silkworms and superworms

[Peter Williams]

I bought some of both to try for my gecko to throw some variety into his diet. I was just wondering how many of each I should be rotating into his diet and how often?

[Peter Williams]

anyone?

[mlededee]

i don't like to feed superworms because they are so big and can actually bite. i fed them for a little while until one bit my male on the eyelid when he grabbed it--his eye was all swollen up for several days. my vet also recommends not to feed them because he had a chameleon that was bitten by one on the tongue which caused an infection, and ultimately the death of the cham (it lost some of the use of its tongue and refused to eat).

silkworms are great though and can be fed as often as you want. how many you feed at one time depends on the size of the worm.

[Peter Williams]

ok, I won't buy superworms again. The silkworms I got are about 2 inches long. They look like a regular sized caterpillar you'd find in you backyard. Since I got them I've been feeding my leo 1 a day. (plus some superworms which he hasn't had trouble with). My leo is full sized. The girl at the store said that 1 silkworm is worth about 12 crickets, does that sound acurate? Also, should I be dusting the silkworms with calcium? And one more thing, she also told me they shouldn't make up his main diet, I thought that sounded right but is it?

[mlededee]

if your leo eats the superworms fairly quickly you can actually cut their heads off before feeding them so they can't bite. they just won't last more than a few hours that way (obviously ).

i'm not really sure about the silkworm to cricket ratio but one silkworm is definitely worth a lot more than one cricket--in size and nutrition. they can make up a large portion of his diet as they are quite nutritious. just mix in crickets, mealworms and/or phoenix worms for some variety.

[Peter Williams]

And what about dusting a silkworm? Is it necessary? And I think I found a way to incapacitate the superworms, lol. If I smash their face into a dish of calcium powder they get preeeetty disoriented. I guess I would be too if some kind of powder was in my eyes nose and mouth . And so far my leo has got the head of them first each time, and I only put one in at a time, and I watch until he eats it.

[mlededee]

it may not be necessary to dust silkworms. i'm not really sure since i've not fed them myself so i haven't looked into the exact nutritional analysis. if you provide a dish of calcium you probably don't really need to dust them.

[Peter Williams]

Ok, Thanks, your always such a big help with my gecko stuff

[recycling goddess]

silkworms are a very healthy choice. i would feed as many as your leo wants to eat... as they know when they are full.

yes, you can dust your silkworms if you wish. no problem there. here's some nutritional information for you:

silkworms VS crickets

crude protein ~ 63.8% vs 11.4%
fat ~ 10.6% vs 22.7%
ash~ 7.4% vs 9.9%
carbs~ 18.2% vs 56.0%
phosphorus~ 0.8% vs 0.78%
Ca : P ratio~ 1 : 2.35 vs 1 : 9.75

and remember... variety is the spice of life... so always gift a variety to your leo

[Schlyne]

Silkworms are a good choice. I don't feed them, usually because they end up growing out of useable sizes before I get a chance. I bought silkworms once, and ended up stuffing every Tarantula I owned with them...some of the t's looked so full, they looked almost drunk when they stopped feeding. *wobble wobble* ok, I'm done now...I haven't even eaten half of this silkworm, but I just can't eat anymore!

I've never had a problem with the superworms biting. I still feed superworms, mealies, and crickets. My roach colony is recovering from a bit of overselling and I haven't had a chance to fed those yet.