Feeding Phoenix Worms

[Falconeer999]

My bearded just turned 4 months yesterday and she's not a great eater compared to what I hear others eating. She'll eat 8-13 crickets a day, in one feeding of about 15 minutes. If I offer them to her more than once a day, rarely will she take them. Usually she'll just look at the cricket and then close her eyes and pretend they aren't there. She'll also only eat them off of tweezers or if they are within 5-6 steps of her. Otherwise she'll just watch them run around and if they get within the 5-6 step radius, then eat them (unlike my leopard gecko who will hunt/chase them all over the place).

I keep veggies in with her (collards, green peppers, yellow squash, little bit of cantaloupe) which I see her nibbling on from time to time.

She's about 11-12" from nose to tail (going to measure tonight for accurate size) and just had a complete body shed 2 days ago. I've had her for a little over a month now.

She's in a 20L tank with a basking spot of 108-110 degrees (taken with a heat gun) and cool side of 75-80 during the day. Night gets down to about 70-75 ambient with her floor (ceramic tile) staying around 74 surface temp. In addition to the basking lamp, have a Zilla desert slimline UVB light.

I've read that Phoenix worms are an even better alternative to crickets (Nutrition Content (http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html) rates them as a "staple item"). I have a couple hundred headed my way to see if she likes them (I know my gecko will eat them if she doesn't - gecko will devour any food put in front of her). Do you keep the same guideline in feeding Phoenix worms as crickets - as many as will be eaten in 10-15 minutes?

[Little Wise Owl]

I would follow the same routine with phoenix worms as you would crickets. Just keep in mind that phoenix worms are TINY. Even the large ones, so you might through a hundred in a day or two.

She could be slowing down due to the time of the year. My large, male dragon is brumating as we speak. He's eaten very little of anything and just loafs around all day.

[Falconeer999]

From what I'd read, I didn't think they brumated the first year. She was hatched 8/4/12 and has had the same eating habits since I got her on 11/4/12.

I ordered 200 of the large ones to start to see if they interested her at all. I saw how tiny they were and I can definitely see going through them quickly, and they aren't all that cheap (think it was around $45 w/shipping for 1000 right from phoenixworms.com).

She is eating the crickets and growing so I'm not overly worried - but just isn't the voracious eater I hear so much about. Just wanting to make sure she's getting what she needs.

[beardeds4life]

I do not think she is brumating. They usually do not the first year. I would follow the same routine as crickets.

[ashleynicole]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RogS0TnMKqg&feature=youtube_gdata_player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZU5TGuUBBs&feature=youtube_gdata_player



It could be your uvb. You need at least a 10 bulb amd reptisun is highly reccomended.

Also try tossing the crickets in the freezer for about 15 seconds. This cools them down so they don't run and your beardie went have to chase them.

I have actually been gutloading 1000 crickets at a time and then thawing out only as many as I need for feeding. Thaw at room temp for about 30 minites, dust, and feed. See my video link above. Yum! Lol

[Lankyrob]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RogS0TnMKqg&feature=youtube_gdata_player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZU5TGuUBBs&feature=youtube_gdata_player



It could be your uvb. You need at least a 10 bulb amd reptisun is highly reccomended.

Also try tossing the crickets in the freezer for about 15 seconds. This cools them down so they don't run and your beardie went have to chase them.

I have actually been gutloading 1000 crickets at a time and then thawing out only as many as I need for feeding. Thaw at room temp for about 30 minites, dust, and feed. See my video link above. Yum! Lol

Why would you not want the lizard to hunt? Surely the best practice is to have the lizard feeding as naturally as possible including hunting its prey?

[Falconeer999]

Well I got my phoenix worms in and what I've been doing is I'll leave 10 or so of them in a cup during the day, since I'm not there to feed 3 times a day (on weekends, I try 3, but she'll only eat twice), and feed crickets at night. I've noticed that in doing this, she is a lot more active when I do her cricket feedings and will chase them a bit more. She's also a lot more active overall. She's also eating her greens a lot more.

I'm not sure if it's coincidental or a direct relation to the worms. I got 200 worms so we'll see if this keeps up over a little bit longer term.

I'll keep the frozen method in mind, but for right now, since I am seeing an increase in activity with this method, I'm going to stick with it. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[jovamabob]

My beardie always had a few phoenix/calciworms in a dish 24/7. Whenever the worms started going black i'd just put them in his bowl and he'd eat them as and when. The black ones are almost ready to pupate and are the highest in calcium.

He'd wake up in a morning and would have a few for breakfast while i was still asleep. I'd feed him his crickets early afternoon (only dusted every few days because of the high calcium in the worms) and check the phoenix worm dish. Later on when he was a little hungry he'd have a couple more worms. If the bowl of worms was particularly full, he'd not have crickets that day and would eat the worms as his main meal too. He preferred to eat ad-lib rather than two main meals so this was a good compromise.

[jarich]

Well I got my phoenix worms in and what I've been doing is I'll leave 10 or so of them in a cup during the day, since I'm not there to feed 3 times a day (on weekends, I try 3, but she'll only eat twice), and feed crickets at night. I've noticed that in doing this, she is a lot more active when I do her cricket feedings and will chase them a bit more. She's also a lot more active overall. She's also eating her greens a lot more.

I'm not sure if it's coincidental or a direct relation to the worms. I got 200 worms so we'll see if this keeps up over a little bit longer term.

I'll keep the frozen method in mind, but for right now, since I am seeing an increase in activity with this method, I'm going to stick with it. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Glad to hear there is an increase in activity and eating. Leaving food there in a cup sounds like a good idea. You could also up the basking temperature a bit if its feasible. Generally those temps you listed were suggested ambient temps for basking, so the surface temp would be much higher. I keep mine around 125-130 and they make use of it daily.

[Falconeer999]

I don't know if I want to increase them too much more - I'll see her bask for a while then open her mouth to cool off, so I think she's getting warm enough. I have things set up so that she has a hide under her basking spot - so the hide stays very warm. She'll spend way more time in there in the shade and warm than on the actual basking spot (she'll go to the basking spot right before feeding time and right after feeding time and a couple times for 10-15 minutes throughout the day).

I'm just about out of the phoenix worms so thinking about placing another order. She's doing well with them supplementing her crickets. Tried feeding some to my leopard gecko - she tried a couple and then would pick around them to get her meal worms. She's not a fan.

[jarich]

Fair enough, I suppose all individuals make different use of the temp gradients.