Superworms, Mealworms and Crickets

[PepNYC]

Ok everyone, before you all yell at me and tell me to do a search or look online...I've done that already. I just cannot seem to come to a conclusion as to what is best and need some advice.

Here's the situation. I have a 2 month old BD. He hasn't been eating his crickets so good so I tried small superworms. He loves them! They are a perfect size for him and he just gobbles them up. Now if I give him a cricket, he just looks at it. No interest whatsoever. He also eats his greens and carrots everyday. I've heard the superworms are good for him and my question is if it is safe to feed him the superworms rather than the crickets? I'd rather feed him what he likes. I want to keep the little bugger happy and healthy. I'd do the roaches but I don't think my wife would allow them in the house. Me and the roaches would be sleeping in the garage. Oh and as far as I can tell mealworms are a no no due to the high fat content and the hard shell which can cause impaction.

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Hi,

I think Superworms are also very high fat content and should only be fed occasionally, not as a daily staple. This link is a great guide to what you can feed everyday versus once in a while, versus never.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutritionframeset.html

If he's turning his nose up at crickets you could try Phoenix worms aka reptiworms - they can be fed as a daily staple - they are bit expensive. They are smart in that if you give them a cricket and they don't eat it, if they wait long enough you'll hand over the good stuff. Your guy has apparently trained you! I have the opposite issue in my house, our beardie loves crickets and is lukewarm on the phoenix worms. I make him eat about 10 worms before I hand over the crickets but he knows if he waits me out I'll pick the worms out of his salad and make him eat them and then he gets his crickets. Spoiled!

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

If your going to feed supers as a staple it needs to be rotated with another bug. I uses supers and roaches. Sometimes crickets but for the most part my adults wont touch them anymore. Supers have a high fat content. When you see a dragon fed soley on supers you just know it by the pear shaped gut....lol

 

[JayKittle87]

I agree with Grandma-- that website has a chart that is very helpful choosing food for your beardie

 

[PepNYC]

Thank you all for the advice. I'll take a look at that link. The thing with the repti worms is I cannot find them locally and I hate to depend on the mail for anything. I may just have to force him to do the cricket thing. Or...I might sneak some roaches in the house....shhhhhh. Are the roaches good for daily feedings?

 

[JayKittle87]

I would say no due to the lack of calcium in roaches. The crickets should be "dusted" with calcium and D3, giving them a balance of calcium, D3, and protein. Be sure to feed him plenty of veggies as well- sticking to just crickets will be too much phosphorus for your beardie. Here is an excerpt from the website that Grandma provided...

"Most live feeders are high in phosphorus, so the best way to level the playing field is to offer veggies with high Calciumhosphorus ratios. If you continually offer foods that are have more phosphorus than calcium then you could have problems later on. This is where a good calcium supplement comes into play"

The diet for an adult beardie should be 80% veggies/fruits and 20% live feeders.

Also check out these worms, if you are willing to get them shipped to you. They have a great Ca ratio
www.PhoenixWorms.com

 

[PepNYC]

I would agree with the 80/20 veggie to live feeders/protein ratio but he is a young one. Only 2-3 months old so protein is important for him now. As he gets older I'm told they switch to more veggies. I give him carrots and collard greens everyday as well with the crickets and I do dust them. He just doesn't like them. I think he's just lazy and doesn't want to run after them because if they come close enough he'll snatch em up. I mean he eats some, just not as much as the worms. One night he ate 5 crickets and 9 worms. Then the next day I tried just the crickets and he ate 3 and that was it. Little pain in the butt. Hes like my 6 year old. How bout Waxworms? I didn't see them on Grandmas list. They any good? Once in a while or daily?

 

[JayKittle87]

With the crickets, try squishing them with tweezers to paralyze them but don't kill them. They will still be wiggling on the ground, which entices the beardie, and cuts the necessary chase of them. Try to see if he likes this and still add some veggies in his diet, making him accustomed to eating them.

I'm not sure with waxworms, but they are probably high in fat. Crickets will provide the protein they need without all the fat that worms offer. I would say give it to him once in a while, but definitely not daily.

 

[PepNYC]

Ok, so when I squish them where exactly am I squishing? Mid body-ish? I was actually thinking of pulling one of the legs off. I know it's cruel but they'll still move, just not be able to run away.

 

[JayKittle87]

crush the top of the head and feed immediately. you could try to pull the legs off too- never tried that.

 

[PepNYC]

just one leg. That way if they do run, it'll be in a circle.

 

[PetLover16]

sounds like a good idea. or if your beardie is lazy(im not saying he is) or is the tank is big you could just put him in another box like a smaller one and put the crickets in there with him. this way the crickets have nowhere to hide or run

 

[PepNYC]

Yep. Tried that. He just sits there and watches them run around. And don't worry about offending me. He sure seems like a lazy arse to me. Lazy is as lazy does.

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Wow, you all better be careful or the cricket PETA people will be after us LOL.

I feed Joga in a separate bin that enables her to hunt down the crickets quite handily. I drop them in 3-5 at a time, some of them go under the towel I place on the bottom, she gets most of them as I shake them in. Then I catch them and put them in front of her as much as possible if they wander out of her line of sight. She was really lazy about a month ago and would wait for me to put the crickets right in front of her before she'd go after them. Now, she's like a ravenous alligator going after them and hunting them down, which is fun to watch!

I think waxworms are fatty like the superworms as well and only should be fed once a week or so.