# superworms dangerous to reptiles



## blackcadillac70 (Nov 8, 2008)

i had bought some superworms for my tokay gecko and got them home to try them and they were  oily 1st time iv'e ever tryed them so that was a turnoff.put them up went to p-etco for some waxworms and was telling the lady bout how i didn't care for superworms and she said they could eat through the stomach of a reptile.anyone ever heard this or is she a fruitloop.


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## OldHag (Nov 8, 2008)

She's a fruitloop.

If your gecko, or anyother animal you feed superworms to, are healthy they will be fine. The superworm will be killed in the eating or shortly thereafter from the stomach acids. That is a HUGE myth.
IF your animal is sick, unable to defend themselves or dead.... the superworm will eat them, yes but not from the inside out.

Reactions: Like 1


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## kupo969 (Nov 8, 2008)

Honestly, I don't know. Different herp keepers have different opinions on this topic. Myself, I would pinch their head and let them wiggle so the herp can acknowledge it.


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## ZooRex (Nov 8, 2008)

This is such an old rumor!

Basically its always "pinch superworms heads or they'll eat their way out" and thats it. I've never actually heard any official evidence of this happening. On the contrary I've heard strong opionions refuting such:

Superworms are usually if not always crunched to some degree by the lizards mouth, they are then taken to the stomach where there is no air, but a good quantity stomach acid. Really what are the odds of a worm surviving long enough to do any damage?


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## RoachGirlRen (Nov 8, 2008)

Considering that many reptiles and amphibians regularly eat things much more tenacious than nippy beetle larvae - several frogs species, for example, eat a diet very rich in ants, bees, and wasps, all of which are armed and hardy - I would have to call "crock" on that. These animals are built to eat things that can bite and sting, to swallow live invertebrates (and heck, live vertebrates too in some cases). I've never heard a single vet or really _any_ reputable source of information verify the superworm myth; it seems some kind of internet urban legend probably generated by a superworm causing injury to an animal that was already very ill/compromised.


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## PhilK (Nov 9, 2008)

A load of rubbish.


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## Mushroom Spore (Nov 9, 2008)

That's right up there with "snakes will bite their own tails and roll after you like a hula-hoop."

ie, no.


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## Will Hunting (Nov 9, 2008)

Mushroom Spore said:


> That's right up there with "snakes will bite their own tails and roll after you like a hula-hoop."
> 
> ie, no.


That's not funny, my brother died that way.


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## Tim Benzedrine (Nov 9, 2008)

Biting his tail and rolling after people like a hula hoop?


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## Will Hunting (Nov 9, 2008)

Tim Benzedrine said:


> Biting his tail and rolling after people like a hula hoop?


I've heard of stranger. 

(complete thread de-rail. Kind of sorry =p)


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## Asgard (Nov 9, 2008)

nothing more than a myth..


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## ShellsandScales (Nov 9, 2008)

You know I have heard that a lot, and have advised people with more fragile herps to be cautious with superworms. Not really sure how that whole thing got started but I'm sure that advice has been going around since before the internet was here. I have also been told that they use superworms to clean out cadavers. Again not sure how true that is, but seems like that would be a likely source of the myth. Anyone call the mythbusters yet?????

They use East Bay Vivarium for advice and supplies for their animal myths.


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## blackcadillac70 (Nov 9, 2008)

i took them back,they smell funny and are real oily not for me.


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## ShellsandScales (Nov 9, 2008)

oily???? I don't follow.


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## blackcadillac70 (Nov 10, 2008)

i put one in with the tokay and it started to burrow so i got it out and it was oily and smelled funny won't buy those again.they all seemed oily


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## Draiman (Nov 10, 2008)

Are you sure they were oily? Anyway yeah it's just an old myth. Even if the superworm survives the gecko's teeth, it's not going to survive the concentrated hydrochloric acid in the gecko's stomach, period.


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## UrbanJungles (Nov 11, 2008)

ShellsandScales said:


> I have also been told that they use superworms to clean out cadavers. Again not sure how true that is, but seems like that would be a likely source of the myth. Anyone call the mythbusters yet?????



Superworms are not used to clean cadavers...most places use dermestid beetles who's fuzzy larvae in no way resemble superworm larvae...


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## wildheart (Nov 17, 2008)

My dragons LOVE their superworms! :} 

The only time that the superworms smell funny is when they were kept in a dark humid place.


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## dtknow (Nov 17, 2008)

If anyone here has dropped a super or mealworm into water to feed fish. Check how long they last...20 seconds if you are extremely lucky. usually not even 8


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## Erwynn (May 28, 2009)

When I had barking tree frogs way back when, I didni't know not to feed them superworms, since they were smaller frogs.  The next day I found them both dead, with holes in their stomachs after they had eaten the superworms.  And the worms were outside of them.  So to me...that's what I assume happened, eaten from the inside out.  Pretty horrid honestly.  I won't feed anything superworms again.


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## LeilaNami (May 28, 2009)

I had a lady tell me today that her vet told her not to feed her beardie superworms because it caused his recent impaction...he's a full size beardie at 22"


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## Kuro (May 28, 2009)

i have two beardies and they love their supers!   will fall all over themselves to get one.

what they told is a myth and also beardies have strong jaws(i should know since my big female bit me once!)  so i never worry feeding the supers


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## burmish101 (May 28, 2009)

Maybe the persons beardie got impacted because the person fed it WAY too much. With beardies your supposed to feed them insects after you feed them veggies, they might have just fed them a ton of superworms with no veggies for fiber to push it through. I've never had a problem feeding superworms to anything, but I have had turtles poop out bits of shell before so i'd recommend not to load your herps stomaches to the brim with them.


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## Kimo (May 28, 2009)

I have many herps and inverts and never ever had any problems with superworms, they are lower in hitin compared to T.molitor or meal worms, so better evade those them Z.morio. They can be easily digested, but are not high in protein as roaches or crickets, it shouldn't be staple diet, but is good to give at some basis in addition to roches or crickets.


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## DireWolf0384 (Jun 1, 2009)

Superworms eating their way out of a stomach? That's a load of BS. As stated before, Reptiles are used to eating all sorts of things including Ants and Wasps.


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## LeilaNami (Jun 1, 2009)

Kuro said:


> i have two beardies and they love their supers!   will fall all over themselves to get one.
> 
> what they told is a myth and also beardies have strong jaws(i should know since my big female bit me once!)  so i never worry feeding the supers


oh yeah I know.  Vet probably diagnosed with out the full detailing of the care she was putting the beardie through.


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## dendrobate (Jun 5, 2009)

How about just not using superworms at all. I personally have only used meal worms as a stand by when other feeders were not available,and i always cut the heads off.Worms are fatty and likely are like feeding a big greasy hamburger to your pet."Mcworms"


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## ZergFront (Jun 6, 2009)

*ummmm...*

I REEEEALLY don't see that happening. Not after the loud crunches I hear my lizard do eating them. Hehe.

 Actually I'm planning on setting up a breeding terrarium for a couple of the ones I have. My Chinese water dragon doesn't like the beetles at all(the escapees hid under the water bowl and grew). They reek too much. I had picked one up to show my mom and even with three hand washes the stench wouldn't come off. >.<


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## pandinus (Jun 6, 2009)

i believe the myth comes from the fact that they do have some powerfull jaws, and i'm always having to throw out containers at work because the superworms manage to gnaw holes in the lids and escape so while they have pretty tough jaws, that does them no good if the are dead.



John


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## Matt K (Jun 6, 2009)

Interesting that this thread got revived from last year....

But yes- HUGE MYTH to say the least.  Superworms will die before they can chew thier way to freedom.  Also true that they are rich in protein and fat, and my opinion is the protein does not offset the fat content at all, so they are a rare treat (so are mealworms). Waxworms I never touch anymore because I have read research papers that showed how the waxy products (beeswax or paraffin) can accumulate in the reptiles liver eventually causing liver disfunction in the long term and possibly lead to liver failure.


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## MorbidPh8 (Jun 6, 2009)

I have read about this myth as well. Seeing them chew there way out of the container they where in kinda freaked me out. I always smack there head with my tongs so they can't burrow any ways. The trick is to hit them just right so they still wiggle but can't burrow. I call this retarding my worms.. lol My g/f cracked up the first time she saw me do this. lol


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## SandyMuffinCakes94 (Jun 6, 2009)

cut their heads off or cut a slit in its head so it twitches but will later die in the stomach


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## Kirstie420 (Aug 21, 2016)

Ok... I jus got a today gecko a Lil over a month ago n everything was fine I got the superworms to try something different from crickets and I put some in the dish and a few days went by n he wouldn't eat them so I took them.out and gave them away... That was a couple weeks ago now yesterday I went to feed my gecko and he had 2 huge wounds on his tail that look like something was eating away at him I cleaned the cage and found 5 of them auperworms they must have got out the dish and they were <dang> HUGE 10x bigger than they were wen I put them in the dish idk what to do or what its from someone plz help


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## Arachnomaniac19 (Aug 22, 2016)

The larvae probably bit him. Just keep it clean and make sure they can't get out.


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## truecreature (Aug 22, 2016)

Superworms causing problems might be rare but it does actually happen. I've heard of a bearded dragon having issues (no idea where the link is so feel free to take with a grain of salt) and someone else posted about their experience with their leopard gecko here - http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...eding-caution-zophobas-morio-cricket4u-4.html

So yep, I crush the heads of all superworms just in case. Not worth the risk


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## Mattkc (Aug 31, 2016)

The biggest danger of just feeding superworms (or mealworms) to your lizard is the real possibility to cause the digestive track to get impacted from their heavy exoskeleton - do not feed these worms exclusively to your pet! Always mix up their diet when possible for better health.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## ALUCAI2D (Jun 19, 2017)

blackcadillac70 said:


> i had bought some superworms for my tokay gecko and got them home to try them and they were  oily 1st time iv'e ever tryed them so that was a turnoff.put them up went to p-etco for some waxworms and was telling the lady bout how i didn't care for superworms and she said they could eat through the stomach of a reptile.anyone ever heard this or is she a fruitloop.


 Yes. The bearded dragon probably has to be very young or sick but it can happen. I had never heard of anything like this and I've been using superworms for a long time. But I Googled it today because I just buried a dragon this morning that had a hole in its stomach and a live superworm nearby. I wouldn't have imagined that the worm could survive the stomach... but from what I'm reading if their stomach acid is weak or they have a bacterial infection it's rare but it can happen.


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## Warwick555 (Jan 21, 2018)

I have two Tokay's and they absolutely do not like any type of worms. I tried super, wax, meal, and horned. All the super and meal worms did was burrow and turned into beetle which was cool, they all lived together in harmony for about 6 months then they died off...I kinda liked the beetles in there. But overall I just stick with pinkies, crickets and dubias since that's all they really like. He did eat a pray mantis and a massive moth I caught, but I don't like feeding wild caught food due to the risk of insecticides.


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## Warwick555 (Oct 14, 2019)

There's an article about a superworm fed to a Leo and it regurgitated it the next day and kept bleeding internally for a while link below:
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...eding-caution-zophobas-morio-cricket4u-4.html

I have two Tokay's I keep together male and female without any problems,  if I remove her he calls all day and night and I can't sleep at all because it loud! They just had a hatching and I'm waiting on the mate any day now.  They all refuse any kind of worm,  but they turn to beetles and mass produce like crazy so my viv is pretty much infested now with superworms of all sizes.  I'll be taking them all out and change the dirt. 

The only issue I have is the superworms are vicious, they'll attack my geckos and try to eat them and bite them.  My new hatching is missing half his tail because he doesn't try to run,  just let's them eat at him.  I had to get new soil.  The adults move right away,  but the hatching let's it happen.  I'll never get superworms again


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## mantisfan101 (Oct 20, 2019)

If a tokay gecko can manage to eat snakes and other geckos(search it up), I'm sure that some chitin from a little superworm won't hurt at all.


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## basin79 (Oct 21, 2019)

Mistake.


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## Tim Benzedrine (Oct 29, 2019)

My adult leopard gecko regurged a superworm once. It was a short time later, shorter than it would take a superworm to gnaw its way out, in my opinion. The worm did not look like it was any condition to chomp through anything. It was dead, though I suppose it may have survived being chomped. The point is, the digestive system began pretty quickly, I'm not so sure there would be time to pop out of a lizard. I don't feed them too frequently, for the reason mentioned up-thread, I think that there could be some risk of impaction, particularly if the belly-heat requirement is not sufficiently met. That is not a problem with any of my leopards, though.


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## zyphonix223 (Nov 21, 2019)

blackcadillac70 said:


> i had bought some superworms for my tokay gecko and got them home to try them and they were  oily 1st time iv'e ever tryed them so that was a turnoff.put them up went to p-etco for some waxworms and was telling the lady bout how i didn't care for superworms and she said they could eat through the stomach of a reptile.anyone ever heard this or is she a fruitloop.


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## basin79 (Nov 21, 2019)

I feed Zeus my Tokay gecko morio worms and have done for for years and years with no problems. I also feed Euryale my Cane toad with them without any issues.


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## MoranDisciple (Nov 21, 2019)

basin79 said:


> I feed Zeus my Tokay gecko morio worms and have done for for years and years with no problems. I also feed Euryale my Cane toad with them without any issues.


Toad stomachs are especially tough and leathery to protect against prey that survived being eaten.


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## basin79 (Nov 21, 2019)

MoranDisciple said:


> Toad stomachs are especially tough and leathery to protect against prey that survived being eaten.


I'm sure Zeus doesn't kill every morio worm he swallows. He usually gives them a couple of chews and then swallows. He won't get the head every time.


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## Klavier89 (Oct 16, 2020)

ZergFront said:


> *ummmm...*
> 
> I REEEEALLY don't see that happening. Not after the loud crunches I hear my lizard do eating them. Hehe.
> 
> Actually I'm planning on setting up a breeding terrarium for a couple of the ones I have. My Chinese water dragon doesn't like the beetles at all(the escapees hid under the water bowl and grew). They reek too much. I had picked one up to show my mom and even with three hand washes the stench wouldn't come off. >.<


I know this is old but had to reply. My Blue Tong Skink not only crunches but thrashes the Superworm around before swallowing them. 

Even after eating 10 or so (only on special occasions) the only sideffect is a lizard sitting under his basking lamp looking pleased with himself.


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