Regular Supers Were A Mistake

Ever since I got Ardie some regular sized (i.e. 1-1.5 in) superworms, he's gotten progressively less interested in Dubias until he's completely ignoring them at this point. >81

He's currently 5 months old and a pretty good size (he was nearly 150 g last weighing) but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to tough it out with him or not. I mean, I'd be fine with indulging his super phase if not for the fact I have about 200 roaches crammed into a plastic biscotti bin and it's a bit crowded for long term storage. He generally eats around 7-8 supers a day, well-dusted with calcium and he's warming up to hornworms. But I'd feel better if he could at least eat a few Dubias a day before cracking into supers.

And he's still sick of phoenix worms, at least the ones that aren't pupating; he'll immediate snap up a black one if he's hungry. But he loves bok choy so he's getting his greens at least.

Anyways, what do you guys think I should do? Should I stick with my present plan of leaving just dubias in a bowl for him and not give him any supers until he at least eats one of those or just accept my growing boy wants just supers now and hope he gets tired of them eventually?

Hello!

Superworms are generally a worm that beardies especially like the taste of. It's not uncommon that your Ardie has lost interest in dubias and is going for supers. This happened to me last year to my beardie Jaxy, but I withheld superworms and gave her others for a bit, and she eventually started eating other things (within a week). Yes, you should stick with your current plan.

SavannahDragons":2616l8is said:

Hello!

Superworms are generally a worm that beardies especially like the taste of. It's not uncommon that your Ardie has lost interest in dubias and is going for supers. This happened to me last year to my beardie Jaxy, but I withheld superworms and gave her others for a bit, and she eventually started eating other things (within a week). Yes, you should stick with your current plan.

Click to expand...

Okay, I wasn't sure with juvenile beardies since they're still growing, but hopefully that means he won't be able to hunger strike for more than a day. Just gonna monitor his weight in this case and give him ONLY GREENS besides his dubia. :twisted:

Poggerna":2qf9kq3w said:

SavannahDragons":2qf9kq3w said:

Hello!

Superworms are generally a worm that beardies especially like the taste of. It's not uncommon that your Ardie has lost interest in dubias and is going for supers. This happened to me last year to my beardie Jaxy, but I withheld superworms and gave her others for a bit, and she eventually started eating other things (within a week). Yes, you should stick with your current plan.

Click to expand...

Okay, I wasn't sure with juvenile beardies since they're still growing, but hopefully that means he won't be able to hunger strike for more than a day. Just gonna monitor his weight in this case and give him ONLY GREENS besides his dubia. :twisted:

Click to expand...

Supers are not ideal staple feeders for juvenile bearded dragons.
I never give to mine until they are at least 1 yr old , and never as a staple , only as treats ( max 1 or 2 at a time, maybe once or twice per week).

I've always got crickets , superworms and bsfl on hand as feeders for my BTs and bearded dragons.
And crickets , mealworms and superworms for my water skink(s).
Would ordinarily have silkworms on hand too , but with Sydney being a covid hotspot for most of this year, I've not wanted to risk ordering in regular parcels of fresh mulberry leaves so not been hatching any of my silkworm eggs to raise my own silkworms as feeders for the big skinks and dragons.

Poggerna":3m9s5hb0 said:

SavannahDragons":3m9s5hb0 said:

Hello!

Superworms are generally a worm that beardies especially like the taste of. It's not uncommon that your Ardie has lost interest in dubias and is going for supers. This happened to me last year to my beardie Jaxy, but I withheld superworms and gave her others for a bit, and she eventually started eating other things (within a week). Yes, you should stick with your current plan.

Click to expand...

Okay, I wasn't sure with juvenile beardies since they're still growing, but hopefully that means he won't be able to hunger strike for more than a day. Just gonna monitor his weight in this case and give him ONLY GREENS besides his dubia. :twisted:

Click to expand...

Your Ardie will most likely begin to eat after a day or two of hunger strike. Also maybe offer him more than just dubias during your attempt to relapse him of his insistence to superworms.

kingofnobbys":2cqe4lih said:

Poggerna":2cqe4lih said:

SavannahDragons":2cqe4lih said:

Hello!

Superworms are generally a worm that beardies especially like the taste of. It's not uncommon that your Ardie has lost interest in dubias and is going for supers. This happened to me last year to my beardie Jaxy, but I withheld superworms and gave her others for a bit, and she eventually started eating other things (within a week). Yes, you should stick with your current plan.

Click to expand...

Okay, I wasn't sure with juvenile beardies since they're still growing, but hopefully that means he won't be able to hunger strike for more than a day. Just gonna monitor his weight in this case and give him ONLY GREENS besides his dubia. :twisted:

Click to expand...

Supers are not ideal staple feeders for juvenile bearded dragons.
I never give to mine until they are at least 1 yr old , and never as a staple , only as treats ( max 1 or 2 at a time, maybe once or twice per week).

I've always got crickets , superworms and bsfl on hand as feeders for my BTs and bearded dragons.
And crickets , mealworms and superworms for my water skink(s).
Would ordinarily have silkworms on hand too , but with Sydney being a covid hotspot for most of this year, I've not wanted to risk ordering in regular parcels of fresh mulberry leaves so not been hatching any of my silkworm eggs to raise my own silkworms as feeders for the big skinks and dragons.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is true that superworms are not an ideal staple. I've been trying to figure out another staple, but superworms are the least expensive feeder after mealworms, and sometimes, price is an issue.

SavannahDragons":135ie3dr said:

Poggerna":135ie3dr said:

SavannahDragons":135ie3dr said:

Hello!

Superworms are generally a worm that beardies especially like the taste of. It's not uncommon that your Ardie has lost interest in dubias and is going for supers. This happened to me last year to my beardie Jaxy, but I withheld superworms and gave her others for a bit, and she eventually started eating other things (within a week). Yes, you should stick with your current plan.

Click to expand...

Okay, I wasn't sure with juvenile beardies since they're still growing, but hopefully that means he won't be able to hunger strike for more than a day. Just gonna monitor his weight in this case and give him ONLY GREENS besides his dubia. :twisted:

Click to expand...

Your Ardie will most likely begin to eat after a day or two of hunger strike. Also maybe offer him more than just dubias during your attempt to relapse him of his insistence to superworms.

Click to expand...

I only have phoenix worms, but he's pretty stubborn about eating only black ones lately, alas. I had silkworms before but he stopped eating them at some point and I had to give away the rest. I may see if I can get just a small amount of banded crickets from a local feeder store since no one else in my household is will to put up with potential chirping.

On the comment about supers being bad staples, I actually had gotten the regulars because he seemed fine with smalls without getting addicted so I thought a little dessert/snack would be good. And of course it seems bigger is tastier in this case. orz

Regulars also are more filling so that could be contributing, and Ardie tends to save space for his faves. Unfortunately, he went from being willing to eat a small handful to 2 to 1 to none over time. X'D

I wish live grasshoppers/locusts were an option here in the US, but I get why not.

I forgot to mention that Ardie will sometimes do a thing where it looks like he's about to eat the dubia, only for it to just be a lick. Anyone know what that means?

Poggerna":kafp5xzs said:

I forgot to mention that Ardie will sometimes do a thing where it looks like he's about to eat the dubia, only for it to just be a lick. Anyone know what that means?

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My beardies do that all the time, especially with vegetables. I think it's just a weird thing they do, and nothing to worry about.

SavannahDragons":1sxr20bo said:

Poggerna":1sxr20bo said:

I forgot to mention that Ardie will sometimes do a thing where it looks like he's about to eat the dubia, only for it to just be a lick. Anyone know what that means?

Click to expand...

My beardies do that all the time, especially with vegetables. I think it's just a weird thing they do, and nothing to worry about.

Click to expand...

Funny enough, Ardie happily chomped down a zucchini just after you posted this. :lol:

Anyways, little update that Ardie ate one (1) Dubia out of six from his bowl this morning and then wouldn’t eat anything else. I had a suspicion his lip shed was bothering him and that may be why he doesn’t want to eat dubias, even though he would react sometimes and taste them.

I helped him gently scrape off the one on his upper lip and maxilla (and he even opened up his mouth at one point to expose a small loose end), but today his lower lip was starting to drop its shed (and maybe a few more flakes from up top. A bit ago, he scraped most of the entire bottom left off, and I helped him take it off. I hope he goes back to enjoying his roaches after his lip shed is done.

Good news: Ardie ate 3 roaches on his own before I was up today, and then 2 more from my hand a little later! I rewarded him with a couple fat hornworms as dessert since they were getting big.

These are 1+" roaches, so I'm not 100% sure how many exactly is a good number, but he had eaten about 5-10 large ones at once regularly in the past. I'm still going to hold off on supers for another day or 2 to be safe on the detox, even if I'm sure the mouth shed was the issue, lol.

I'll just make sure he eats at least a few roaches a day before I give him a super or two as a treat (I only have one more hornworm presently reaching a good large size; the rest will need a bit more time).

That's great!!! I usually just feed my beards until they get less excited and I feel they've had enough. I hate lip shed, my beardies are always really irritated by it; that and eye shed. Yes, go slow on the supers so that Ardie won't relapse back into superworm strike. :lol: Yay! I'm so happy that he's started eating non-superworm bugs! And zuchinni!