Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would it be OK to substitute superworms/waxworms/silk worms for crickets? My dragons seem to like worms better then crickets anyway, and I was wondering if that would be OK. IMO it's much easier to keep a tub of superworms then crickets. First they seem to live a lot longer, and second they don't escape and get all over my house. I'd still supliment them and everything obviously. Just curious if anybody has an opinion if this would be OK or not. Thanks!

From what I have read.......silkworms are much better nutritionally than any of those other worms. I would not feed any of those other worms as a staple........not on a daily basis, nor a few times a week. I would just occasionally. For the silkworms I am not too sure about how they would be as a staple.......I do know some people have had good success with them though. Variety would be the way to go. Why not do some crix, some silks, some veggies, some pellets, and every now and then some recently shed supers as a treat? Feeding too many of those worms in the long run may lead to health issues. There are also other bugs as well if you have access to them that you can use. Chris

I know I've heard that mealworms aren't good on a normal basis because of the high chitin content, but I thought I had read in a few places that superworms would be OK. My main objective here is to try and avoid needing to keep crix on hand. They smell, they escape, and they die quicker then anything else I've tried keeping. I'll keep them if I need to, but I'd like to find an alternative. I wouldn't mind trying roaches, but my wife said NO to that one right away. Any other suggestions? I haven't tried silk worms yet, I'll order some of them and see how they like em.

Now, the other thing I haven't ever tried are the comercial pellets. Well, I used them for a sick baby I was taking care of once (he wasn't eating, so I mushed them up and force fed him - and he's doing much better now by the way), but I've never fed them to my dragons. Is there a certain brand that is better? What size pellets should I get (my dragons are all larger then 16"? Do I need to moisten them first, or just put them in dry, or maybe mix them in with their salad even...

still new here, guess I still need to search around a little. I know another forum I'm a senior member at I can edit stuff, but haven't been able to find that option here yet...oh well

To edit a post, just click on 'review message' before sending it, this way you can make corrections/additions etc. The review button is to the right of the post message button at the bottom of the message screen. Unfortuntately you can't edit a post after it ias been posted.

As to your earlier question, silkworms are a great stable. They have more protein, calcium and other nutrients than crickets but less exoskeleton. I have been feeding my dragon exclusively on silkworms the last two months without any problems. I do, however, continue to offer mixed greens every day. Silkworms are only a subsitute for crickets, not greens. I dust the worms every other day with mulit vitamines and calcium to ensure he is getting all the neutrients he needs.

I never had any success with the pellets, my dragon doens't care for them at all. He will starve instead of eating them. Other brands may be more acceptable to him but I really dont' want to waste more money buying other brands to find out.

the great thing about silkworms is that i can leave a few in his cage and not worry about them snacking on my dragon later on. Also, it wouldn't be that hard to place a cup of silkworms with food to hold them for a few days if I had to go away for a weekend (would rather have somebody come over and feed him than this, just in case the worms all die).

Despite the extra cost of silkworms over crickets, I am going to pretty much stick to them as the insect stable for my dragon. They are just so much easier to care for and even if I do drop one on teh floor, it isn't going to scurry underneath my fridge before i can catch him. (probably stay where I drop him all day).

Uh, wow. I've been looking around really quick at just a couple sites I could scrounge up before I need to leave for work (which is 10 minutes ago) to see the prices of silk worms. Are they really that expensive? I'm seeing containers of like 15-20 for $12... Is there somewhere I can order them in a larger bulk for less? How easy are they to raise? I'll have to do some more searching around when I get home tonight I guess...

They have them for less. However, they're out at the moment.

With the pellets RepCal brand seems to be one of the most recommended brands. My young dragons will eat them. My adults won't touch them. Since yours are adult size 16 inches I would go with the adult size repcal pellets moistened with a juice. I personally use apple juice, or Gatorade. This is great if you can get them to eat them. I started them on it by putting meal worms in a small dish with the small pellets. Well, they got trained that anything I put in the dish is edible and they will eat them alone, with the mealies, or even on top of their salad.

I did however stop feeding my adults live adult crickets. Their diets mostly consist of large variety salads, super worms twice a week (only a few), butter worms as treats and they actually love the Zoomed canned crickets. I never would have thought they would have liked them, but they do. I take them dust them like the live, and just drop them in front of their face and they love them. All my adults are very large, and heavy so they don't get many live feedings a week they do great on salads daily and 3 days a week live. Alternating the live foods. Some adults do require more live foods then this. Really depends on the weights of your dragons as to how much to feed.

My babies still go nuts on live crickets though. When the cricket size get up to a descent size that the adults will eat I might offer them instead of the canned. Just can't have the chipping. I live in an apartment now. My adults will not eat small crickets for some reason. Spoiled Good luck
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Mystical Dragons

First off, I don’t think you can edit your posts here on KS. This whole forum leaves something to be desired as A LOT of good information gets lost in how this forum works

As for the pellets, I tried to use the adult size RepCal pellets, but after you soak them, they are kind of hard for the dragon to eat when they are wet (pellets). I watched over and over as my dragons tried to eat them, only to give up and wander off in search of something less complicated. Since I switched to the juvenile pellets, they have had no problem eating them and can eat a large amount in a short time. All my adult dragons eat them with no problems. Just start off slow and make a gradual change from what you are feeding them now.

Good luck...

so with the juv. pellets you don't get them wet before feeding?

I only soak the smaller pellets for about 3 min in water tho. That still leaves them crunchy on the inside and I can always hear when they are having a snack

Here is the link for RepCal’s advise on changing over to pellets.
www.repcal.com/convert.htm

Good luck and let us know if you got any more questions...
Steve