Icky Earthworms!?!

[pepper]

Okay, so a month or so ago when Watson my tiger Sal. was small I tried to give him an earthworm, he tried to eat it for like 20 min. but it just kept wiggling and he gave up.

Well he's a lot bigger now and I gave him one yesterday and he ate the whole thing pretty fast.

Today I tried to give him one, and he bit it and instantly let go, and then FLIPPED OUT, he had his mouth open and was dragging it on the ground and shaking his head back and forth and proceeding to just act like he had been punched in the mouth.

Do earthworms give off some sort of fowl tasting something and what not!?

He acted so scared, I put a meal worm in front of him and he actually hesitated to eat it...but then realized it wasn't an earthworm and ate it...

 

[John]

Was it the red-ringed kind of earthworm? It takes some getting used to those before tigers will eat them due to the distasteful substance those worms produce. What are called "lobworms" or "Canadian Nightcrawlers" are what most people use for large terrestrial salamanders, and these don't usually pose any problems.

 

[pepper]

It's...these kind..

He was fine with it before, but it was this time he flipped out. Is this one of those that is icky tasting?

 

[John]

Yeah those are the red ringed king.

 

[Kaysie]

I've found that if you chop these first, then rinse them and wipe them with a paper towel, you can remove most of the yellow goo they secrete. Or, like John said, give 'em time. He'll get used to them. Mine eat them no problem.