Superworm questions

Typically, how fast do you go through meal worms? I'm trying to work out, financially, how I can just buy crickets for my anoles and then move over to super's for my leos. I'd be keeping only 35 a week for my anoles and then just super's for my geckos. I'm now having too much deadloss in crickets to sustainably keep them.

Crickets do die easy, superworms and dubia roaches are both great feeders provided that your leopard geckos like them. So instead of 5-10 mealworms a day, I feed mine 1 superworm or 1 dubia roach a day. They are plenty satisfied and gain weight very well.

Both superworms and dubia roaches can be kept for long durations at room temperature, no need to toss them inside the fridge. You keep them fed and they'll be around for months and months.

I would suggest getting a small portion first to test them, make sure your leopard geckos will take them on first. Be it superworms or dubia roaches (my recommendation). I have a couple leopard geckos that do not like superworms, but yet they would take mealworms and dubia roaches.

my superworms survive around a month in a cupboard and so do my mealworms. i've alsofound locust will last upto 2weeks in a cupboard so there are ways of getting stuff to last longer

Yeah, I was wanting to go to a pet store and get like a 25 count of super's to test out. If they went for it, I'd make a move to make it a staple.<br>

Supers are really easy to care for. They last forever as long as you feed them, don't morph unless you seperate them into their own little container individually, don't need to be refrigerated (that will actually kill them), they don't smell and can exist on a diet of carrots and veggie craps. I think I've had some of the original supers from my first purchase months ago they're HUGE they also have less shell to ingest than mealies offer a better nutritional breakdown and are less expensive as a staple for your herp.

I agree with everybody above except the "they don't smell" part. They do smell awful after about a week or two, and you gotta change their bedding and pick out the sheds & dead ones.

But yes superworms are great for long lasting feeders. They are easy to keep alive and keep gut-loaded as long as you feed them properly.

I have mealworms right now (though Oliver hasn't eaten yet) but I was also considering Superworms eventually. Seems like they're an easier staple diet from what I've read and the people I chatted with at Repticon. Seems like you store them about the same as mealworms but they're more substantial.

You don't put them in the refrigerator, you keep them at room temperature with oats/wheat bran as bedding/food. Just toss in slices of carrots for moisture/food every other day and they'll live for months and months, while getting very good gut-load.

Wow! That sounds really practical.

Yeah, that's what I'm screamin'. The noise with crickets too, ugh. If I could move the leo's over, it'd be helluh more pratical.

Esp. Now with that whole killer jamacian cricket being sold... supers are a great staple. But with any diet you should incorporate a couple different bugs for opimum nutrition. With all the worms widely available and a lot less hostile than crickets I'm sure you can get a good variety going

Oliver has been completely ignoring mealworms. Even if I brush them against his mouth (which I read can stimulate a feeding response) he just licks them and walks away. The breeder at repticon said he was on a diet of mealies and supers, so I'm going to purchase a few supers today and see how he takes to them.

If he likes them, I'm more than likely going to make that his staple.

It may take a while for your leo to eat them (mealworms and/or superworms). My Miracle took about a week before she'd eat a superworm. Just keep offering it, and your leo will eventually eat it. Miracle LOVES superworms now. :P
Its like she needed to work herself up to being able to eat one. She'd stare at it everyday, but wouldn't do it. One day she seemed like she was going to do the same thing; she licked it and then walked away. But then she seemed to stare at the floor a minute, like she was thinking "I can do this, I CAN DO THIS!" and then she whipped her head around and ate the worm! LOL :P It was funny!

LOVING the supers as Oliver's staple. The things are super easy to care for and don't die! Seems like they'll last forever. I had to replace mine because I had mold growth in the container I was keeping them in (I didn't make the air holes large enough so moisture could escape...fixed that problem now) but the mold didn't kill them, they were still looking fine in there. Wasn't still going to feed those to him, of course. But they're VERY hardy and the two of us are quite liking them so far.

If your supers bedding ever gets mouldy just rinse the worms under warm water (remember anything too cold will kill them) a quick few dunks so they don't drown. Put them in a bin with layers of paper towels to dry for about an hour. Clean the mouldy bedding out, wash tub, give fresh bedding, possibly mix a little bran with old fashioned oats to help control moisture. Gutload for 2 -3 days with fresh veggies and they'll have cycled any rotten food out and be full of good food. Sift out the frass in 2 weeks to make sure they aren't eating any of the poo from their mould detox.

Cool, thanks for the tips!