Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i heard one of the worms (( superworms, silk worms, wax worms, and meal worms )) you sould cut off ther head because they can eat its way out of a chams stomach..

is this true or not?

not yelling at you but i want to know who the keck started this stupid rumor....

now to your questions no worm can chew threw any lizards stomach because they either are sufficated,chewed to peice,or dye from the acid in the stomach before they can figure out that they need to do somthing too live.

Mealworms have been known to eat through the stomach of birds every now and then (not very often at all). This is probably why some people think that they can to a lizzard. Birds don't really chew worms up, just swallow them. The chances of the worm being alive in the stomach when eaten by bird are pretty good.
For large/super/king mealworms you may want to crush/cut off the head anyway. They tend to thrash a lot, and if your cham gets on by the butt instead of the head it could easily bite him/her in the eye or face. That, and they can bite you. They are nasty little buggers!
~Lindsay

This is a little off the subject, but I've read that you shouldn't use king mealworms as feeders because they're just regular mealworms that have been fed a chemical inhibitor that keeps them from progressing to adult beetles so they just keep growing bigger and bigger as larvae, and the effect the inhibitor has on animals that eat it isn't known. Superworms are ok, though. They're a different beetle that naturally grows that big as larvae.

from what i know kingworms and superworms are the same thing they are just synonims.

I also heard it is good you feed them slikworms, cuz the worms keeps making silk, and that acts like a wipe for their vent, keeping it clean

Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) usually grow to about 1 inch before pupating, however they can be fed a juvenile hormone that effectively keeps them in the larval stage and they can grow much larger. These are the "giant" or "king" mealworms. These are different than superworms (Zoophorba moriom) which naturally grow to 2 inches or more. Superworms have a dark head, tail and a band on each body segment and are not refridgerated because they take a long time to pupate, while mealworms are all yellow and are usually kept in the fridge to keep them from pupating.

I'm pretty sure this info is correct. If anyone knows different please respond.

Nick

I'm pretty sure that is correct. Superworms are usually roach larvae or that of some kind of beetle. I think. I haven't read much about them, because none of the stores even remotely close to me sell them lol.

This is nothing but an urban legend.

Look at it this way: if you watch a worm, silkwworm. mealworm, superworm, etc. eat, you know they can't eat very much or go very fast. In the stomach of a predator there is no oxygen, but there is plenty of acid. As chamsrcool said, those would get it before it had a chance to even take a bite. And that's assuming it survived the swallowing, which is doubtful.

I wouldn't worry about them eating through your chams. If this was the case, birds would be falling from the sky and lizards, as well as all other insect feeding creatures of all shapes and sizes, would be dying by the boatload.

The food chain was designed to handle these types of issues.
-----
2.0 Ambanjas 6 mos. - LESTER & SHOGO

birds don't eat super or king mealworms in the wild, because they exist due to human intervention.. they are givin hormones.
That and it doesn't ALWAYS happen. Also, have you never seen a dead bird on the ground? Do you know just how ALL of them die?
When we say "eat through the stomach" it only means that they can bite the inside of the stomach and cause severe damage. Not that they actually get out.

Superworms are zoophobus morio, a south american beetle. The larvae are 2" long, dark tipped, and move fast. The beetles are about an inch long, and produce a chemical defence that smells like burning plastic. They were first referred to in the reptile feeder industry as King Mealworms, Zoophobes, Morio worms,Super-mealwomrs, and, ultimatly, "Superworms."---they are NOT mealworms.

GIANT mealworms are the regular Tenebrio molitar, the grain beetle, MEALWORMS, that are fed an inhibitor to delay pupation. They are called Giant mealworms in every instance I have ever seen.

Superworms, Super Mealworms and King mealworms are Zoophobas morio.

Giant mealworms are simply that, giant MEALWORMS, Tenebrio molitar.

I have actually seen a superworm chewing through a lizard's stomach. It was an awesome flat rock lizard we had. the superworm had bored right into it----From the OUTSIDE.
HE had died, and the superworms, being the viscious things that they are dug right in. I suspect that's what happened in the urban legend cases. Chameleons chew, so it is not a problem. I could see it potentially happening to a sick frog or brid or lizard, but if it does, the lizard was on it's way out anyway.

Besides, have you ever seen what happens to a superworm when it hits water? Even a tiny bit in a bowl and they die. They wouldn't last a minute in the stomach of anything.

not yelling at you but i want to know who the heck started this stupid rumor....

now to your questions no worm can chew threw any lizards stomach because they either are sufficated,chewed to peice,or dye from the acid in the stomach before they can figure out that they need to do somthing too live.

thanks guys i feel alot safer feeding my cham knowing it wount be at risk.

The reason why i asked in the first place is because while i had my cham outside in his tree, he ate a "lubber" most of you prolly dont know what those are (they're common in Florida) they are these big huge grass hopper type things with a hard exo-skeleton,.. he munched it pretty good but them things are though, and it seemed like it was still alive inside of him... he wasnt to happy

Thanks agian!

P.S. for the longest time i been goin to petsmart to buy crickets, untill the other day a girl at work told me that they have silks, supers, meals etc. and i didnt believe her, but i asked at the store and turns out they got a refrigarator full of em!!!

for the longest time i didnt know pet smart sold worms...

okay im done