Superworms Breeding in Beardie Tank???

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KatieKaneen

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So I've had something happen a couple of times in the last 2 or 3 months where I will drop a few superworms in a bowl for my bearded dragon, Saida, and then leave her to eat (she's not a fan of being watched while eating).
I'll come back either in a couple hours or at the end of the day and the bowl is mostly empty or all the way empty. I assume she ate what she wanted, so I take the bowl out. Now, the first time I found a pupating superworm in her tank underneath a rock, I freaked out because I've never seen that before. I put it in a pot with a plant outside because Saida didn't want it and I didn't want it to die/become a beetle in her tank.
The second time this happened was just today. I decided to look underneath her rocks and branches, and I found another pupating superworm. So I went further and checked underneath her water bowl, which is a small plastic storage bin with 2 sides cut down so she can climb in.
And guess what I found??? No joke, about 15-20 worms underneath it, about half pupating and another quarter preparing to. There's no way that many got out in the span of 2 or 3 weeks since she got a new tank. I'd say 2 or 3 got out of the bowl and started breeding underneath the water bowl because it's warm and slightly humid.
But where my concern lies is where are the beetles??? I checked all over the tank, overturned branches and dirt and didn't find a single one, not even a wing. Inside a little cup they live in outside the tank, I find black wings all the time, and I'm assuming the worms eat the beetles. Is that what was happening in her tank, or was she eating them herself??? What are the beetles and worms even eating in the tank??? It's only dirt in there, I don't leave fruit or veggies or anything. Are they eating each other??? I'm just very confused and wanted to know if anyone else has had this happen to them.
 

kyleena29

Sub-Adult Member
It takes quite a while for superworms to go through the stages. In 2-3 weeks there would be no way. It takes a couple of weeks to go from pupae to beetle. Then if a beetle lays eggs it takes a couple of weeks for them to hatch and they are super tiny when they do. It takes them a few months to reach full growth. So either they did escape the bowl or you had beetles/eggs hidden in décor from the transfer? Superworms will eat anything too, even each other, so if there were beetles then perhaps they ate them.
 

KatieKaneen

New member
Original Poster
Hi Kyleena, thank you for replying! I didn't expect one really at all, especially not this soon after posting.
Anyway, okay so it would take way longer than the couple of weeks the worms were in her tank for them to begin breeding and laying eggs. I didn't know that. But it's still very odd to me to find so many hiding underneath her water bowl and pupating. The only thing I can think of is when I left on a vacation with my boyfriend recently, I had my mom feed my beardie for me for about 3 days. She doesn't use the bowl a lot of the time, so maybe she let a few (quite a few if you ask me) escape accidentally? There were so many, that's the only reason I was concerned. I know that sometimes worms escape the bowl when I feed her and leave her alone, but it couldn't have been as many as I found, especially because I only give her 4 or 5 at a time and she normally eats them straight away (save for a straggler or 2). Extremely weird, but as long as there's no way they could have been breeding, I suppose it's all good. Thank you for the response!
 
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