Phoenix worms dead? And Dubia storage question

[jenneelk]

My dragon will eat any phoenix worm I put in there.. moving or not. My question is.. the dark ones I know mean they are possibly preparing to change to a fly, but do they always stop moving then too? I can't seem to tell if one is dead or alive when dark, and if dead is it bad for my dragon? With my last batch of 300 he ate every single one and I just started realizing that some could have actually been dead.

Also.. I am SO done with smelly crickets and don't want to reorder my 200 again. I have a 10 gallon glass tank with a screen and also my old 30 gallon glass with screen, and a plastic bin from Costco my crickets are in. Which of those would be best to use? I plan to put a heating pad underneath whichever one I do unless it's the 30 because I figure it's too heavy for to sit on the pad. Any good recommendation on where to buy the starter colony? And how many should I buy for my guy to eat since I won't have many for a while. He eats about 20-25 medium crickets right now and he's 5 months or so, 11 in. long.
thanks!

 

[jenneelk]

Well nevermind about the dubia question.. found out Dubideli is in my city so I'll likely not bother with breeding and just pickup local.

Still curious about the worms question though since I had a lot of dark ones in my last order.

Just found out reptiworms.com is only an hour from me so going to try them this time and hope not so many are dark and non moving.

 

[SouthernCritter]

The darker ones are more nutritious than the white ones so always try to feed them off before they die. I used to sit and stare at them in a bowl to see if they move, the darker ones do move slower I've noticed. Staring at them got old quick. Now I just go by feel of them. Dead ones are flat or hard.

 

[jenneelk]

Some of them were like that.. Hard or flatter.
Do u think they harm if dead?

 

[unkempt1]

Some of them were like that.. Hard or flatter.
Do u think they harm if dead?

It's best not to feed dead stuff to your dragon as a general rule of thumb. As long as his behavior hasn't changed you should be good, but for future reference I'd make it a habit of just feeding live stuff to be safe.

 

[jenneelk]

Yes I will be for sure.. Just wasn't sure about the ones already done. Couldn't tell if they were dead or not.
I found reptiworms.com who is an hour from me and my first order with them had no dark worms all. I know the dark have more nutrients but I don't want to guess anymore if they are dead or not.

 

[unkempt1]

I found reptiworms.com who is an hour from me and my first order with them had no dark worms all.

People that live close to a national supplier must be born lucky. :lol:

 

[jenneelk]

Haha! Yes I felt pretty happy! Next day delivery is great.

Dubideli which is pretty popular is in my city 15 min from me. But no local pickup.
California Central Valley is good for growing bugs.. Nice and warm!