Actully these drop better loot then that. Maybe they changed it but I have been getting 3-11sp each and chests give around 13-24sp. at lvl 24 most are green, a few gray and blue. After about 1 hour of smashing them with no problem i left with about 5gp.
These creatures always come in packs of 2 or 3. So expect to fight more then 1 if you attack 1. good thing about it is each will drop a bag of gold(1-3sp) and then you will get a small chest(3-6sp at least) Good exp and cash for a group of two 17lvl players.