Super Worms to the rescue!

[Creaturelover123]

My Jackson chameleon was on a "Hunger strike" . I was thinking she was getting bored of plain crickets. So, i went to the store and bought some Super Worms. When i got home i put some in her cage. When she saw one she came running and ate it! YAY!



I reconmend Super Worms for anyone's chameleon who on a "Hunger Strike"!

 

[Symbiot]

My panther is on a food strike eating only superworms at the moment. I would be very careful with them. Chameleons tend to get addicted to them quite easily.

 

[Hoj]

they do tend to love worms but beware after a few tastie worm it may harder than ever to get him back on crickets, sometime you just have to let them strike,
jmo

 

[hinoco1225]

My panther is on a food strike eating only superworms at the moment. I would be very careful with them. Chameleons tend to get addicted to them quite easily.

Agreed. Superworms are not good for staple feeders and should only be fed about once a week. They are not very nutritious, and they also have a hard outer shell that can cause impactions.

Silkworms and hornworms are better options for tasty feeders that are not as bad for chameleons. You can't usually find them in pet stores, but there are some great places to order them online (which is cheaper anyway). I recommend Small Pet Feeders. The owner, Dave, is a fellow forum member and a great guy.

www.smallpetfeeders.com

 

[Escalade]

Agreed. Superworms are not good for staple feeders and should only be fed about once a week. They are not very nutritious, and they also have a hard outer shell that can cause impactions.

Silkworms and hornworms are better options for tasty feeders that are not as bad for chameleons. You can't usually find them in pet stores, but there are some great places to order them online (which is cheaper anyway). I recommend Small Pet Feeders. The owner, Dave, is a fellow forum member and a great guy.

www.smallpetfeeders.com

so should I not give them to my 3 month old panther? I haven't yet anyway because they seem kind of big but the container says small...

 

[Hoj]

i would definatly wait till you belive he is big enough i didnt give my guys any till about 5-6 months, but i couldnt get any really small supers. and they r a fine feeder as a treat just not a staple. i use them once a week or so.

 

[Ace]

Agreed. Superworms are not good for staple feeders and should only be fed about once a week. They are not very nutritious, and they also have a hard outer shell that can cause impactions.

Silkworms and hornworms are better options for tasty feeders that are not as bad for chameleons. You can't usually find them in pet stores, but there are some great places to order them online (which is cheaper anyway). I recommend Small Pet Feeders. The owner, Dave, is a fellow forum member and a great guy.

www.smallpetfeeders.com

for the most part you are right, but they do not cause impactions, mealworms do, superworms are more "meatier" while mealworms is practically just shell(chitin)

you can make superworms a bit more nutricious by giving them some fresh furits/veggies along with the bedding they live in


in my opinion i wouldn't give superworms until 6 months old or when they are a decent size to eat 1-1.5in long superworms

 

[Creaturelover123]

Thanks! I have noticed that she is looking around for more worms! She has already ate all that i put in the cage. How many worms should i give her a day or should i not give them to her 1 a month?

 

[hinoco1225]

for the most part you are right, but they do not cause impactions, mealworms do, superworms are more "meatier" while mealworms is practically just shell(chitin)

you can make superworms a bit more nutricious by giving them some fresh furits/veggies along with the bedding they live in


in my opinion i wouldn't give superworms until 6 months old or when they are a decent size to eat 1-1.5in long superworms

Well fed in excess, supers can cause impactions too. I've seen it several times at the pet store where I work. I know they're meatier, but that doesn't cancel out the hard exoskeleton.

One of my customers only feeds his beardie supers and doesn't keep him on sand. And he's been impacted multiple times. So I know those are caused by the superworms. (And yet the guy still feeds him supers as a staple... )

 

[Ace]

Well fed in excess, supers can cause impactions too. I've seen it several times at the pet store where I work. I know they're meatier, but that doesn't cancel out the hard exoskeleton.

One of my customers only feeds his beardie supers and doesn't keep him on sand. And he's been impacted multiple times. So I know those are caused by the superworms. (And yet the guy still feeds him supers as a staple... )

hmm, well i dont really blame the superworms if the bearded dragon wasnt given proper supplements and no veggies either? he was probably unhealthy to begin wih and the constant superworms made it worse

technically if any hard exoskeleton can cause impactions, then wouldnt crickets, grasshoppers, and dubia roaches would cause impactions too? but in reality they do not. at least i havent heard or seen a case about it

 

[hinoco1225]

Thanks! I have noticed that she is looking around for more worms! She has already ate all that i put in the cage. How many worms should i give her a day or should i not give them to her 1 a month?

Personally, I have only bought supers once and I never offered more than two at a time about once a week. But that is airing on the side of caution. I'm sure you'd be fine to give a few more than that, but definitely don't offer them every day.

Tip about feeding them: anytime you see a freshly molted worm, feed it off! They will be an off-white color, and noticeably softer than the others. I personally feel like freshly molted worms are easier for reptiles to digest (I don't know that as a fact, but it makes sense to me).

 

[ataraxia]

I dont want to get into a debate on bearded dragons and impactions. the reason they become impacted is more than just eating meal worms or supers by themselves.

Proceed to use super worms with caution. If you choose to use them be sure to gut load them properly. Your chameleon will love these as you already know. Feed your normal amount of crickets/roaches and then later in the day offer one or two as a snack a few times a week if this is what you choose..

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/394-dry-gutload-recipe-january-2010.html

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/425-may-2011-gutload.html

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/443-superworm-substrate-gutload-one.html

 

[hinoco1225]

hmm, well i dont really blame the superworms if the bearded dragon wasnt given proper supplements and no veggies either? he was probably unhealthy to begin wih and the constant superworms made it worse

technically if any hard exoskeleton can cause impactions, then wouldnt crickets, grasshoppers, and dubia roaches would cause impactions too? but in reality they do not. at least i havent heard or seen a case about it

Yeah, I agree that not all exoskeletons cause impactions, but for whatever reason it seems more likely with supers than crickets, roaches, and locusts in my experience. Maybe a combination of the exoskeleton and the fattiness of supers makes them harder to digest overall? I know that my bearded dragon has a lot of trouble digesting really fatty worms, and I'm sure it's the same way for other reptiles.

I mean, I'm sure it could be related to poor supplementation/lack of veggies for that customer. I don't know how he supplements so I can't really answer that. *shrugs*

 

[hinoco1225]

Just to clarify, I don't claim by any means that superworms or mealworms alone cause impactions. I know that there are numerous other factors, but that still doesn't mean it's a good idea for the OP to feed supers every day even if they are doing everything else perfectly. I am only relaying information from my experiences so Creaturelover123 is aware that there are risks to feeding certain types of worms. Mealworms and superworms (in my opinion) are risk factors for impaction just like substrate, insufficient supplementation (including poor gutloading and lack of variety), dehydration, etc.

 

[Ace]

Just to clarify, I don't claim by any means that superworms or mealworms alone cause impactions. I know that there are numerous other factors, but that still doesn't mean it's a good idea for the OP to feed supers every day even if they are doing everything else perfectly. I am only relaying information from my experiences so Creaturelover123 is aware that there are risks to feeding certain types of worms. Mealworms and superworms (in my opinion) are risk factors for impaction just like substrate, insufficient supplementation (including poor gutloading and lack of variety), dehydration, etc.

i agree with you about overall superworms and mealworms shouldnt be used often

 

[hinoco1225]

i agree with you about overall superworms and mealworms shouldnt be used often

This is totally unrelated, but I've been meaning to tell you, I love your sig. Lol

 

[jcarlo17]

im just wondering up to how long would you let a chameleon continue on a hunger strike

 

[hinoco1225]

im just wondering up to how long would you let a chameleon continue on a hunger strike

Someone else please jump in if you disagree, but personally, I do not believe a reptile would starve itself to death if it has access to food. It's like a child who only wants ice cream - do you give in because he refuses to eat anything else? You shouldn't. Lizards can be pretty stubborn, but they can go a while without food, and you just have to hold out longer than they do. The vast majority of chams will eventually give in and eat the crickets.

That being said, roaches are a great staple feeder to try for a reptile that doesn't like crickets. I don't personally feed roaches right now, but I certainly would if it came to that with any of my reptiles. I hear that a lot of chams prefer roaches over crickets.

 

[Angrychair]

my veiled will only eat horn worms right now I have a 1200+ dubia colony with only 3 tarantulas and a frilled dragon feeding out of it.