Hi,
No, the hornworm cannot "chew through her body" even though she didn't chew it, that's another wonderful "internet myth". The biggest issue with giving a baby dragon a hornworm is that even a size-small hornworm may be far too large for her and it may either cause her to choke, or since she managed to swallow it, if it's too large for her it may cause a bowel impaction. That's why you should never, ever feed her ANYTHING that is larger than the space between her eyes. That's the rule for feeding her any live insects, never feed her any insect that is larger than the space between her eyes, this will ensure that she doesn't choke on it, and that her gastrointestinal tract is able to properly digest it and it won't cause a bowel impaction.
Hornworms are a good "treat" insect for Bearded Dragons (again, as long as the hornworm you give her is smaller than the space between her eyes), but they are not in any way a "staple" feeder insect, meaning something you can feed her every day as her source of food. The only daily staple feeder insects that are appropriate for Bearded Dragons are Crickets, different species of Roaches including Dubia Roaches, Silkworms, and Phoenix Worms/BSFL/NutriGrubs/Reptiworms/Calciworms (all the same thing, just different brand-names). That's it. Superworms can be fed as a supplemental staple feeder insect, as long as your only feeding 1-2 to your dragon a day, and only in addition to the bulk of her live staple feeder insects being one of the ones I listed above (YOU CANNOT FEED YOUR BEARDED DRAGON ANY SIZE OF SUPERWORMS UNTIL SHE IS AT LEAST 14" LONG, SHE WON'T BE ABLE TO PROPERLY DIGEST THEM OTHERWISE, SO THEY ARE NOT A FEEDING OPTION UNTIL SHE'S CLOSE TO A YEAR OLD). As far as appropriate "Treat Insects" for Bearded Dragons, they include wax worms, hornworms, and butterworms, but these should only be fed occasionally, a few per week. Please do not feed your Bearded Dragon any mealworms at all, they have no nutritional value to them at all, they are mostly fat (a lot of dragons die very young from Fatty Liver Disease due to their owners feeding them mealworms as a staple feeder insect), and the biggest issue with mealworms is that they consist of a very hard, chitlin shell that Bearded Dragons do not have the proper GI Tract to digest, so they are a main cause of bowel impactions and obstructions in Bearded Dragons. Some people feed them to their dragons as an occasional "Treat Insect", but i really don't see the point, as there are several more nutritional, safer "Treat Insects", such as hornworms, that actually have some nutritional benefit to them, like hornworms being a great source of extra
hydration.
