Pheonix worms??

[ahood]

Why have I never heard of Pheonix worms on here?? I've recently discovered them and the nutrition is awesome as well as the calcium/phosphorous ratio. I will definitely be looking online to order some soon. Has anyone on here used these before?

 

[APailthorp]

"Phoenix worms" is a trademarked name that refers to Black Soldier Fly larvae.

 

[ahood]

Well either way, I wasn't familiar with them- the nutritional value looks great

 

[Blink]

I use these and I highly recommend them! My chameleon goes crazy for them. You should definitely go with the Phoenix worms. I have tried other versions and he quality wasn't quite as superb.

 

[nick barta]

My suggestion is that you order from Phoenixworms.com; the shelf life is short, so go to the source.
Also, you want them at about 60 degrees to last a bit longer.

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[ahood]

Thanks guys! When I get them, would it be good to store them in the refrigerator?

 

[LetmegrowSTL]

The fridge will kill them. They aren't like meal worms. You have to keep them slightly moist too. If they dry out before you use them, they'll perish. I get them from Timberline, their trade mark is "Calciworms".

 

[MeruJack]

I use ReptiWorms through Miami Worms. They last at least 2 months when I store them in a plastic drawer in my Reptile Room. I get extra small ones for my baby Jackson's. I just got a new shipment this week; $11.00 shipped.

 

[fluxlizard]

I usually order a few about this time of year and use them as a summer starter and ranch new ones all summer for the cost of the starter. So I get many thousands for a very cheap investment each year. The larvae have a pheromone that attracts wild adult females to the culture to lay eggs and make yet more larvae. Females lay zillions of eggs each so soon you will have zillions of larvae. If you can't use them all, they are still good for making garden compost or are harmless if they crawl off into the wild.

They are very easy to culture yourself-

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/

Can't answer your question about why you haven't seen them mentioned on the forums but if you use the search feature you will find some of us have been using them for years. I grow them like in the blog (sort of - I took a big garbage can, drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom, and buried it 2/3 into the ground so I don't have to worry about drainage) and only feed the "crawl-offs" which are self harvesting- don't have to dig into the compost for them- they show up in my catch bucket. The lizards like them at this stage as well as the younger stages, and this stage does not require food or water and has an antibacterial property to them so they are very clean so this is the stage I use.

 

[ChameLIonLover]

Can phoenix worms be used as part of a diet for an adult cham? I've heard of them being used for juveniles, but they are not normally mentioned as normal for an adult.

My chameleons favorite food item is the meal worm but they are not healthy at all. Would these be a better treat that I could feed more often?

 

[kplatvoet]

If you can get them to eat them they are good- my panther ignores them but my jackson will eat them -the panther will eat them when they turn to flies - when they were both younger it was the opposite.

 

[DragoLikesReptiles]

I would recommend horn worms, butter worms, silkworms, and dubias for an adult. They are the best feeders around and my chameleon loves them. The phoenix worms can't hurt, but they are small so you just need to feed him a lot of those.

 

[fluxlizard]

I feed them to my adult chameleons.

I am feeding the "crawl off" stage worms- these are big at this stage (and dark coloured)- they are not tiny and white at this point. Many people feed their adult chickens this stage worm.

For idea of size the worms can get:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfnyFFIrcPo

They grow very quickly also- if the "reptiworms" are small for your adult chameleons- just feed them for a week or two and they will grow very quickly.

 

[ahood]

Awesome, thank you guys for all the info- and yes you can definitely use them for adult charms. My chameleon loves mealworms too so hopefully transitioning to another worm type thing will be easy. The nutrition and calcoum phosphorous ratio of the pheonix works has me excited! Lol

 

[fluxlizard]

My chameleon loves mealworms too so hopefully transitioning to another worm type thing will be easy. The nutrition and calcoum phosphorous ratio of the pheonix works has me excited!

Just an FYI- you can improve the calcium/phosphorous ratio of your mealworms also. Don't know if you are familiar with Ferguson's info but in his labratory he raised several generations of panther chameleons on an un-dusted cricket and mealworm diet only. Mealworms were included because his analysis found that when fed the same highly nutritious food as crickets (and he was using a special diet by fluker I believe- but it was tweaked at that time according to his needs- not sure if it is the same as their "monster" diet commercially available or not), their calcium content was significantly higher than crickets, and their calcium phosphorous ratio was correct for the needs of the chameleons. They were enough to apparently tip the balance so that no additional supplementation was needed when fed alongside crickets.

Not telling you to stop with the supplements, or to not think about adding soldier fly larvae to the diet. Only telling you this so you consider variety rather than a "transition" to a soldier fly larvae diet. Keep the mealworms for variety, and add any additional items you can alongside the soldier fly larvae as well.

 

[ahood]

Thank you very much! Yes, keeping a variety is good and my panther loves mealworms.