Safe to feed superworms?

[Damieboo]

I ask too many questions in this board...

I have a 1 year old beardie named Baby for his unusual size at his age. He just stopped growing a month or two after we got him and has been this size for a good 4 months. He's healthy, always has bright colors and nary a single stress mark to be seen, runs around like a crazy lizard, and eats like a pig. He has a reptisun 10.0 UV light, basking temps range from 80 on cool side to 100 under his light (I let him out to run to cool off if he gets too hot) and I recently started giving him a bottlecap of water every day because he's a little water addict.

I moved out to the desert of California with my husband who's in the marines, and discovered there's only one pet store for the next 50 miles. And the pet store only carries superworms, mealworms and crickets. I was feeding Baby crickets until he stopped cold turkey on me and I can't get him to eat a single one anymore so I had to switch to giant mealworms which I know aren't the healthiest staple. And he's starting to look a little skinny which I blame on the low nutrition value of the mealworms. I should add his greens consist of bok choy, collard greens, pear, apple, banana occasionally, green beans on a rotated schedule.

I have two choices, superworms or continue with giant mealworms until we move to another base. But he's so little! I've heard you should never feed them superworms until they're over a year old which is when their intestinal tract straightens out, but he's still the size of a young juvie. Picture attached shows him next to my 3 year old female, who is 18-19 inches long. She's very big.

I can cut the superworms in half for him, but will they still be too big? I would order phoenix worms but they only last a week between the two and it's just too expensive to ship them way out here.

Thank you for your responses!

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Supers will be fine, but keep in mind they have a much higher fat content than crickets or giant mealworms

 

[Claudiusx]

Why can't you order feeders online?

-Brandon

 

[Damieboo]

They're twice as expensive as the superworms and only last a week versus the superworms, which last 3-4 weeks. At the moment I'm unemployed and we're stretched thin with bills, so I'm stuck with superworms or mealworms until we either move or I can find a job. I can try tough love and see if he'll eat crickets again, but...he's already thin enough and I don't want to risk him getting ill without any reptile specialists around.

Unless you're talking about a feeder other than phoenix worms? I plan on starting a colony of roaches when we move out and get a house, because at the moment I'm not allowed to have pets in our studio apartment so I have to keep their cages out of sight and any food in the fridge or cabinets in case the landlord comes over. Shh don't tell!

I did try cutting a superworm in half and it's slightly shorter than the space between his eyes, so if I get the go-ahead, I'll start feeding him that.