superworm caution????

[O-Gonchothedragon]

hi i was just wondering, if supers are dangerous like mealworms, cause they both have hard shells.

TY :mrgreen:

 

[ilovepeanut]

Definitely feed them with caution. It's important to not feed superworms until your bearded dragon is at least 16" in length because the size and the hard shells.

My female just got through a traumatizing event of throwing up and trembling from not being able to properly digest those hard-shelled monsters. It was a disaster.
However, my larger male seems to do just fine with them. It really depends on the size of your dragon.

 

[vickson420]

I have been feeding Supers as a staple for quite some time to my adults.None have ever had any problems but as stated a beardie needs to be a minimum of 16 inches before you give them supers although I waited until they were at least 17 before I tried it and I did introduce them slowly just to make sure they were ok with them.I think that should be done with every feeder when introducing a new one not just supers.

 

[neecie]

I don't get it. If we all keep hearing that beardies need to be at LEAST 16" before introducing superworms, why do folks continue to feed them. Is there some attraction - like cheap, last a long time, no food, what?
Mine is 6 months old and gets all the other worms and crickets, but wouldn't take a chance of impaction.
Must be that I'm a doting mother with an only child...............oh beardie, I mean.

 

[O-Gonchothedragon]

ty 4 the replys, hes probably 16 in. or bigger, but a month ago (or more)he was having problems with mws, not pooping and pooping with shells in it.hes finally this week back to the normal pooping schedule.

 

[vickson420]

Oh thats good that he is back to normal.Yeah those mealworms are horrible and although supers look similar they just are not.They have far less chitin shell then mealies but since he had some issues not too long ago I would wait just a little longer or start very slowly with the supers just to make sure he can tolerate them.

 

[WAFisherman]

I started mine (gradually) on supers at 12 inches. She is a great chomper and chews them to bits before swallowing. I started out with only a few at a time, but now at 14 inches, they are a staple. I'm still waiting on my Dubia colony to establish. She eats plenty of greens as well. I mix in Dubias, silkies, PWs, BWs, HWs, WWs, and even did a F/T pinkie that my water dragon rejected the other day (oh and a feeder fish that was also regected by the WD). I bath her often and watch her temps religiously. With good temps and warm baths, she has been consistently regular. The only issue she has had was with silkies her poop was way too runny, so that's why I stopped using them as her staple. And I refuse to use crickets anymore. And supers are the food that my WD and beardie like the most (besides Dubias) in common.

But in general, it is best to err on the side of caution. And most of these care sheet 'rules of thumb' lean toward the conservative\cautious side as you would expect. Like the sand issue, some swear by it, others swear at it. But when it comes to making recommendations to newbies, it's best to err on the side of caution.

 

[beardie parents]

Our girls decided they didn't want to eat crickets and wanted superworms. Speedy chews very well and she can eat full size supers with no problems, this was at about 12+ inches. At that time she ate two or three supers. Zoom Zoom decided she wanted to eat supers also (she's just now about 12.25 inches long) she ate one with no problems but since both eat les of the crickets we called both of the places we order supers from asking them if we could get smaller supers. They could and did and we can now feed our girls superworms as a staple without problems.

Regarding the meal worms: 2 years ago when we first got her we fed Redrock mealworms without any problems. We only fed her 2 or 3 every day as a treat. This was when she was too small for superworms and we hadn't found this site. My husband said that you can look at them and notice they aren't very healthy.

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

I dont see to much of a prob with supers, yoshi at 1st had some digestive issues, just pooping out the occasional shell but after a few feedings it was just fine. At this same time he was on meds for parasites, so i dont know if that could have been a reason.

When i 1st feed him supers, i did it very slowly, 1-2 worms the 1st day, watch for poop, 2-3 the next day, watch for poo. etc, etc. . . untill he was in full swing.

I don't want to feed my girl supers yet, because i have about 1000 crixs that she needs to finish eating, since yoshi decided he didnt want to eat crickets anymore and now only wants dubia, and supers. . . spoiled kids, i swear!