Making Super Worms (more) nutritious?

[broderp]

Can super worms be gut loaded like crickets to make them more nutritious for a Cham? And can they be dusted with calcium or other supplements? I just got some and I'm not sure what to feed them. They came in some sort of a powdery substance - is this their food?

I feed my 6 month old Cham Sherman crickets (all he can eat for now) dusted with Rapashy Calcium Plus every day. We have a rule, "weekends are for Super Worms", and he eats 2-4 a day on Saturday and Sundays.

In the spirit of doing all I can to hep him grow up big and healthy, I'm interested in making the super worms better for him. What can/ should I be doing?

 

[Bush baby]

Yep. You can feed them basically the same gutload items you feed to crickets. They seem to really love carrots and collard greens.

 

[AZChamFan]

Agree totally with the last post! Mine eat almost all the same foods as my roaches and crickets, including leafy greens, sweet potato, carrots, etc. I also give them Repashy Bug Burger and Repashy Superload. I keep mine in wheat bran which makes a good bedding and they do eat it, but it's not really a highly nutritious diet by itself. I also sprinkle in bee pollen fairly often and also organic wheat grass powder, as well as a little spirulina. One thing you might notice is they don't eat as large of quantities of food as roaches for example. I always place moist foods such as Bug Burger, potato etc. in a corner of the container where I can kind of keep track of them and remove uneaten portions within a couple days, replacing them with fresh pieces.

Not sure what yours came in but fresh wheat bran is more like little flakes about 1/16" to 1/8" in size. However the more they feed on it the finer the bedding becomes until it's a fine powder, so this could be what you have. I would recommend some fresh bedding!

 

[broderp]

Yep. You can feed them basically the same gutload items you feed to crickets. They seem to really love carrots and collard greens.

That's good to know thanks!

Agree totally with the last post! Mine eat almost all the same foods as my roaches and crickets, including leafy greens, sweet potato, carrots, etc. I also give them Repashy Bug Burger and Repashy Superload. I keep mine in wheat bran which makes a good bedding and they do eat it, but it's not really a highly nutritious diet by itself. I also sprinkle in bee pollen fairly often and also organic wheat grass powder, as well as a little spirulina. One thing you might notice is they don't eat as large of quantities of food as roaches for example. I always place moist foods such as Bug Burger, potato etc. in a corner of the container where I can kind of keep track of them and remove uneaten portions within a couple days, replacing them with fresh pieces.

Not sure what yours came in but fresh wheat bran is more like little flakes about 1/16" to 1/8" in size. However the more they feed on it the finer the bedding becomes until it's a fine powder, so this could be what you have. I would recommend some fresh bedding!

I feed my crickets Bug Burger and they eat it up. I will try this on the super worms as well. The worms came in a small container/deli cup. I guess I will need to put them into something larger, like a small keeper. I have a few spares I use to use as feeding cups for my old Chams. (R.I.P. )

I guess the other side to this is to find out what the stuff they came in is and get more or try wheat bran,

Do you think cricket crack will work? What about the dry form of Bug Burger? Can I use Bug Burger Dry to feed the worms or do they need it made up like I do for the crickets?

 

[Furciferocious]

I've recently heard that bran is bad because it binds calcium and makes it unavailable. That sucks because bran makes a great bedding. Does anyone know more about this?

 

[jamest0o0]

^ interesting i'd like to hear more about that. I've heard it's not good alone, but i mix mine with bug buffet and pieces of fruit or veggies.

As for superworms they can be gutloaded easily, but they still have a high fat content from my understanding. I feed 1-2 a week, usually to give my cham his weekly d3 or multi

 

[nightanole]

Mental note folk, a supers gut at max capacity is only 10% body weight. So yes you can gut load, but its not going to be much. Its not like a cricket or dubia that looks like they will explode after a good meal.

As for bran binding calcium, its been used for 40 years as a staple bedding with no reptile issues. Plus calcium is toxic to insects, thats why a "traditional gut load" of high calcium "good stuff" was given to the feeders the night before, because it would kill the feeders via indigestion over time.

 

[Crashbandit05]

I keep my superworms in oatmeal (as a substrate) and provide a shallow lid with dry 'cricket crack' and use various fruits/veggies for the wet gutload.
My weekends are also 'superworm Saturday/Sunday' and I use crickets, waxworms, bsfl, wild caught during the week.