Wax Worms Vs. Meal Worms

[BeardieGuru8]

what are the best things to feed your baby beardie, are wax worms or mealworms better? Im looking to buy them online, and do you think that if i purchase those and crickets that they will be able to survive the trip, or am i going to get half of them dead by the time i get them? But i do want to know which one he would eat more of, wax worms or mealworms, please let me know, thanks!

Brock and Brutus

 

[MIssAnn]

Please dont feed your beardie Mealworms. Mealworms have something called chitin from their exoskeleton and a baby beardies stomach cannot digest it properly and can cause impaction. You can feed baby beardies small crickets just make sure they are no bigger than the space between their eyes for safety measure. Wax worms are very fattening and usually are only feed as a treat. I order my crix from flukerfarms.com and have never had may die offs. They will also ship overnight and have good prices. A good place to go for information about beadie care is http://www.beautifuldragons.com. Lots of good info there. Also don't forget to feed your baby greens like collards, mustard etc...It may take a while for him to warm up to them but he will. Hope this helps some.

 

[mtiller]

Hi how are you
If I'm not mistaken, I believe meal worms may cause impaction because of their higher chitin levels. A much better alternative would be ordering superworms. The only issue with that is they would be entirely too large for a baby beardie. For an older beardie, I'd say superworms are a sure bet.

Now waxworms on the other hand, due to their small size MAY be alright depending on how small your baby beardie is. I believe waxworms have high fat content so they wouldn't be suitable as a staple, only as a variation in the beardie's diet. My best suggestion to you would be to invest in pinhead crickets or half inch crickets. I order my beardie's food from http://www.premiumcrickets.org and have been highly pleased with the service I've received from them. I highly recommend you order from them. Their crickets have a low mortality rate in my experience, as I have yet to receive crickets containing large or even small amounts of dead crickets.

 

[Embee]

Indeed, avoid mealies, and waxies only as a treat.

Another wonderful "baby food" are phoenix worms. http://www.phoenixworms.com They are small, full of nutrition and in particular, calcium (no need to dust with calcium, but can dust with vites [1-2 x per week]). Most beardie's LOVE them, and you serve them on plate or low sided bowl which is nice... they wiggle a lot, but are also easy to catch and maintain in the viv. :mrgreen: All that natural calcium is wonderful for a growing beardie. We feed a combo of crickets and PWs (our beardie is 8+ inches, and has been eating the medium size PWs since she was 6 inches or so). We feed PWs in the viv (the bowl makes that easy), but opt to feed crx in a separate container as it keeps the viv much cleaner (the little poopers :twisted: ).

In addition, PWs are extremely low maintenance. No need to feed, and they last a long time in their little cups ( keep in cool room [but not fridge, too cold there]). Phoenixworms.com does not charge for shipping, and sends them priority mail so you have them in a few days time.

Here is a thread that is worth reading if you're interested in feeding PWs (it's a good FYI, and Dr. Phoenix himself weighs in, very informative):

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=98632&hilit=

Aside from that, this is where I usually attach the beautiful dragons food resource sheet, but I see MissAnn has already done that.

The best,
Em

 

[BeardieGuru8]

another thing, is that once he is done eating, should i allow the crickets to stay in the cage, or should i remove them and place them in whenever i feed him. i noticed that likes to eat whenever i put them in the cage instantly.

Brock and Brutus

 

[mtiller]

It is best to remove all food items if your beardie has not consumed them after 15 minutes. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I've heard that crickets, mealworms, and superworms may do damage to a beardie causing bites, etc. while beardie's sleep. Even if that isn't true, it must be aggravating having your food items crawl all over you different times of the day :lol:

 

[Embee]

Yes, do remove all crickets after mealtime is over (10-15 minutes). Crickets WILL chew on beardie and can also be a source of stress. Worms, not so much... but feeding times in general should be rather "set" so that beardie isn't eating throughout the day. They need to bask after eating for 1 1/2 -2 hours, and if you leave food in and they "nibble" it's then difficult to determine when it's okay to do things like handle beardie, bathe beardie... anything out of the enclosure. Also, you don't want them eating anything at least 2 hours before lights out, as you don't want beardie going to sleep with undigested food in his/her belly.

Hope this helps!

Em

 

[eruantalisse]

There are special feeding tweezers which can help you to feed the beardie. In this way, you know what he eats and there will be no crickets left. Make also sure that you keep a small bowl of water (a deep bowl but with a really thin layer so your beardie cannot drown in it) and some greens in the tank during the night. Any left over crickets will try to find the easiest food source and they cannot swim. The water will make a great cricket catch. Remove the water in the morning and replace - if you want - with a fresh bowl of water for your beardie. The advantage of the night is that it is cooler, so the water will damp only slowly and not overmoist the tank.

As for worms: I would rather go for butterworms, phoenix worms or silkworms. Relatively low in fat (especially silk worms) but high in proteins and easy to digest as they do not have the chitin shield.