Superworm shortage - Internet ordering?

I can't get superworms around here for the life of me. Anyone know a place you can order them that are economical, healthy and they all don't come in dead?

Just wanted to mention, superworms must have the heads cut off before being fed.

I found the thread where the worm bit the inside of the hedgies mouth. I don't normally cut the head off the superworms for feeding my reptiles. But I guess the hedgie's mouths are more soft and prone to worm bites. I'll slice off the heads...Feed the heads to my rats. My rats love superworms. They eat them like licorice.

This guy sells mealworms over the internet. He also sells 'giant mealworms' which are a bit different than superworms. But really, I don't know the difference.

http://www.nyworms.com/giant_mealworms.htm

You get quite a few, but it's probably the only way you're going to find a reliable source.

Found another website. Seriously, all you have to do is google 'superworm'

http://www.wormman.com/cat_superworms.cfm

Yeah, I know, all I have to do is google. I was just looking for recommendations on what others use, due to price, quality, etc.

I don't think that ordering online would be very economical because of the quantity that must be ordered. I think that you would end up paying a whole lot and then having to throw most of them out.

I have one hedgehog and I think that it would take over a year to eat 250 super worms.

I have other animals that eat them though. Turtles and rats. Plus one supply, I could let them breed and hopefully have an endless supply

Jeanette said:

This guy sells mealworms over the internet. He also sells 'giant mealworms' which are a bit different than superworms. But really, I don't know the difference.

http://www.nyworms.com/giant_mealworms.htm

You get quite a few, but it's probably the only way you're going to find a reliable source.

Click to expand...

Giant mealworms are big versions of our small mealworms. They've been treated with a growth hormone to make them get so big--it also makes them sterile, so you can't keep your own colony. Most people recommend against feeding these because it is uncertain what the long term effects of the hormone might have on a hedgehog.

Buying small mealworms and breeding them yourself is really easy (most pet stores carry them), and is what I would recommend in the place of both superworms and giant mealworms. I bought 2 dozen as a start and 1 year later have more than my hedgie will need. They multiply fast, as one beetle is capable of laying 500 eggs.

Petsmart finally got mealworms. I got large ones. Skipped the superworms and giants. Just regular old large mealworms for Fulci.

Have you tried breeding them? They are extremely easy, i wish i had known, i just tossed out a whole container of babies because mine wont eat them & my geckos dont really care much for them either.

Mealworms are even easier to breed & grow much faster!

How does one breed them? My Petsmart finally got them in...I bought 3 tubs of them

Although I'm not a hedgie person, I do fish and had to see what you were talking about!
Some bait shops have large mealworms, I know cheaper than petshops - might check it out!
Just a thought!

They are very simple to raise. As easy as buying a small sterilite tub, putting oatmeal in the bottom, and putting worms in the bedding along with food. I use carrots. Keep them at room temperature. Eventually you will find pupa in the tub, and then beetles. The beetles will lay eggs and begin the life cycle over again. With a new colony I leave the beetles alone for a long time to allow them to reproduce. Once some start to die I will start to feed the ones that are still living. I figure by then there are probably enough eggs to continue the colony.

If you want better instructions, do a google search. You'll find several pages out there with more complicated procedures (including removing the pupa & beetles to a new container, etc).

Rickman said:

Although I'm not a hedgie person, I do fish and had to see what you were talking about!
Some bait shops have large mealworms, I know cheaper than petshops - might check it out!
Just a thought!

Click to expand...

I wouldn't just because you really don't know what's been on them.
Nancy had a bad batch (even from a pet store!) which resulted in a fatality if I remember correctly. As an example, if a dog pees on the worms, you can still fish with them... but would you feed it to your pet?

Those are the equivalent of what you would find in the wild in terms of breeding environment, etc. Pet foods have manufacturing standards, but bait doesn't. I'll just be on the (relatively) safe side and stick with my pet store mealies.

But even then, I don't buy from just any pet store. They have to keep them in a fridge (not like one store around here where they keep them in a bin, on the floor, under a shelf beside where dogs and cats roam around... and live in the store).

Any advice between live and freeze dried? Is one more likely to be safer than the other? Do hedgies prefer one over the other?

Too many freeze dried mealworms can cause blockages. I personally feel it best to avoid them as how many is too many. Live are safer.

Fia is correct, I did have a death caused by contaminated mealworms that were stored under a leaking aquarium at a petstore. I'll tell you which one in private. We would have lost other hedgehogs too except that when Lukes pathology came back we knew which antibiotic to give.

A little off topic, but have you tried feeding crickets? My hedgies love them, and for some reason they seem less gross to me than mealies. They are also lower in fat. I buy the freeze dried ones, I can only imagine a hedgehog trying to catch a live one! I would not use anything that is sold as bait, always only use human grade food for them. You also would not want to feed any worms, crickets, etc. from your yard since they can have fertilizer and all sorts of bad chemicals on them.

Worm Suppliers

Here's a couple options for getting live superworms and mealworms shipped to you. These are all used by sugar glider owners as well.

US Suppliers:
NYWorms
Grubco
WormMan

Canadian Suppliers:
Silkworms
Canadian Feeders


Here are a couple websites and threads from Glider Central about starting your own mealworm farm and how to raise them:

Raising Mealworms
Glider Central-Starting A Farm
Glider Central - Raising Mealworms
Glider Central - Worm Farm Made Easy


(Moderators - if there are problems with these links, please remove these and have people PM me for links!)