Hornworm

Not many of these are in captivity. The town of Nosy Mitsio is much further than most common locales that are popular in the trade. One has to travel to get these true Nosy Mitsios to the states, so we can work with these and bring them into the market.

This locale is a Nosy Mitsio. Nosy Mitsio at rest have a very nice green body, with unique dark red eyes on them, when fire-up up, they display beautiful lime green with striking yellows.

They display beautiful shades of red, on their eye turrets, dewlap, lips, and even arms.

Some adult males show darkening around the rims of their crests, mine cearly does.

In some cases, sometimes as they're growing, they'll display alot more red throughout their body, almost as if they're bars. Even on their tails which is also sweet.

Sometimes as adults, they'll display forest green bars which are really cool to see.

When they're in their "bobbing mode" (attracting a female) they'll radiate gorgeous greens with splashes of yellows. Their eyes could also get a red/orange look with very dark stripes, which is totally different from what they normally display.

All specimens are special in their own way.

Most locales have very similar traits, normally slight differences in shades of color.

This guy is 3 years old in this video, his name is "Apollo" and he is devouring a hornworm. He is at rest, so there are no signs of strong yellows.

Hornworms are perfect as treats, and they pack ALOT of juice! Great for hydration and gaining a little bit of weight. Most hornworms at their largest size (3.75-4 inches long) in their larvae stage hit 10 grams! The color of them are appealing to Panther chameleons. Their soft skin allows the keeper to be confident with the size of the worm. I am most comfortable feeding the largest larva only to adult male Panthers.
So, in this case, the rule of thumb (no feeder bigger than the width between their eyes) can be broken. The horn on the worms butt, CANNOT HARM your animal. Its simply a piece of skin for defense mechanism purposes.

I usually only tong feed the large hornworms, because as the worms get BIG, (2.5 inches + in length), their feet are very strong at gripping vines. So the worm would actually be strong enough to NOT let the chameleon reel it into its mouth. Which is NOT healthy for their tongue's muscles.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Panther chameleon
• Goliath hornworm
• tomato hornworm
• tobacco hornworm
• catepillar pests
• hornworms
• hornworm pods
• silkworms
• feeder bugs
• insects
• chameleon eating
• chameleon shooting tongue.

[adamkwas]

Beautiful Mitsio! Did you get him from Tiki?

[Care4URchameleon]

No I did not. This guy is "GT3" which I renamed to "Apollo". He is found on Screameleon's project page.

[amaljeevan]

This is the most beautifull nosy mitsio on youtube.

I have a young (6 months) nosy mitsio myzelf but he is dark green. Does he turns to lime when he gets older?

[mriceman0619]

what plants are you using?

[octavian300]

mitsio's are so beast. wish i had the money for one.