Types of worms

fkgomez

New Member
Hello,

I have a 6 month old panther chameleon... I want to start feeding him worms... Does anyone know the different nutritional values and benefits of all the different worms...

silkworms, super worms, mealworms, wax worms, hornworms, butter worms

My regular feeders are crickets gut loaded with diff veggies and dry goodies... I dont want to give him worms that have a hard shell...

Thanks
 
Super worms and mealworms have hard shells and are mostly fat and chitin or shell. So they aren't that good for our babies. Hornworms are mostly water and calcium/protein so they are awesome for keeping the little ones hydrated and healthy. Silkworms supposedly are more nutritional than hornworms from what I have heard, haven't done any research on them and can't right now (if no one answers by the time I get home I will respond with an answer on them) but they are awesome and good for the little ones, they just tend to be more upkeep than other worms. Phoenix worms, which you haven't mentioned but should know about, are FULL of calcium and are great as a treat and don't need to be dusted. Butter worms are high in fat but also high in calcium so are treats only. Wax worms are a no in my opinion because they are pretty much only fat.

I totally agree with you in expanding your horizon I would go with hornworms and phoenix worms, silkworms too ^^.
 
Here's some info I found

Fat Calcium Phosphorus Protein
Silkworm 43 0.5 0.6 54
Mealworm 60 0.1 1.2 37
Waxworm 73 0.1 0.9 27
Butterworm 73 Highest 0.9 27
Cricket 44 0.2 2.6 50
 
Silkworms are awesome "regular" feeders. They have great nutritional value and chameleons usually love them. They are very appealing to chameleons eyes and are good at breaking hunger strikes. They are a pain in the neck to care for though. They also don't bite which is another plus :D
 
Chameleons should get some insects with harder shells as part of their normal diet, to act as roughage. Only feeding soft gooey worms is ok, but they shouldn't be the only thing. Don't be afraid of feeding a few superworms as variety, they last forever and chameleons love them.

You can also look into starting your own roach colony. They are meatier than crickets, gutload super well, don't smell or chirp, and are so easy to keep amd breed (so, cost effective too.) I keep 3-4 species and use them as variety that I always have on hand.
 
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