baby beardie diet questions

[reptile_fan_chris]

HI all,

I will soon be getting a baby beardie and I have been doing alot of research about them and have a couple feeding questions. I plan on feeding crickets as staple while he is small and my superworm colony gets going. My question is, can a baby beardie be fed baby superworms occasionally? Right now I only have a couple geckos and this will be my only beardie so I will have plenty of superworms. Any advice and opinions are appreciated, thanks

 

[Bill]

That depends on who you ask we all have our own feelings on superworms I feed them to my young but they are size appropriate but I do not feed them to new born so the big question from me is what do you consider a baby how old is it.

 

[reptile_fan_chris]

Thanks for getting back to me Bill. because this will be my first beardie I definitely will not be getting a new born. I was thinking more along the lines of starting with a juvie say 7 or 8 inches. I plan on buying at a reptile show next month, starting the superworm colony this weekend. So i will hopefully have some tiny superworms shortly after I bring the beardie home.

 

[Bill]

how are you starting your superworms

 

[reptile_fan_chris]

I am going to order some large superworms, feed them in one drawer of a plastic drawer set for a few days with bran/oats/carrot for moisture to make sure they are nice and healthy. Then I plan to use an organizer meant for fish bait/tackle to separate out each individually and wait for them to pupate / turn to beetles. Then I will move the beatles to a separate drawer with the same bedding and egg crates for hiding places, leave them there for a couple weeks and them move the beetles out and wait for the babies. I know it takes quite awhile for life cycle changes that is why I am starting about a month before I am getting my dragon. This set up sound decent to start with?

 

[Bill]

good start it will take a few months but well worth it

 

[reptile_fan_chris]

So in your opinion, as long as they are appropriately sized, and my beardie does not have trouble digesting them, the occasional baby superworm would be ok for him?

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

I feed baby superworms to baby dragons all the time as well. Since I grow my own I always have baby supers to do this with.

 

[reptile_fan_chris]

Awesome, thank you for the input Tom. I feel much better about doing it now that I know I am not the only one!

 

[Bill]

 

[Fliehigh]

Well I am going to chime in on the Cons of Supers for babies.

Although some people have no issues feeding supers to baby dragons I prefer to wait until the reach at least 16" tip of nose to tip of tail. Until that time all dragons have a kinked intestine and where supers are harder to digest than other worms like silk worms, they can get stuck int he kink causing impaction.

This is my opinion and I what I have done.

 

[reptile_fan_chris]

Thank you for the reply Fliehigh, I understand why it is not good to feed large supers to baby beardies, but are you saying that you won't feed supers of any size to a baby beardie?

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Keep in mind the supers that Bill and I are using are not much larger than meal worms, but being super worms they still dont have anywhere near the shell of meal worms and I have found and Im sure that Bill will back me, that there have been no problems.... Feeding a young dragon full size supers to a younger dragon just wouldnt work and thats not what we are endorsing.

 

[Bill]

Keep in mind the supers that Bill and I are using are not much larger than meal worms, but being super worms they still dont have anywhere near the shell of meal worms and I have found and Im sure that Bill will back me, that there have been no problems.... Feeding a young dragon full size supers to a younger dragon just wouldnt work and thats not what we are endorsing.

I'm with you Tom

 

[Brett]

I agree i feed my babies size appropriate supers also no issues yet.

 

[Fliehigh]

With me, I don't feed any Supers until they are 16". But again that is me and Bill and Tom have been breeders for a long time and have had no issues.

I just wanted you to know what I do and why.

 

[richard]

superworms come in different sizes just like crickets and since they are easier to digest than mealworms an appropriate size superworm is just fine for a juvie dragon. i usually wait until they are about 10 to 12 inches.

 

[Fliehigh]

superworms come in different sizes just like crickets and since they are easier to digest than mealworms an appropriate size superworm is just fine for a juvie dragon. i usually wait until they are about 10 to 12 inches.

Although they are easier to digest than mealies, the shell is still MUCH harder to digest (no matter what their size is) then crickets, roaches, silk worms............... This is why I wait until the dragon has grown enough to not have the kink in their intestines. I personally don't like taking a chance when there is really no need.

If superworms are the only feeder you can get then you would have to chance it, but in most places this is not the case.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Rich Dude Flie has every right to an opinion and I never got any type of attitude from the post. Your post is way over the top.