Worms

[BlaznLow]

I am super new to owning a lizard and it seems like there is so many different worms to choose from
I was told just to feed him crickets till he gets a bit bigger and I think its time to start feeding him worms.
Which worms should i feed him and how often? I cant seem to find a straight up answer to that

 

[Paradon]

How big is he exactly? He should be around 16 inch before you start feeding him superworms. Superworms are the easiest to get and OK in term of nutrition. i too would feed him crickets...since they are more easily digested because it has less chitin (exoskeleton). Silkworms also are great staple. they are very soft and so are very easily digested.

 

[Kalyn876]

I think a varied diet is the best one, really there isn't a set schedule to worm feeding.. A couple pointers would be:

Feed waxworms only as a treat- they are very high in fat content which can be a factor in fatty liver disease.
Superworms should only be fed to dragons 16 inches in length or longer. You can feed micro supers to juvies
Hornworms have a lot of water so don't be surprised if there is excess in the fecal sample.
Phoenix worms don't need to be calcium dusted but you still need to dust multivitamins.

Other than those few things have fun feeding worms!

Kalyn

 

[BlaznLow]

what about meal worms?

 

[Paradon]

Meal worms are a little hard to digest because it has a lot of chitin (exoskeleton)...

 

[Kalyn876]

And mealworms are very low in nutrition making them a very poor choice for beardies.

Kalyn

 

[BlaznLow]

hm ok cool thanks! that was a big help

 

[fiestyjess]

not to thread jack,
but why no supers for dragons under 16 inches? mine are 11.75 inches and 12.25 inches long, and i fed them some supers a cpl weeks ago(I never saw that I shouldnt before) and they appeared to have no issues?

 

[Paradon]

They can get gut impaction... Super worms don't have as much chitin (exoskeleton) as the meal worms but they are quite large and can cause impaction of the smaller bearded, under 16 inch. The young bearded have a kink in their intestine, but once they get older they can eat larger prey items without problems.

 

[BlaznLow]

hmmm interesting. i ordered 1000 crickets today (gotta try to keep them alive) and a dozen wax worms. see how that goes

 

[fiestyjess]

well, i didnt know that :-S Mine ate the crap out of them, but I guess I will count my lucky stars and not feed them supers till they are bigger

 

[Kalyn876]

As I mentioned above; you can feed juveniles micro supers, they are teeny little supers. I feed a couple every other day to my juvie and he loves them!

Kalyn