Cutting heads off super worms..

Hi guys,
I gave Ella super worms a while back but she didnt really like them. But, the other day I was thinking about trying some with Blaze, so I went to the pet store to get some. I know they arent very trustworthy and dont know what they are talking abot there, but I wanted to make sure. He asked what I was feeding superworms too, and I said a beardie, and he said that if I feed them to a beardie I have to cut the heads off because beardies have a tendency to swallow things whole and the sper worms can actually survive the stomach acid and eat through the stomach lining..

He then handed me a box of king size meal worms and said they are a safer choice. I put both containers of worms down and picked up some wax worms and crickets for her instead..

So, to feed supers, do I really need to cut their heads off??

I do not feed Pudgy superworms and only feed mealworms if it's a last resort. Mealworms have chitlin (exoskelton) that is hard for our beardies to digest and cause impactation. Get some silkworms and reptiworms from MulberryFarms.com. They won't steer you wrong! And very safe for your baby too.

Superworms probably will not be able to survive the environment in the stomach. Doing a quick search on google, it seems that they live between 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes in water alone, so in stomach acid I'd imagine even if they were eaten whole, the acid would kill it fairly quickly. Darwin is too small to feed superworms, so I've never had any first hand experience. I do know that a lot of people on this site seem to feed it, and I haven't heard of any dead dragons from superworms eating them.

Plus they can't really bite that hard. I've been bit often by supers and its really just a pinch.

Some people do cut the heads off, but it's due to the fact that it's harder to digest and reduces the risk of any kind of impaction. So long as you're feeding the right size of superworm to a beardie that is the proper length, you don't need to worry about removing the heads.

It amazes me how absolutely ignorant so many pet store employees actually are.

Thanks guys.

I know that alot of people here use supers as staples, and I never read anything about cutting their heads off. I'm glad I dont have too! Blaze is 20" and counting so I think supers would be okay for her.

Ha ha my biggest fear!! After seeing mine poop out LIVE repti worms after 17 hrs inside him!!!!!!! And the next day they were in him for 2 hrs and 4 came out wiggling I didn't think that it was possible!!! But I have a video of it!!!

I think the reason why the reptiworms come out alive [ I've seen another poster say the same thing, and that is odd !] is because in nature, they are laid and grow in a moist environment [ this is my theory ] and so the time in the stomach, even though it's a bit wet,doesn't kill them. I'm not sure why the digestive juices don't, but they must pass into the bowels quickly. Also, some dragons don't chew them at all, so they are swallowed whole. Superworms and mealies can't survive in any amount of liquid, even water .....so if you put them in a cup with even a tiny bit of water, they soon die. So I guesss that's what happens in the stomach.

Prouddragonmama":1zihno3t said:

Ha ha my biggest fear!! After seeing mine poop out LIVE repti worms after 17 hrs inside him!!!!!!! And the next day they were in him for 2 hrs and 4 came out wiggling I didn't think that it was possible!!! But I have a video of it!!!

Click to expand...

i dont know thats hard to belive send me a video through "pm" cause i dont think people would like seeing that.

Ha ha I actually posted it like a month ago in er I think it was something like "pooped out live repti worms"

I have been feeding some supers to my 2 yr old Ray. I cut the heads off just to be safe. Believe it or not, it's not that big a deal. LOL They do make a mess in the viv that way though because I have to drop them on the floor in front of him in order for him to see them. The things we do for our Beardies!

I fed supers as a staple to my beardie for the past six months at least and never cut the heads off.... He usually does a pretty good job of that on his own, anyway (can't tell you how many times he bit them in half and left part of it lying there squirming and oozing). But, it's not necessary at all. I pick up supers with my bare hands and have never been bitten, so I can't imagine that after being chomped up by a dragon that they'd be much able to bite or chew through anything.

Thanks everyone.

I probaly will see how Blaze eats the before deciding if I cut the heads off If she chews them up then I wont, but if she doesnt really chew and just swallows then I might just crush the heads just to be safe.

lol, im always so suprised that this urban myth is still out there, amazing. SUPERWORMS OR MEALWORMS CANT EAT THERE WAY OUT OF YOUR ANIMAL, PERIOD, END OF STORY!!!!!!!!!!!