Reptile & Amphibian Forums

"In general, anything that stings or has bright colors should be avoided. One more thing to avoid are those "fuzz bugs" that are sometimes in your shipment of crickets (for anyone who mail orders crickets). Apparently, when under a microscope the ends of those hairs on these pests are shaped like fish hooks and could cause damage to the digestive system of your chameleon."

I found this from: http://www.geocities.com/chamjacksonii/captive.html

I was wondering if anyone else has experience with these "fuzz bugs" and if they are detrimental. My concern is my chameleon ate about 5 of them when I dumped some crickets in his cage and a few of these came out.

Picture: http://www.geocities.com/chamjacksonii/mysterybug.jpg

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>>I was wondering if anyone else has experience with these "fuzz bugs" and if they are detrimental. My concern is my chameleon ate about 5 of them when I dumped some crickets in his cage and a few of these came out.
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Cricket shipments are occasionally infested with dermestid beetle larvae.... it just happens. They are harmless (ie not toxic). Beardies and other lizards love eating them. I would avoid feeding them to baby lizards simply because the amount of hairs on the larvae could lead to the bugs getting stuck in the throat or gut. Larger lizards have no problems eating them. I would advise not to let the larvae actually develop into the adult beetle form wherein they can start breeding...the beetles can fly (unlike mealworm beetles) and the larvae if allowed to infest a house will eat carpets, upolstry, clothes, etc... Scientists and taxidermists that deal with skeletons and such like to use the larvae to clean bits of meat off bones.
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PHWyvern