A Few Questions About Superworms

[Aether Bunny]

So I'm tired of crickets and thinking of switching my Rosie's diet to superworms. My girl has a leg span roughly 4 1/4" and has been ravenous since her last molt (hasn't passed up a meal in months), so I figure she could easily take down a superworm. The reason I ask is I've read that superworms have powerful jaws and I don't want my baby to get an injury that could lead to infection.

Does anyone here have experience using superworms as feeders? Is it risky to feed them to a T? How do you take care of them, and are they easy to breed? Thanks for reading, any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Just crush their heads. They'll wiggle and should attract the spider's attention.

As far as I know, they aren't particularly hard to breed, but a bit more complicated. It is my understanding that they won't enter metamorphosis unless they are kept in individual containers.
Mealworms are a snap to breed, though. Not nearly as large, but they pupate right in the container you keep the worms in. I've recently started a small colony myself, and already have about 20 pupae, and so far one beetle has emerged.

 

[Poec54]

Does anyone here have experience using superworms as feeders? Is it risky to feed them to a T?

Yes. They have powerful jaws and can injure an adult spider if they don't grab it right. Superworms will bury themselves in the substrate within seconds. If the spider doesn't IMMEDIATELY grab the superworm, you have to take it out. They stay underground most of the time, and periodically emerge to eat, and molting spiders are on the menu.

There's a reason why crickets are the most commonly used spider food, by far.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Yea forget superworms get roaches instead man, Unless you make sure your T eats them. There jaws are very strong , adult beetles can kill a T.

---------- Post added 12-04-2014 at 08:00 PM ----------

Yes. They have powerful jaws and can injure an adult spider if they don't grab it right. Superworms will bury themselves in the substrate within seconds. If the spider doesn't IMMEDIATELY grab the superworm, you have to take it out. They stay underground most of the time, and periodically emerge to eat, and molting spiders are on the menu.

There's a reason why crickets are the most commonly used spider food, by far.

+1 beetles are way better armored than Ts. Discoid's are a better choice than superworms.

 

[Aether Bunny]

Yea forget superworms get roaches instead man

Unfortunately roaches are not available where I live. My province doesn't have cockroach or rat infestations and the government goes to great lengths to keep it that way, therefore I believe roaches of any type are actually illegal to sell here.

The main reason I wanted to switch to superworms is that I don't like crickets: they're smelly, they drop like flies and I wanted something that can live off oatmeal or some other non-perishable food.

What about mealworms? Are they reasonably easy to breed and care for and less risky to feed to an adult T? Also do they have an annoying habit of burrowing immediately?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Yes Tim just said Mealworms work well...A few posts down.

 

[Chad2008]

Being someone who praised superworms when i started a few months ago ill be the first to call out SCREW SUPERWORMS.
They are the most irritating feeder ive ever dealt with in any hobby that uses such. I dont know why i ever thought they were good.
Listen to everyone else and avoid the hassle and irritation i put myself through for no reason.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Being someone who praised superworms when i started a few months ago ill be the first to call out SCREW SUPERWORMS.
They are the most irritating feeder ive ever dealt with in any hobby that uses such. I dont know why i ever thought they were good.
Listen to everyone else and avoid the hassle and irritation i put myself through for no reason.

+1 supers are a pain , they wiggle so much and can bite a T.
Yeah Roaches & crickets are the best feeders, But what do t keepers in Canada use? OP is from Canada he cannot use feeder roaches.

 

[lawrencebugboy]

Yeah, not using cockroaches or crickets really puts you in a bind. Plus superworms/mealworms tend to escape into the soil pretty quickly. I've heard of people even throwing small fish in to their tank, but that seems extreme. Apparently the fish flop around and attract the tarantula's attention. I wonder if you may be able to get waxworms or other fishing lure insects where you're at. That might work too.

 

[Jack III]

Use a forceps, grab it just behind the head. Let it wiggle around and get your spiders attention, if interested crush the head a bit and let it go. It won't burrow because you maimed it, yet it will still move enough (and be safe) for your spider to grab it. I'm not sure I'd bother breeding them. They are pretty cheap (here in the US) and last a long time in their container at room temp. I use them to mix up my spiders diet a bit, never had an issue myself.

 

[cold blood]

I'd be interested to know if the rosie will eat one. They can be fickle eaters, even in ravenous times. Mine won't touch a worm of any kind. Even in a post-molt feeding frenzy (lol), she would only follow them, never tried to pick one up once. Drop a cricket in and its on it in a flash.

I see superworms as a good alternative feeder for certain t's. I will feed the t's that will eat them (I think its probably 50/50, at least it is with mine), but only really post-molt, when they are at their hungriest and thinnest. A couple superworms starts the fattening up process nicely IME. I

They are also kind of a boring "kill" to watch....they just walk up and pick them up...I prefer watching them pounce.

 

[ARACHNO-SMACK48]

I actually have a super worm breeding project going on to feed my bearded dragon and chickens. I also occasionally give them to T's. A super worm isn't going to do anything to an appropriately sized T so long as it is eaten and does not burrow. But if you want to be super safe I would chop the head off before you give it to the T.

 

[Methal]

I've been feeding my small collection of T's Superworms for quite a while. Wife would beat me like a rented mule if I brought cockroaches into the house.
Crickets die in like 20 minutes, so I can't keep those around.
.....(ugh...mornings... brain wont work yet...)
So yeah, the only T i've got that wont eat superworms is my OBT. But that one is going through a strange phase where it wont eat. Drinking water I assume, since it keeps over turning its water dish and using as a roof, but wont touch food.

anyway. Just hand the T the worms right and dont worry about them getting bit.

 

[shawno821]

It sucks you guys can't have roaches,I don't see them escaping and colonizing in the frozen lands of Canada.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I've been feeding my small collection of T's Superworms for quite a while. Wife would beat me like a rented mule if I brought cockroaches into the house.
Crickets die in like 20 minutes, so I can't keep those around.
.....(ugh...mornings... brain wont work yet...)
So yeah, the only T i've got that wont eat superworms is my OBT. But that one is going through a strange phase where it wont eat. Drinking water I assume, since it keeps over turning its water dish and using as a roof, but wont touch food.

anyway. Just hand the T the worms right and dont worry about them getting bit.

Most cockroaches cannot survive in households, only pest species sorry you cannot use them.

---------- Post added 12-08-2014 at 12:20 PM ----------

It sucks you guys can't have roaches,I don't see them escaping and colonizing in the frozen lands of Canada.

+1 I do not see them surviving in Canada. They cannot even survive Ohio.

 

[Sam_Peanuts]

If I remember right, there were 2 species of cockroaches that were legal in canada because they're already common in the wild(german cockroaches and some other I can't remember). You probably don't want those anywhere near your home though since they're considered pest so smelly noisy crikets is still sadly the best legal option.

 

[Chad2008]

Am i the only one who hasnt had my crickets make a noise yet after having about 20 or so at a time for the last 2 months?

 

[cold blood]

Am i the only one who hasnt had my crickets make a noise yet after having about 20 or so at a time for the last 2 months?

The crickets I get from my LPS don't make noise. I can't recall the last time I heard one in the house.

Crickets die in like 20 minutes, so I can't keep those around.

My crickets stay alive until fed. In fact they molt and grow like crazy for me. If I get a lot of small ones, they are all medium by the time I get to the last ones. These have all been in my possession for 2 weeks or more. There's probably a dozen and a half left, still fat, fresh and healthy. It shouldn't be that difficult to keep them alive, although I did have issues back in the day (when I kept them the way it was suggested)....after fine tuning a bit I rarely have crickets die off. I even keep a water dish, filled with stones, in with them.

The biggest keys for me were 1. keeping the enclosure dry 2. I give them natural means of hiding...wood and occasionally a leaf to hide under and between. and 3. removal of any cricket that does happen to die. When one dies, it quickly leads to the entire group suffering quickly.

They say (everywhere I read) to have good ventilation, but until I reduced the ventilation, I had trouble. Now my venting is actually minimal, limited to small pin holes along the sides of the lid. Being able to keep crickets alive indefinitely really makes feeding times convenient.

I feed oats, dry dog food and potato (normal or sweet) and carrots. You can see a slice of sweet potato in there.

 

[Wadew]

Superworms are really fatty. I would use them here and there but not on a regular basis. They are like eating candy for supper!
I guess you could do it for awhile.... ;(
Methal,
If you are killing crickets that quickly you need to to review your husbandry. Crickets will drown in a drop of water. Also if the cricket cage is not cleaned daily you will also fail.
Other,
Only adult crickets can chirp!

-Wade

 

[Sam_Peanuts]

As long as crickets have food, water and plenty of places to hide all in a plastic bin with no substrate for easy cleaning, they won't kill each other or die off in my experience. They eat and drink quite a bit so it's important that they don't run out or they'll die pretty fast.

Ventilation doesn't seem to change much for me since I kept them both ways and other than removing dead bodies if I see some or something moldy(doesn't happen unless I feed fruits or something), there's no need to do much cleaning(haven't done any for the past two weeks except remove a piece of dry carrot).

I keep them fairly cold(73-75) and they seem fine and even still lay eggs if I give them wet substrate(I'm currently testing if they will hatch at that temperature, but people say they won't).

They chirp almost all the time though, but I put them in my server room which is already fairly noisy so it doesn't bother me much.