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Feeder Insects

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Feeder Insects

There are a variety of feeder insects that you can feed pet reptiles. Some of them are better staple insects such as crickets, mealworms, roaches, and silkworms. Others are better treat such as waxworms. Other feeder insects may include butterworms and phenix worms.

Crickets

Crickets are probably one of the more popular staple feeder insects. They are relatively easy to breed for larger reptile populations, and provide great nutrition to reptiles. You must make sure to feed reptiles appropriately sized crickets.
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Mealworms

Mealworms make a great staple diet for any pet reptile. They're simple to raise and breed, or if you just buy enough for the week or so, they have relatively low odor.
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Superworms

Superworms are a great staple diet for larger reptiles. They should not be fed to small and medium sized reptiles because they have a hard exoskeleton that is hard to digest.

Superworms will not eat out of a reptiles stomach, as the digestive enzymes in a reptile's body will kill the superworm if the reptile did not while it was munching on it.
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Mealworm Bedding

This bedding is great for mealworms and superworms. All you have to do is place the worms in a plastic container (thick plastic for superworms, as they can chew out if too thin) with the bedding and let them go.

For mealworms, the bedding will last even longer if you place the container in the refrigerator, as the cooler temperatures will lower their metabolism, putting them in a hibernation type phase. But, in this case, you will need to let them sit at room temperature for at least an hour once a week, allowing them to chow down on any gutload that you provide them. I prefer a grain mixture that I can just mix with the bedding.

Remember to NEVER put super worms in the fridge.
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Discoid Roaches

Although, it may seem rather disgusting to feed your reptiles roaches, in reality, roaches macke great feeders. Discoid roaches are non-flying and non-climbing species of roaches. They, as with other roaches, have a better meat to shell ratio than other feeder insects, and because of this, reptile do not need to eat as much to get full.
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Insect GutLoad

You should always provide your feeder insects with a gutload before feeding them to your pets. It's best to provide them the gutload at least 24 hours before you feed the insects to your reptiles.

Mealworms, superworms, crickets, and roaches, can, for the most part, be fed the same gutload. Butterworms do not need to be fed while in your care. Waxworms can be provided a special mix, or left unfed. And, silkworms must be provided either a special silkworm food or mulberry leaves.
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Silkworms

Silkworms are rather expensive to be a staple feeder insect, but they make great staples to any reptile diet. Which is why many people have decided to breed them. But, unlike crickets and mealworms, they aren't the easiest breeding feeder insect.
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Butterworms

Butterworms are one step up from waxworms. They have a high calcium content and a smell that most reptiles love. But, they are fatty. So, butterworms, should only be used as a treat.

Waxworms

Waxworms to reptiles are like junk food to us. If we eat enough of it, we become overweight. Reptiles do the same thing if they are fed an abundence of waxworms. Another problem with waxworms, is that because they are like junk food, reptiles will become addicted to them. They make an okay occassional treat, but nothing more.
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Phenix Worms

Phenix worms are rather expensive in most cases. They are high in calcium, like the butterworm, but they are not as high in fat. From my understanding, these worms can make good staple diets, but it is still not 100% decided upon the reptile hobbyiest population.

Wormy Thoughts

  • heehaw Oct 12, 2008 @ 3:36 pm | delete
    unbelievable, even worms could end up on Ebay.
  • KarinKath Sep 14, 2008 @ 9:59 am | delete
    Thanks for creating this lense on the variety of feeder insects available. We added 3 leopard geckos to our family so I've been researching feeding options.
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