someone posted a website some time ago, with nutritional info on most of the feeders..it was really interesting.
I would think superworms would be quite high in fat content, and there is less hard body parts that are indigestable.
I don't feed crickets anymore, and my Ts seem plumper, being fed less often on roaches, waxworms, mealworms, and superworms.
Maybe someone still has that link and can post it
It would seem to me that gut loading the crickets would make them more nutritional. The store I buy mine from feed them a diet of fish flakes and oranges. Then I feed them Flukers at home, and about once a month I'll dust a batch for feeding.
Holley,
Can you gut load the items you feed? I'm wondering, cause I'd like to get away from crics myself.
but my question now if you all try to get away from the crickets feeder, how do you feed superworm to your T. it will burrow in the substrate if let loose. any tips.
me too is trying to get away from crickets, primary reason is it's noisy.
well, they DO bury themselves quite quickly, and some of my Ts are reluctant to eat them.
For those, I wait till they are in the beetle stage, and feed them those.
YOu can also try putting them in a bowl with sides they cannot crawl out of.
My ts have gotten used to a superworm deposited on THEM, LOL
they usually grab it right away.
My L parahybanas love to wait till it's burrowed, then dig it up!
Not all Ts will like superworms, you'll just have to experiment.
which is more nutritional, the gut loaded cricket or gut loaded beetle? for i know the nutritional aspect of a superworm is different from the beetle, i may be wrong thou.
and that is the one question that I do not know the answer to LOL...but hopefully someone else will.
I STILL suspect the mealworm, but I don't know for certain
I really don't care which one is better. They seem the same to me. The beetles, however, are much easier to care for and pretty much sustain themselves if given enough food and water. To make them as nutritious as I can, I feed my beetle/mealworm colony everything, including bread, meat, and fruits. May be I should start a superworm/superbeetle colony as well for variety.
I was told by a local exotic pet shop owner, that you shouldn't feed tarantulas the beetles that come from superworms. I forgot the exact reason, but it had something to do with a defense mechanism of that particular beetle. He recommended sticking with the larger varieties of mealworms.
Anyone else got anything to say on this. I'm interested.
i don't think we can, or almost anyone for that matter, can talk about the nutritional value of different bugs....
frankly, most of us don't know what the nutritional needs of an arachnid are.....
i know because of my gliders and dragons, that mealworms are higher in fat.... but who knows if fat effects tarantulas like it does us...
i have fed superworms to some of my spiders, but i've found that its more of a hassle than crickets.... plus i don't pay for crickets anymore.... once in a while i throw one in for my A. geniculata since it pounces anything quicker than they can burrow.
though i don't know about this defense mechinism they speak of.... i do know that i found beetles in my leopard geckos tank a few times and i've found them in my bearded dragon enclosure... both animals that ate a lot and they stayed away from those beetles....
i've never heard of them being dangerous or toxic though... but if animals don't like eating them because of taste or smell, i guess they could cause some stress.
"superworms" and "mealworms" both belong in the family Tenebrionidae. Adult beetles in this family secrete a noxious oil onto their exoskeletons when disturbed, which is mainly a defense against vertabrates and anything that can "taste". As far as I know, it just makes them taste bad, not toxic. If your T's eat mealworm beetles, then they can probably eat superworm beetles.
MY T's do well on crickets but this spring when it warms up I am going to start a roach colony - which will be a chore since I despise roaches to the point that touching them gives me the willies... yeah I know Im a puss - thanks for reminding me.
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