New to this superworm thing...

[PonchoandDaddy]

Alright guys, I have a couple of questions regarding superworms. Poncho normally gets 1/4"-1/2" crickets. He actually prefers the littler ones, I think it boosts his ego that he can "tower" over them and nom nom nom lol! I normally get his crickets from a local reptile breeder 1000 at a time. I can only pick them up on a Tuesday though and we were out so I broke down and went to petsmart and got him enough crickets to get through the weekend. While I was there I got a thing of superworms because I feel bad that all he ever gets is crickets (live wise, he eats PUH-LENTY of salad). Well while I was waiting in line someone behind me told me to make sure I pinch the head off the superworms because they will bite Poncho. Is this true??

So then I get home with these nasty smelling creatures lol and just to be on the safe side I squish the head with the eraser of a pencil (ewww) and fed him ONE! It was all I had the stomach for lol! He gobbled it up like it was Christmas dinner. So when I was doing some research trying to find the answer to my first question I found that supers arent good for them until they are 16 inches. Poncho has a pretty severe tail nip, I'm not exactly sure how much is missing but I know it's quite a bit. He is about 8-9 months old I would say. The last time I measured him (earlier this month) he was 9.5 inches (remember the nipped tail) and 103 grams. I know he is even bigger now just by looking at him. Can he have supers if I just give him one or 2 at a time with his crickets? I will definitely keep an eye on his bowel movements to make sure those are normal and as frequent. I just wanna make sure I'm doing whats best for my boy. :study:

 

[ButterflyGirl89]

Definitely watch his bowel movements. Try to get a new measurement of your dragon, and pictures would probably be helpful. The reason supers aren't good for beardies under 16 inches is because of the kink is their digestive system that doesn't straighten out until about that length, usually. The fact that the superworms are long and have hard to digest chitin causes them to sometimes be able to get stuck in the kink, causing impaction etc.
9.5 sounds small for an 8 month old, but I'm thinking that unless your dragon is missing nearly all of his tail, it wouldn't be enough to add another 6 inches. Obviously it's harder to tell without a picture, but a "tail stub" would be a lot more dramatic than a "tail nip".
I work at PetSmart and at least at my store we only sell 1 size of superworms, which are usually about 1.5 inches long. If you can find baby supers, like the size of small or medium mealies, those might be ok. Otherwise I'm not so sure it's such a good idea, but hopefully more people will chime in on this.

 

[PonchoandDaddy]

Ok, one second...*10 minutes later* lol measuring a wiggly beardie is easier said than done..

He is 10.5 inches now....

annnd for a picture...

He says he is sorry for not showing you his pretty colors right now, he is a little bit upset with bathtime and the fact that he is not being held. He is veeery spoiled. lol

I realize he is a little small for his age. While his age is a very rough estimate. I've had him since the very beginning of november or the last couple days of October. When he came to live with me he was 7 3/4" long and weighed 53grams now just a little over a month later is is 10 1/2" long and 126 grams.

 

[Gail]

He is missing a significant part of his tail. He should be fine on supers, just feed 2-3 for a couple of days then slowly start to increase how many you give, making sure his is digesting them good.
You don't need to smash the heads. Supers can bite but he will chomp them up so fast its nothing to worry about and even if one did nip him, it won't hurt him.

 

[ButterflyGirl89]

His growth with you is right on track, since it should be about 1/2 inch a week. His growth was either stunted at his last home, though, or he's not quite that old. He's sort of small for 6 or 7 months, much less 8 or 9. He could be as young as 4 months at the size that he is. In my opinion he's probably not missing more than 3 inches or so off his tail, but I don't proclaim for that to be super accurate.
In either case, I wouldn't feed the supers that you currently have. But you could do one of 2 things:
--take your receipt with you and see if PetSmart will let you return them. Especially if they're all alive and you've only used 2 or so, sometimes the stores are cool about stuff like that. You can call ahead and tell a manager the situation and see if they'll let you return them beforehand just in case it saves you a trip.
orrr
--feed baby superworms. To do this you could either use the ones you bought to start a colony, using the step by step guide in the Feeders section. Then you'll be making your own superworm babies! Saves a little money, too.
--Or hunt down a store/site that sells the baby supers. I'm not totally sure but I think PetCo might sell "mini supers". Supers are healthier than mealies due to a tiny bit less chitin and more potein than mealies. But make sure you always dust with calcium since both are high in phosphorous, and just to be safe I cut the heads off of the ones I feed my 5 month old. (at 16.5 inches) There's a lot of debate over wether that's necessary or not, but she loves and devours em either way, so I figure I might as well be extra cautious.

 

[PonchoandDaddy]

I think he's just a little guy because his care was exactly the same in his previous home. I know for a fact he was very well taken care of. He has been in our family for about 7 months and he was about a month old when we got him according to the breeder. I won't feed him the supers. They give me the creeps anyways.