Phoenix worms

[Montee]

glad to hear. I'll throw them into the mix. I think I'll primarily feed the phoenix worms for the whole ease of management factor. Silkworms are also a bit more expensive than phoenix worms, which isn't really a problem but at over 3 times the cost per quantity It adds up (although as far as size goes 50 small silkworms may easily be the equivalent of 100 small phoenix worms). Also theres no local supply for silkworms so they would have to be purchased online.

[recycling goddess]

silkworms get larger than your phoenix worms... which does fill their belly faster. my critters all eat them... my chameleon watches me dealing with the silkworms and runs to the front of her enclosure waiting for me to open the door with a handful. i can't even set them down anymore, she eats them right out of my hand LOL

my anoles will eat them off my tweezers as do my firebelly toads.

with the leos... i had a bunch of driftwood in their enclosure as they loved to go up the driftwood and sleep on the top LOL (they also loved their hides) so i would hide silkworms all along their wood... all over their enclosure so they'd go hunting... i love watching them hunt LOL

my crested geckos and bearded dragons loved them as well.

if you go to some of the bearded dragon forums, there are usually quite a few people who can direct you to the closest available supplier. on the last page of my enclosure site... i have a link to some information and sites.

http://www.timelessspirit.com/enclosure.html

[Argentra]

Another crasher here

Wow, this thread has been really educational. I've had Dapple for years now, lost count, and picked him up as a 'mistreated young adult'..that's all I know about him. (Of course, I know better now to get critters from places with actual INFO) He's been on crickets mainly with superworms from time to time and waxworm treats. He's fine and dandy now, finally keeping a nice fat tail, and I thought I had him on the best diet...little did I know...

I will certainly be getting him onto these phoenix and silk worms as soon as I see how much my food source (Scales n tails) charges for them. Hopefully I can replace my crickets and supers account with phoenix and silkies!

Just a Q first tho: He's at least 8 years old, and I feed him twice a week 5 supers and 5-7 crickets each time. A) Am I unknowingly underfeeding him? B) Will these phoenix and silkworms be the new diet staple if he likes them? (i.e. no more crickets? My partner would LOVE getting rid of the cricket tank.)

Thanks for enduring the ramble

[mlededee]

crickets and mealworms aren't a bad food source and phoenix worms are very new so you wouldn't have heard of them much more than a year ago anyhow. if you feed phoenix worms and/or silkworms you can definitely get rid of the crickets. you can leave a dish of mealies or phoenix worms in his enclosure at all times and them give him silkworms once or twice per week or something like that, but i do always leave a dish of worms in the enclosure at all times.

[Montee]

well just got home from work for lunch and tossed 15 fully supplemented mealies in with her and she went right at it. So it seems now that she's comfortable with me (i've been working on handling her and getting her to willingly step into my hand) and her environment she feels safe enough to start trying to get her weight up. After talking to some breeders I've come to the conclusion that she is infact underweight and I should "expect her to eat like a little monster".

I picked up a 50 count of small silks online. I'm going to give them a try and see how she likes them. But like I said I think as staple diet she'll get phoenix worms, and I will be moving up to the mediums since the smalls are pretty small.

Thanks for the added info

[mlededee]

awesome--it sounds like she is doing really well now! i bet she packs that weight back on in a heartbeat--it is amazing how fast they grow!

[recycling goddess]

Will these phoenix and silkworms be the new diet staple if he likes them? (i.e. no more crickets? My partner would LOVE getting rid of the cricket tank.)

Thanks for enduring the ramble

yes they will and you can take your silkworms and just place them around the tank... leaving a little game of "hide and seek" for your critters. they loooove that. the silkworms can live a week (sometimes two weeks) without any food source so it's not a problem for them to be living in the tank of your critter.

unlike crickets they will NOT eat your critter. they are soft bodied so size doesn't really matter... you can feed larger ones with no problems. an adult can have large worms without any difficulty but honestly, medium silks are a nice size and a better price... and they will grow at your home with food - so the mediums are best value for your money!

[Argentra]

Awesome. Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll get some of the worms Monday when I pick up Nagini's hopper.

P.S. Ari says thanks as well. As I thought, he's quite happy we can get rid of the crickets...he always hated it when they chirped all night.

[Schlyne]

Interesting thread. I start my baby leos on phoenix worms. However, a couple weeks ago I picked up some for eggs that may be hatching soon, and ended up trying to feed them to my adults. They ignored them.

I ended up feeding them off to my scorpions.

[Montee]

Interesting thread. I start my baby leos on phoenix worms. However, a couple weeks ago I picked up some for eggs that may be hatching soon, and ended up trying to feed them to my adults. They ignored them.

I ended up feeding them off to my scorpions.

my leos stopped digesting these properly so I just went to mealies and they're packing the weight on.