Your reptile can benefit from live food such as lobworms and dendrobaena worms in so many ways. Packed with protein, calcium and other essential minerals and nutrients, live worms are the closest thing to the natural diet of many reptiles and amphibians. To get the best out of your live reptile food, storing them and caring for them correctly is essential.
In this post, we’ll be sharing some tips on keeping your live worms at their best.
Environment
If you plan to use up your live dendrobaena worms for the short term, from a few days to a week, you can keep them in the bag they came in, which is likely to include bedding that will last for a few days. After this, new bedding can be added. This could include torn-up newspaper, dead leaves, peat, or other natural materials. Make sure to leave plenty of space for the worms to move about, and don’t overfill the bag.
It’s recommended to store the worms in their bag at a cool temperature. Keeping them in a cool shed, garage or outbuilding is ideal, but they can also be stored in a refrigerator if it’s around 10 degrees. When feeding your reptiles, only take out what you need, as a sudden change in temperature will have a negative effect on the worms.
Long term storage
If you are planning to keep your live reptile feed for a longer time, they should be moved to a larger container such as a bucket or large, ventilated plastic box. It’s best to half-fill it with bedding, but make sure not to use soil. Again, keeping them in a cool place such as a shed or garage is ideal.
Feeding your Live Worms
Dendrobaenas and lobworms of all sizes spend most of their time eating natural produce and vegetation, as well as some papers. Green waste from the kitchen is ideal, especially root vegetable peels from potatoes and carrots. It’s best to avoid anything spicy or citrusy like orange peel and ginger, as it can have a negative effect on the health of the worms.
They can also eat wet cardboard and newspaper, as it’s made from wood. In the wild, they can eat wood and other plant fragments, as well as dead leaves. Mashed potato is also a viable option, in small amounts – perfect for when you made too much mash for dinner.
Temperature
It’s essential for live reptile food to be kept in a cool and damp setting at all times, as this is most similar to their natural habitat. While they are hardy and resilient, and can survive in hotter and colder conditions, they are at their best in temperatures that are around 1—15 degrees Celsius. If the environment is too hot, it can lose moisture that is essential for your worms’ survival. Make sure their bedding is topped up with water so it stays damp.
Here at Yorkshire Worms, we sell dendrobaena worms and lob worms as reptile live food. They are available in a range of sizes, from small to extra-large. They are also available in packs of mixed sizing.
Click here to view our online store.