Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to the reptile show earlier today, and happened to pick-up a few hornworms. (Also known as tomamto worms).

And when I brang them home, my chameleon, Shoot, woofed one of them down really quick. I was kinda worried at first, as the horn-worm was so big, that my chameleon had to straighten-out his tail, and lift-up his head in order to swallow the whole thing.

Bt after I saw that he was OK, I went back to the other hornworms to check them out. (This is my first batch of horn worms, and I was interested in seeing them a little closer).

And when I did, I noticed that they have a pretty large "spike" at the end of their tail.

Do you guys cut off this spike before feeding them to your chameleon's, or do you just leave it there?

I just wanted to make sure that there were going to be NO complications in the near future.

Thanks.
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In Christ: Raymond

I don't know what the spike is for but I haven't had any problems with Hornworms. However, besides my Chameleons I also
have a very large Tokay Gecko and I feed all the really large Hornworms to him. The Hormworms have been great for sparking the appetite of any Chameleons I have that are not eating well. There is a couple of other things that I will caution you about the Hornworms. (1) If the Hornworms have been eating tomato plants; they are toxic to your Chameleons. Mullberry Farms cautioned me on this. It seems that the vines of tomato plants have a natural toxicity to protect themselves from insect predators. The Hornworms are not affected by this toxin but once they eat it, they take it and use it as their own toxin; thereby becoming toxic to anything that eats them. (2) If you intend to allow the worms to pupate and turn into moths you need a USDA permit to do this because they are considered pests.

Thanks, Kokopelli.

I would assume that you just leave the horn worm "as is" (with the spike still intact), and feed them to your cammies, huh?

I haven't seen any problems with my chameleon yet, so I guess everything is OK with him.

As for the hornworms...well...they were purchased from the CRICKET RQNCK booth. And they were eating a huge batch of the silkworm chow. I didn't bother to ask the guy if that was what he "ALWAYS" fed them, but he did mention that they eat the silkworm chow.

Thanks again...I feel a little better knowing that others out there are feeding them the same thing without "de-spiking them".
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In Christ: Raymond

Yeah, you don't need to take the spike off. I'm not sure what Mullberry Farms feeds them but it is a little different from silkworm chow. Good luck Raymond, Mark

Thanks again, Mark.

Here's a photo I took of my chameleon, Shoot, yesterday evening as he was climbing to his "cozy spot" to crash-out for the nite.

I don't know why, but I prefer taking "weird pictures" of my critters, more than the regular ones. Somehow it's cooler catching them doing their normal stuff, instead of posing.

But he still looks kinda funny in this picture with his ONE EYE staring at the camera.

He's so cool.

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In Christ: Raymond