Best Worms

[scucci]

I'm trying to decide on the best worms are for my beardie? What do you recommend? Phoniex, Mealworms, superworms?

I want to find a good staple live food that isn't too difficult to take care of. BTW - Roaches are out of the question, my wife would kill me.

 

[Claudiusx]

Definitely not mealworms.

Best worm imo is silkworms. then come butterworms, and BSFL aka phoenix worms/reptiworms/calciworms.

-Brandon

 

[Sherri]

Definitely not mealworms.

Best worm imo is silkworms. then come butterworms, and BSFL aka phoenix worms/reptiworms/calciworms.

-Brandon

Exactly what Brandon said :mrgreen: Exactly in that order. Especially if you plan on ordering them live and not breeding any.

Silk worms have all other worms beat with their medicinal like qualities and other nutrients. Keep at room temp. and no gutloading req'd.

Butterworms are the highest in calcium. Keep in refrigerator. No gutloading req'd.

Phoenix worms are high in calcium, but not as high as butters.Can be kept at room temp. but keep longer if kept between 50°-60°, so not in the fridge, but in a wine cooler

They will be expensive to feed a growing beardie, so if you are prepared for that and can swing it, you will be very happy indeed

I was prepared to spend a good $200 per month to feed my beardie Reptiworms, but my guy hated them LOL

Variety is best anyway, so if you just keep a mix of those 3 on hand your beardie will be very healthy :mrgreen:
You can throw in an ocassional Hornworm as well!

Superworms are cheap, and you get what you pay for lol. They are high in fat and their calcium to phosphorus ratio is not the best so I would not want them as a staple, although many people here have done so and still do

~Sherri

 

[hicksorganics]

Superworms are cheap, and you get what you pay for lol. They are high in fat and their calcium to phosphorous ratio is not the best so I would not want them as a staple, although many people here have done so and still do

~Sherri[/color]

This just caught my eye, and I wondered: is this possibly the reason that Fluker's makes the calciumhosphorus supplement?

 

[scucci]

Do you feed your dragon silkworms everyday, or do you have a schedule? If so about how many per week do you feed your beardie?

 

[Cinder9]

Butterworms are pretty expensive followed by reptiworms. In my opinion reptiworms are best not because theyre healthier but because they are more affordable and still contain an excellent amount of nutrition.

 

[scubasteve25]

fight the roach issue, the money saved speaks for it's self, my colony has already saved us at least 100$ since we started feeding out of it. took me months to get my OH to let me do it, but you can't ignore the savings.

 

[Claudiusx]

A bit off topic but I just realized that OH means other half lol... I think. I agree, dubias are a good choice, but if money was not an issue and I could feed my babies anything in the world, it would be silkworms. They are a great staple you can use them alone, you don't have to have a schedule with them.

-Brandon

 

[scubasteve25]

silks are cool, idk, i had a bad experience with the last order of silks i had, 3 full cups went bad. molded over and all the worms turned black and died.

 

[Sherri]

silks are cool, idk, i had a bad experience with the last order of silks i had, 3 full cups went bad. molded over and all the worms turned black and died.

Agreed. They are the healthiest worm and also the most difficult to keep. Not that there is anything to do for them, you just need to keep everything that touches them sanitary...very clean :shock:

But if I had $300 per month or so to spend on food for my one dragon......I would do those 3 worms all day long! LOL I don't spend that on our human family of 3 LOLOL :mrgreen: Again, I would if I could lol.

All that being said, if you were going to feed worms you may want to consider breeding them, no sense in sort of wasting money unless the breeding is just out of the question.

Another thing to consider is your dragon. He may night like certain worms, or even like them for a while and change his mind at some point. They do get tired of the same ole at times. Variety is best and adding other bugs such as dubias is a great way to keep your dragon interested in different foods.

Our Razz hates silkworms. When I got them (twice) he ate 2 the first day they came and then none. 2 whole containers just went bad uhg. He also did not care for Reptiworms...*sigh*. So you want to get small amounts at first to see how well your dragon likes them :mrgreen:

~Sherri

 

[scubasteve25]

yeah, allie hated reptiworms, tolerated silkies, and loved hornworms, she ate up micro supers like they were filled with beardie crack tho. and after spending 40-50$ a week on feeders, i talked my girl into letting us keep dubias, she wont touch them, thats the only rule. allie loves them, they are low maintnance, and if i never told anyone they were here, nobody would ever know. altho they might question why i have 2 large rubbermaid tubs with mesh screens in my closet.

 

[Vermundor]

silks are cool, idk, i had a bad experience with the last order of silks i had, 3 full cups went bad. molded over and all the worms turned black and died.

I also had a bad experience with the silkworm cups. I keep them in a bin with needlepoint and feed them off the rest of the food in the cup by grating it on top of them. After the food is gone, I use the mulberry leaves which don't mold and are free where I live. If you have a mulberry tree near you, I'd suggest you try getting them again, with or without the food cups. They do much better in bins as long as you don't touch them with your hands and clean their food.

Reptiworms are good as well, but they're so small I find that buying less silkies for the same price is better since they're a lot bigger.

 

[littlesavedgirl]

silks are cool, idk, i had a bad experience with the last order of silks i had, 3 full cups went bad. molded over and all the worms turned black and died.

I also had a bad experience with the silkworm cups. I keep them in a bin with needlepoint and feed them off the rest of the food in the cup by grating it on top of them. After the food is gone, I use the mulberry leaves which don't mold and are free where I live. If you have a mulberry tree near you, I'd suggest you try getting them again, with or without the food cups. They do much better in bins as long as you don't touch them with your hands and clean their food.

Reptiworms are good as well, but they're so small I find that buying less silkies for the same price is better since they're a lot bigger.

So this past week I ordered from Mulberry farms a big eater snack pack. One of the silk worm cups had been open in the box and I did write them but haven't heard back yet. There were a buch dead so I hope they will reimburse me.
Any who, the little black ballie things are poo? Silkie poo? Horn worms...more little black slightly larger then silky ballies, horn worm poo? How do I care for these feeders so they last? I'm keeping them on my AC vent so their nice and cool but looking for some education and please no mention of roaches... It's far to big a jump for me.. Maggots apparently not as repulsive to me. Funny what you learn about yourself about these things :shock:

 

[AchiKat]

you gotta keep the silks clean, clean the poo daily, scrape the poo off the food, and keep your hands clean while handling them, the horns are easier, just empty the poo every morning thats it. also mulberry should take care of you, one of my silkworm cups got crushed in transit, and on my next order they threw in my replacement.

 

[littlesavedgirl]

you gotta keep the silks clean, clean the poo daily, scrape the poo off the food, and keep your hands clean while handling them, the horns are easier, just empty the poo every morning thats it. also mulberry should take care of you, one of my silkworm cups got crushed in transit, and on my next order they threw in my replacement.

Well thanks for the care info. I just got an email from Mulberry Farms , their asking for a picture of the damaged container but it wasn't really damaged , just open. I'm not sure if they'll replace them now :? Bummer.