Superworms For Bearded Dragons | A-Z Owners Guide

Many owners love to feed their bearded dragons superworms and they are a commonly sold worm throughout the bearded dragon community.

This often leads to lots of questions regarding how healthy superworms are and where’s the best place to buy them.

In this post, you will find we have researched and laid out everything you need to know about superworms as an owner including…

• The best and cheapest places to purchase super worms (with live guarantees)
• If superworms are even healthy for your bearded dragon?
• At what age can your bearded dragon eat superworms?
• If superworms can be a staple food?
• How many superworms to feed your bearded dragon daily?
• If superworms actually bite?
• And more…

So what are superworms? Superworms are large worms that are native to central and South America and are often fed to bearded dragons as part of their regular captive diet. They shouldn’t be offered to bearded dragons under 4 months old. Superworms are considered healthy for bearded dragons when fed as part of a balanced diet.

The Best Places to Purchase Superworms Online For Bearded Dragons

When you decide you want to purchase some superworms online for your bearded dragons, the first thing you notice is that not all sellers are equal and offer the same quality of service.

This can leave you in two minds and unsure of where you will get the best deal including high-quality worms, a low price and a live guarantee.

If you’re not sure what a live guarantee is, then it’s basically a guarantee from the seller where they guarantee the worms will arrive at your door alive.

Not all live guarantees are the same and some have certain criteria that must be met in order for the guarantee to be valid.

We have done the research and put together a list of the best and most trusted superworm sellers online.

Check out the table below that lists our 5 most recommended places to purchase superworms online.

Note: We have also done a more detailed summary of each below the table that shares details about their live guarantee policy and other benefits so you can make the best buying decision and not just on price.

We have listed the sellers in order of the cheapest price per worm.

Fluker Farms

Fluker farms are upon the cheapest we found with the cost per worm as low as $0.04 if you purchase their 250 superworm package.

Flukers also come with a big reputation and are trusted by reptile owners all over the US and UK.

The only thing that may make you think twice about heading straight over there and purchasing your superworms is the fact that their ‘live guarantee’ isn’t very straight forward.

Fluker Farms only guarantee live delivery of your superworms if the temperature is 16°F of above.

If the temperature is below 16°F at the time of purchase you can either decide to ship without a live guarantee or allow Flukers to wait up to 7 days for the temperature to increase to over 16°F before shipping your superworms.

If the temperature doesn’t increase within the 7 day period then you will get a refund on your purchase.

While this seems fair and logical, there are certain places in the US where getting your superworms with a live guarantee might be quite a hassle at certain months of the year.

You can head over to Fluker Farms Here

Josh’s Frogs

Josh’s Frogs is another online seller that has grown in reputation over recent years.

They also have a very low price of $0.04 per superworm which is the same as Fluker Farms.

Again, the worms come with a live guarantee but there are some conditions that need to be met for the guarantee to be valid.

Josh’s Frogs only offer their live guarantee if the temperature remains between 40°F-85°F from the moment the delivery begins to when you receive them.

They do, however, offer a better alive guarantee if you choose next day shipping as the temperatures for the live guarantee then increase to between 0°F-90°F. 

Obviously the delivery will be more expensive for the next day purchase but you have a much better chance of receiving your superworms and if not you have a much better chance of receiving a refund.

You can head over to Josh’s Frogs Here

Backwater Reptiles

The smallest purchase quantity that backwater reptiles do for superworms is 500. This works out at $0.06 per worm.

While it’s slightly more than the previous two, it’s still a great price and they also come with free shipping as standard.

They also offer priority shipping at 2-3 days and overnight as well, obviously, both of these are at an additional cost.

As for the live arrival guarantee, there isn’t much in-depth information about it regarding terms but they clearly state that with your purchase you automatically qualify for their ‘live arrival guarantee’.

The website itself is a little hard to navigate and really needs updating to make it more in line with how other sites operate.

Having said this, once you understand how to navigate the site then it’s pretty straight forward even if it’s a little outdated. 

You can head over to Backwater Reptiles Here

Amazon

As you know, the Amazon marketplace sells just about everything you can think of.

The great thing about Amazon right now is that it’s becoming a huge marketplace for live food for reptiles.

Sellers often try and undercut each other to get the sale and they offer more and more with the purchase to make you choose them instead of another seller.

Big companies such as Flukers Farm and Josh’s Frogs are now selling on Amazon and we believe soon this will become the main hub for the reptile community to purchase live food.

The ease of using Amazon and the fact it’s a platform that everybody knows and trusts makes it appealing for both sellers and customers.

You still have to do your research though, even though you can get some great deals on the Amazon platform with lots of choices, there are still some sellers to stay away from.

We have listed 2 sellers below that are of both great price and good quality and worth giving a try.

Nutricricket

Nutricricket offer supermoms at $0.05 per worm if you purchase their 500 worm package.

They also offer a live arrival guarantee with your purchase. The descriptions on amazon can sometimes be a little vague and leave you with many questions especially regarding the live guarantee.

The live guarantee of Nutricricket is more or less in line with some of the bigger and more established sellers.

They offer there live arrival guarantee if the temperatures of delivery are between 40°-80°F.

If you select the ‘expedited’ shipping option they will increase their temperature allowance to between 30°-90°F.

Overall, purchasing on Amazon is quick, easy and painless and Bassetts are certainly worth taking a look at.

You can check out Nutricricket on Amazon here

Critters Direct

Here’s another seller that is using Amazon to showcase their high-quality feeder insects.

Critters Direct are a little more expensive than the previous sellers we looked at but that doesn’t mean you should disregard them.

The price per superworm works out at  $0.07 if you purchase a reasonable 250, which is obviously more than the other options we have looked at, however, they do offer extremely high-quality worms.

The superworms are shipped in cotton bags that allows them plenty of space to move around in transit as well as providing lots of ventilation.

The superworms are also ‘gut-loaded’ for a minimum of 48 hours before they are shipped.

The worms are gut-loaded with ‘Rep-Cal’ calcium and multivitamin supplements.

This is great and Rep-Calis the calcium supplement we recommend you use to increase your beardie calcium intake.

We’ve written a post that shares the benefits of Rep-Cal and we also list the exact one to use along with the best place to purchase Rep-Cal.

Apart from the calcium and multivitamins, the worms are also gut-loaded with a high calcium vegetable mix too.

Critters Direct do offer a live guarantee on their worm orders, although the details on Amazon aren’t in any great detail.

On their website, they offer a live arrival guarantee if the temperature is between 45-85°F and you also need to select ‘hold for pickup’ in the delivery options for the guarantee to be valid.

‘Hold for pickup’ is a service that keeps your package at the nearest USPS depot to your address until you can pick up the package if you aren’t at home at the time of delivery.

Even though Critters Direct is slightly higher in price than the other options, they certainly provide you with high-quality, gut-loaded worms and are worth checking out.

You can check out Critters Direct on amazon here

Remember: Read the rest of this post to learn everything you need to know about superworms as an owner.

Are Superworms Healthy For Bearded Dragons?

Ok, so now you know the best places to purchase superworms for your bearded dragon, let’s see if superworms are even healthy for your beardie.

Superworms are actually recommended by some of the most trusted experts in reptile care such as Pet-MD who listed superworms on their list of safe and recommended live foods to feed your bearded dragon.

Let’s take a look at the average nutritional information for superworms when compared to other popular insects for bearded dragons.

Nutritional information can differ slightly depending on the source of the information. We have taken the data for this table from Grubco.

Even though superworms are both safe and recommended as live food for bearded dragons, there are still things you need to be aware of before feeding them to your beardie.

Fat Content Of Superworms

As you can see from the table above, superworms are high-fat content. This can be a problem if you overfeed them to adult bearded dragons that don’t need a huge amount of calories as the excess fat can be stored.

The trick here is not to be scared of feeding your adult beardie superworms but just keep an eye on their weight and offer them less if they start to gain too much.

On the flip side, the extra fat content of superworms can also be welcomed by growing bearded dragons that need more calories to support the fast-paced growth they are experiencing.

We’ve actually posted an in-depth article that shows you exactly how fast bearded dragons grow and at what age they are expected to be fully grown. 

The article uses tables and charts which makes it easy to navigate and understand.

Note: Find out below at what age your bearded dragon can actually start feeding on superworms as starting them too young is not recommended.

Superworms Can Cause Impaction

It’s true that superworms can cause your beardie to suffer from impaction (become constipated).

Again, this shouldn’t be something that puts you off feeding your dragons superworms.

Usually, if you keep your beardie hydrated they will have no problems with impaction and most impaction problems are a result of the owner not increasing their beardies hydration levels.

This is actually pretty simple to do and something you ought to get into the habit of anyway.

The easiest way to do this is to use misting. There are many ways to mist your bearded dragon including misting the head, food, tank and more.

We have provided a guide that shows you how to mist your bearded dragon step-by-step using all the different methods.

Can Superworms Be a Staple Food For Bearded Dragons?

So now you know that superworms are both a safe and recommended live food option for bearded dragons, you now want to know if superworms can be a staple food for bearded dragons?

Superworms can be a staple food for bearded dragons as long as you offer them in the correct amounts due to their high-fat content.

As mentioned earlier, you also need to make sure you keep your bearded dragon hydrated too to lessen the risk of impaction but this should be something you do regardless. 

You should never offer superworms to bearded dragons that are too young (details of exact ages are listed later in this post)

Even as a staple food, you should be offering superworms as part of a balanced diet with other insects such as crickets and they shouldn’t be offered exclusively to your beardie.

The bottom line is, just use your intuition as an owner and lookout for signs of impaction or weight gain.

If you see any of these signs then either feed the superworms less often or not at all until they are back to normal.

At What Age Can Bearded Dragons Eat Superworms?

Even though superworms are nutritious and have a regular place in your bearded dragon’s diet, there may be certain ages where they aren’t recommended.

For the purpose of this post, here is a table that details what we consider to be the age criteria of a bearded dragon.

Now let’s look at these different age groups and see if they are safe to eat superworms.

Can Baby Bearded Dragons Eat Superworms?

Baby bearded dragons shouldn’t eat superworms as part of their diet.

This advice is often given by many vets and reptile experts.

Vetmed state in a recent article they wrote, that baby bearded dragons should never be fed insects that are too big for them and feeding small appropriately sized pinhead crickets and such is the best option.

Failure to do this can result in seizures, loss of motor control, partial paralysis and more.

Feeding superworms falls into the category of an insect that’s too large at this time.

Here’s a guide that shows you exactly what to feed a baby bearded dragon, including insects and greens too.

Even though the high calories and fat will help growth, they can also cause some serious health conditions as mentioned above.

Superworms are also known to bite (more on this later) and baby beardies aren’t yet skilled enough to chew and eat superworms successfully without getting a nip from the worms.

Can Juvenile Bearded Dragons Eat Superworms?

As shown in the table above, we consider juvenile bearded dragons to be at the age of 2-4 months.

This age is still thought to be too young to offer superworms to them.

This is for the same reasons as to why you shouldn’t offer them to a baby bearded dragon.

The worms are still too large and they aren’t skilled enough to eat them at this age.

Can Sub-Adult & Adult Bearded Dragons Eat Superworms?

By the time your bearded dragon reaches sub-adult hood at around the age of 4 months old, they are ready to eat superworms.

The concerns that we mentioned above are no longer a concern and you can start to introduce superworms into your beardies diet.

They are great for increasing calories for a growing bearded dragon and supporting the growth they are still experiencing right up to becoming an adult.

This is also backed up by the authors who wrote the best selling ‘Bearded Dragon Manual’ on Amazon, who also recommends introducing superworms from 4 months onwards.

As growth slows down when full adulthood is reached then you may need to decrease the number of superworms you offer your beardie as they won’t need as many calories and any excess could be stored as fat.

The main thing is to just be vigilant and keep an eye on things as they progress into adulthood.

Can Senior Bearded Dragons Eat Superworms?

Bearded dragons are considered ‘senior’ from the age of 6 years plus.

At this age, they can still be offered superworms, however, you will need to observe their weight and maybe decrease how often you feed them.

Remember that older bearded dragons need more greens and veggies as opposed to younger bearded dragons.

Their need for protein and dietary fat is still essential but they don’t require the same amount as they did when they were young.

How Many Superworms Should a Bearded Dragons Eat Each Day?

I suppose it would be great to have a definitive answer of how many superworms you should feed your bearded dragon each day depending on their age.

The truth, however, is that there isn’t a definitive number that you should feed.

Like we have mentioned many times in this post, It’s not always about how many superworms you feed but rather how your beardie responds to them.

Some dragons will put weight on when eating a certain number of superworms.

If this happens, then the answer is to decrease the number of superworms you offer until your beardie looks healthy eating that amount.

Once you hit the sweet spot then this is the correct amount. If you are even confused or need further advice we recommend that you see your local vet as they can take a look at your beardie to give more detailed and personalized advice.

Do Superworms Bite Bearded Dragons?

Superworms can actually bite both you and your bearded dragon.

When picking up superworms we recommend using some feeding tweezers like the ones we share in this post here.

The main reason they bite is due to the fact they are hungry and dehydrated.

This is easily solved by making sure you gut load the superworms prior to feeding them to your dragon.

Use superworm bedding like this one over on Amazon. It’s organic wheat bran, a great price and will lessen the risk of them biting your beardie upon feeding.

Another solution is to actually cut off the heads of the superworms before you feed them to your dragon.

It’s a little tedious but it will eliminate the risk of biting by the worms.

We would recommend gut-loading first and as this is the easier option and usually works.

If you still have a problem with biting then you can cut off the heads.

Biting isn’t something that you need to be scared of though, bites are often very mild and don’t break the skin although we have seen exceptions to the rule.

The main thing is that you ensure the superworms aren’t hungry and dehydrated before feeding them to your dragon.

Are Superworms Or Mealworms Better For Your Bearded Dragon?

A lot of owners would like to know if it’s better to feed superworms or mealworms to your bearded dragon?

First, let’s take a look at the nutritional information for both side by side.

Again, we have used the nutritional data provided by Grubco

As you can see from the data, there isn’t a great deal of difference between them nutritionally.

The main difference is that superworms are much higher in fat and fibre.

The higher amount of fat can either be seen as a good thing or a bad thing depending on the age of your dragon and how much fat and calories they need for growth.

Two distinct advantages of mealworms are that they can be refrigerated as where superworms can’t and they also don’t bite, unlike superworms.

Mealworms also have slightly more protein and calcium to offer although they often have a thick skeleton that can be hard to digest.

There are certainly arguments for both superworms and mealworms and feeding both as part of a balanced diet is recommended.

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