Superworm "myth"

[contracteryin]

So, I was just browsing around another gecko site I'm on, geckos unlimited. Recently I've seen a lot of poles about superworm myths and blablabla. I personally have never had any issues with superworms. However, I want everyone to look at what a superworm did to this persons gecko:

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...eding-caution-zophobas-morio-cricket4u-4.html

For those who don't want to look or read all the words, long story short the superworm caused serious damage to her gecko including a large amount of bleeding. This was the next morning after feeding the worm (graphic):
http://www.onlinegeckos.com/media/superworm-injuries/superworm-injuries1.jpg

The worm was also whole and thrown up.

To say the least this has scared the heck out of me because I don't want this to happen to my gecko, or anyones gecko at that. So, if you want to still feed them (I'm thinking no, or very little) then break their jaws first, that way they can't cause this.

Anyone who wants to say this is fake, just read the thread and look at all the pictures.

 

[GeekyGecko]

Eee, superworms creep me out. They move wayyy too fast and look like if they bit me it would hurt. I actually have some that I feed to my big boy Thor, but once those are gone I probably won't buy any more. Not worth the chance. Plus, like I said, they are freaky. ;D

 

[Angrychair]

hmm,

my super snow female likes them.

My bold stripe female won't eat them, she's being odd and won't eat anything right now, but that's a different story/subject.

My male blizzard who is sick and underweight was eating them, but always puking them back up. He's doing better now that I'm only feeding him mealworms. Makes me really wonder.


Well, from now on only my frilled dragon is getting super worms. He chews them up really good.

 

[ceduke]

I'm a wee bit overprotective of my animals, so I avoid supers after seeing that post. My gecko gets enough variety without adding these.

 

[NinjaDuo]

I can't see the pic, but supers are fine... The dozens of geckos I've had all ate them. But sometimes weird stuff happens. Overall though, they're fine to feed. I've always squished the head before I fed them though.

 

[katie_]

I think its hard to say that the super worm caused that gecko to deficate blood. It looks that way, but it COULD be a coincidence.
All my geckos get supers as a regular staple, even young ones.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

I think its hard to say that the super worm caused that gecko to deficate blood. It looks that way, but it COULD be a coincidence.
All my geckos get supers as a regular staple, even young ones.

If you have some special medical expertise that could explain it better, please by all means, go for it. Because obviously, for you to be contrary, you must have a different explanation that makes more sense right?

It's one thing to say feeding superworms are fine, to that I'll agree, I still use superworms in fact I have geckos that won't eat anything other than superworms. But don't try to say what happened to my gecko didn't happen.

It's moot point to keep saying I have such & such # of geckos and such & such never happened to me. Another forum member Aliza recently posted that a super was crawling through her gecko's ear tunnel. Freaky, shocking, crazy sounding? Sure. But I'm not going to say since I have 40 geckos and it has never happened to any of them, that she was mistaken and it didn't happen.

Things happen all the time, most people don't post about it. Just because it never happened to you doesn't mean it can't happen. I'm not really sure how what I posted on another forum ended up in a thread titled "superworm myth" because I'm pretty sure the myth people are talking about are supers eating through the stomach. I've already stated that I've never seen nor heard a valid case where supers ate through a gecko's stomach, so sure, it could be a myth. But supers causing injures to geckos? Happens more often than you think, especially when a vet has told me he has treated quite a few geckos with bite wounds inside the mouth, wounds that got infected.

Anyways, supers should be safe to feed, unless you have a gecko that does not like to chew and swallows feeders in whole. I have one, and unfortunately it happened to her, but she survived and she's doing very well right now. I feed her dubias now instead since she won't touch supers, but not that I can blame her. If you have a gecko that likes to swallow without chomping, you can feel at ease by simply crushing the super's mandibles which doesn't kill them, or just crush their heads if you're feeding off tongs since geckos often won't touch a dead superworm that's sitting in a dish.

 

[mudskipper]

Those are scary pictures. I'm glad your leo recovered ok. I have been reading posts from chameleon forums where superworms have bitten chameleons' lips or faces just before I found this thread.

I have a question about feeding superworms with their heads crushed or cut off. How long do they still wiggle? I do this to mealworms when I feed them to my ants, but they die instantly and don't move at all. I guess you can only feed one crushed superworm at a time and can't cut off all their heads and dump them in a bowl?

 

[panthergecko]

They last around 5 to 10 minutes in my experience without heads, my gecko is a messy eater usually breaking a superworm in half.
crushing head seems to temporarily disable them not sure of long term since they are eaten quickly

 

[panthergecko]

They last around 5 to 10 minutes in my experience without heads, my gecko is a messy eater usually breaking a superworm in half.
crushing head seems to temporarily disable them not sure of long term since they are eaten quickly but i have seem some move again after head crushing

 

[WilliamTheLeopardGecko]

That's horrible!!! I have a juvenile but when he gets older I am NEVER going to give him those!!!(William is my first real pet so I am very protective.)