
If you want, you can keep him in a small baby food jar with a little moist substrate (make sure the lid has some breathing holes. It should 'hatch' into a black beetle in about 3-4 weeks. If you had several of these beetles, you could then go into the superworm breeding business!
Hope your Jax gets better. See a vet!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

np
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

Didn't read that part. I was reading at 6am, too early to think!
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

n/p
-----
Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos