Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey Everyone,

Was wondering what your thoughts were on using supers as a regular part of a beardie diet? Along with greens, crix and other stuff do you believe it is ok to use supers daily? I did a search to see if this had been asked before ( I am sure it has) but the new search tool gives results from all the forums and this is beardie specific.

PS. any of my old beardie buddies still out there? Didn't recognize but a few names

Peace!
K

If you go down about 10-11 posts someone else asked and got a few answers. Maybe this will help you??

I use them instead of crickets. I feed them every other day tho. Don't want them getting to obese. he, he.

It's ok as long as the beardie is an adult. Be aware though that supers have more phosphorus than calcium. Since the calcium powder doesn't stick to them very well, you have to make sure that the other part of their diet is high in calcium and low in phosphorus.

Also, when feeding large amounts of supers at one time, beardies can get constipated. The heads of the supers aren't digestible and can build up in the intestinal track of the beardies.

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons

Okay Chris,, you broke into my thick head. LOL (thanks for the search suggestions)

I thought that by replacing crickets with them (5 a day) along with the pellets that that would be fine. From what I've been hearing, perhaps since the pellets claim to be all they need, than the Supers should only be given a couple times a week rather than daily. I haven't had a problem so far but it's only been this year that I have been doing it so I have no idea what the long term affects would be. The daily offering of them "could contribute to fatty liver disease" Especially in the confines of a cage.
No one knows the exact amount which can be safely given because too many other factors are in play.
So,, with that said and read, I personally am going to cut back to maybe, 3 per adult, 2 or 3 times a week.
I'll watch the weight and overall appearance of them and go from there. If they can keep the weight up with that schedule, I can't see it being anything other than beneficial to limit them to a couple times a week !!!!(AS LONG AS THEY ARE EATING THE PELLETS TOO)!!!!

Joel R

Could just use silkworms instead of both crickets and superworms. Silkworms are much better than either though a little more costly to keep unless you have a good supply of mulberry trees (or are they a bush?)

its a tree... probably for as many dragons as joel has to feed silkworms might be costly, then again im not sure how many dragons joel has =P making assumptions here...doh...but yeah, i have been feeding silks for over a year now and nothing beats them, they get huge too, big fat 2 inch softbodied worms that the dragons just love, "less feeders, not less food"...its true tho, just 2-3 of those will fill a belly, but the fat content isnt that of the supers mind you, although they are very high in calcium

only real drawback with silkworms is how messy they are to eat sometimes.....contemplated making a bib for my dragon after the 10th time he dribbled worm guts down his beard and chest.

slimy green worm guts... so very yummy..

You can see the great info that was replied from my post on "Supers as a Staple?"

I asked the question because I'm looking for an alternative food to replace crickets. I am going to use Supers but just as a "every couple of days" food. I have a Lobster Roach colony that is off to a great start and I'm also going to start using Silkworms. I figure I'll keep all three bugs on hand because my dragons would wipe out my roaches before the colony is built up.

This is in addition to the greens and dry food that they all ready get.

Good luck

mulberryfarms sounds like it could help you make a colony. They sell silkworm chow that has mulberry leaves in it plus its a great gutload. Plus I did notice that prices are real low. What do you guys think, does anyone use the stuff? What would I have for a kit to raise silks?
thnx Tito

I use the mulberry farm powdered leaves and it is easy to prepare, easy to store and lasts for over a month in the fridge after cooked (the powder is good for about a year in the fridge). Another bonus is it gives off a rather pleasant scent when cooked so it is very 'parent friendly' as it doesn't have the stink crickets sometimes can produce (pick out dead crickets out of the container they are in...they really stink when they start to rot...found that out the hard way...had a few dead ones hidden under a piece of egg carton..very smelly getting them out...but explains why my container of crickets was really starting to smell rank when normally it hardly smells).

I haven't tried raising worms from the egg yet but plan to breed my own or at least give it a shot later this year. Keeping the worms themself is very easy. Just place all the worms on an intact egg carton or coffee cup holder. Since silkworms grown in captivity don't move around all that much, 90% of the time, they will still be on that carton the next day. They also have good grips so you can easily turnthe carton upside down and let all the poo fall into the bottom of the container, then just dump and rinse out the container (just make sure you pick out the few silkies that may have fell off the carton) and put the carton back into the container.