Gregg M
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The "un-natural" chemical is infact a very natural hormone produced and utilized
by certain species of parasitic wasps. Technically speaking, "Parasitic Wasps" are not actually parasites - they are parasitoids. This is because a true parasite is something that lives at the expense of its host but doesn't actually kill it, whereas parasitoids nearly always kill their host...
The female wasp will inject the venom, the egg, and the hormone into a beetle, moth, or butterfly larva. In some cases the larva is totally paralized and in other cases, the larva is still active, will feed and function normally but will never pupate. Instead, the larva will continue to grow to abnormal sizes. That is until the wasp larva mature and eat their way out of the host larva.
So the hormone used to hault the pupation stage in the king or giant meal worm is the same used by the wasp and it is only effective in insects in the larval stage... It will not affect your gecko or other insectivorious reptile...
by certain species of parasitic wasps. Technically speaking, "Parasitic Wasps" are not actually parasites - they are parasitoids. This is because a true parasite is something that lives at the expense of its host but doesn't actually kill it, whereas parasitoids nearly always kill their host...
The female wasp will inject the venom, the egg, and the hormone into a beetle, moth, or butterfly larva. In some cases the larva is totally paralized and in other cases, the larva is still active, will feed and function normally but will never pupate. Instead, the larva will continue to grow to abnormal sizes. That is until the wasp larva mature and eat their way out of the host larva.
So the hormone used to hault the pupation stage in the king or giant meal worm is the same used by the wasp and it is only effective in insects in the larval stage... It will not affect your gecko or other insectivorious reptile...
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