Can You Feed Juvenile Bearded Dragons Superworms

Most bearded dragons love superworms! These larvae are common among beardie owners because of their nutritional value. Superworms provide fiber, fat, and calcium, making them an excellent addition to your lizard's diet.

In addition to being nutrient-rich, breeding superworms at home is easy if you want to save money.

Should you feed all beardies with super worms, regardless of their age? Are these the best worms for baby bearded dragons? What about a young bearded dragon? Exactly how many super worms should you feed a bearded dragon per day? What are the benefits of feeding superworms to bearded dragons? Are there any downsides to superworms? Let's find out some concrete answers.

Are Superworms Good for All Bearded Dragons?

Here is a straightforward answer: no! Superworms are ideal for adult dragons and offer plenty of nutritional benefits for them. They are not great for babies and young beardies. Do not offer these larvae to your lizard buddy unless the pet is at least 12 months old.

The reason for this is simple: superworms have tough exoskeletons that can increase the choking risk in a baby or juvenile bearded dragon. In addition to choking, the larvae can cause gut impaction in younger beardies, a life-threatening condition, and you should avoid it by all means.

A better feeder insect for juvenile and baby beardies would be Dubia roaches, crickets, wax worms, or any other feeder bugs that don't have a tough chitin exterior.

How Many Superworms Should You Feed Your Adult Bearded Dragon?

Feed your adult bearded dragons with one to two superworms at a time up to two times a week. Anything more than this can lead to health issues.

The key to maintaining proper health in adult bearded dragons is offering high-fat foods in moderation. Superworms have a high fat content, meaning they are not a great staple for your beardie. Instead, offer them as treats.

How to Feed Your Bearded Dragon with Superworms

Consider dusting the superworms with calcium powder before feeding them to your beardie. This practice increases your pet's calcium intake and helps it grow stronger bones.

There are a couple of ways to offer superworms to your reptile pet at feeding time. You can simply put the worms into a feeding bowl and place the bowl inside the enclosure. Another way you can feed your pet is to use tweezers. Use the instrument to pick the worms one by one and feed your lizard.

Instead of offering superworms in a feeding bowl or using tweezers, you can give your pet a little more fun and exercise by letting it chase down the worms. Place the worms inside the tank or cage and let your beardie hunt them down!

If you opt to do this, you must ensure the enclosure floor is not covered in a substrate, especially a loose one. It can be difficult for your reptile to find the worms because superworms are great at hiding in substrates.

But most importantly, your pet may accidentally swallow loose substrate in an attempt to eat the superworms buried under the material. If this happens, it can cause severe digestive issues.

Here are a few other important things to keep in mind when feeding superworms to your beardie:

• Make sure to provide adequate hydration when you store the superworms. Adding pieces of carrots or slices of potatoes together with the larvae in a plastic container will prevent them from turning into beetles.

• Also, don't freeze or refrigerate superworms. Feed your lizard companion live food and larvae and not dead ones. Store the worms in temperatures of about 70 to 80o Fahrenheit.

Benefits of Superworms for Bearded Dragons

Superworms may not be the richest food for bearded dragons when it comes to nutrition. But they have some good benefits that make them a great addition to your pet's diet, particularly in the treats category.

Some of the main benefits include:

Rich Source of Protein

Baby bearded dragons get plenty of protein because they eat more insects than greens and other vegetables. The opposite is true for adult beardies. Plants and greens don't offer much protein for adult bearded dragons.

Thankfully, superworms contain about 19% protein, making them a good source of protein supply for adult beardies.

Great for Malnourished Beardies

If your adult bearded dragon is malnourished for some reason, you can give it superworms to help it gain healthy weight.

The high-fat content of superworms can help the malnourished beardie get back some of its weight. However, you should keep an eye on the pet if you are using high-fat foods like superworms to recover weight. Too much fat can lead to other health issues, as we'll discuss in a bit.

Hydration

Superworms contain approximately 61% moisture, making them an excellent source of hydration for reptiles. By feeding your pet with the right amounts of superworms, you minimize the risks of dehydration.

In addition to this, diarrhea and other digestive problems are less likely to be an issue for your bearded dragon.

However, you must space out the times between feeding superworms to your pet to get the ideal results. Only offer superworms about two to three days after the last feeding time. In any case, don't feed your pet with these worms more than two times a week.

Downsides of Superworms

Although these larvae offer excellent nutrition, they also have a few drawbacks that can lead to serious health issues for bearded dragons if they consume too many superworms. Some of the main disadvantages of superworms include:

Gut Impaction

One of the biggest concerns with superworms is their hard exoskeleton. Of course, many other feeder insects have hard chitins, but superworms are particularly tough. Even adult bearded dragons can have trouble digesting the chitin found on superworms.

Bits of these hard exoskeletons sit in your lizard's stomach for a long period after feeding. Unfortunately, painful gut compaction can occur because of the buildup of undigested chitin.

This is why it is important to space out feeding your pet with superworms for a few days. It will give the pet enough time to digest and pass out the pieces of exoskeleton before eating another one or two worms.

Also, this is why you should never feed superworms to a juvenile or baby bearded dragon. Their delicate digestive systems can't handle the hard chitins found on these worms.

Obesity

As mentioned earlier, superworms contain high fat - a risk factor for obesity in adult dragons. Here's the thing, though. Beardies love superworms for that very reason - fat!

Unfortunately, excess fat is not healthy for these pets, especially adult beardies in captivity. There is little room for running around and getting all the exercise they need.

Your pet may greedily gulp down superworms, but the responsible thing to do is to offer only one or two per feeding to reduce the risk of obesity.

Too Little Calcium Compared to Phosphorus

Indeed, superworms have calcium content. But they have a considerably larger amount of phosphorus than calcium. This is not a good thing for bearded dragons. A lack of calcium can lead to metabolic bone disease.

Too much phosphorus can diminish the calcium in your beardie. Worse still, it can prevent your pet from absorbing new calcium to help bone health. For this reason, it is crucial to add some calcium powder to the superworms before feeding them to your bearded dragon.

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Source: https://www.beardiebliss.com/post/how-many-superworms-to-feed-a-bearded-dragon