@onism-and-rubatosis submitted: Okay, this one is a weird one. Is it, in your opinion, a Chilecomadia moorei? Context is, I’m in Quebec, Canada, and I feed my two geckos some butterworms. They both have semi-bioactive vivariums with real wood, soil, plants, etc, at the bottom. A month ago, my gargoyle gecko was diagnosed with parasites (that came from the previous owner) and I was instructed to empty out everything that couldn’t be washed. Because I had a whole clean-up crew in the substrate, I transferred it to several bins, including some pieces of wood and a lot of moss that were too fragile or impossible to wash.
So I got new isopods and they’re thriving in their bins. This morning, I get ready to do my rounds and my kitten who loves laying down and watching my isopods do their thing starts freaking out and violently hitting one of the bins, something she has never done before. I pull the bin out and there’s this little moth fluttering clumsily around, which was definitely not there last night. I take out a container and catch the little stranger, before checking from where he could have entered the bin. All the holes for ventilation are covered in two layers of mesh that are too small for anything to go through. That’s where my flashlight catch the glimpse of something weird sticking out of a piece of wood. An empty cocoon. So I collected it too, set it aside and tried to identify my new friend.
Now, you have to understand that the substrate was new from the store before going into my gargoyle gecko’s vivarium and that every piece of wood was carefully boiled and washed with vinegar before it went in there. Same with everything I put in my isopods bins, minus the vinegar. So this cannot be a local moth, unless they can survive being boiled.
Since my geckos had butterworms pretty often, I looked up what the adult looks like and...well, despite every source telling me butterworms are irradiated to avoid pupation, I think this little fluff is a Chilecomadia moorei. I obviously cannot release it because of how invasive and destructive it is so I’ll be caring for it until it dies but I’m stunned and everyone I asked is just as speechless as me!
Wow! That is slightly weird, but yes, that’s exactly what it looks like to me. Nature is sneaky so I’m not surprised that some of them still manage to pupate. That’s one of the problems with bringing in non-native feeders, you never know if they’ll manage to escape and establish themselves as an invasive pest. Hopefully other reptile owners are as responsible as you and realize they can’t be released!
