Forget the same old crickets and mealworms. It’s time to upgrade your reptile’s feeding routine with the highest quality earthworms on the market!
Worms are a natural, irresistible, and nutrient-dense prey item that provides superior moisture and enrichment. Whether you keep a tiny Crested Gecko or a monstrous Blue-Tongued Skink, there is a perfect worm waiting to become their new favourite meal.
Why Worms?
Live food provides enrichment, stimulating natural hunting behaviours, as well as delivering optimal nutrition. Earthworms, in particular, are a superior feeder insect for many reptiles for several key reasons:
- Packed with protein – earthworms are packed with protein essential for your reptile’s growth, tissue repair, and overall development.
- Easy hydration – earthworms have a high moisture content that provides extra hydration for reptiles.
- Essential enrichment – worms are especially enriching for reptiles as they love the thrill of hunting, capturing, and devouring live prey.
- Vital nutrients – earthworms, especially if gut-loaded, are full of nutrients that reptiles need to survive like vitamins A, E, and B.
Our Top 10 Reptiles and their Favourite Worms
Leopard Geckos
One of the world’s most popular pet lizards, the Leopard Gecko benefits hugely from a varied diet that includes earthworms.
Favourite food: Small or Mixed Dendrobaena Worms
Why: Leopard Geckos thrive on dietary variety. Small Dendrobaenas are an excellent source of protein and moisture and are easily manageable for this popular lizard. They provide a great change-up from crickets and mealworms.
Adult Bearded Dragon
As active, large lizards, Bearded Dragons require a substantial, high-quality protein source to meet their adult energy needs.
Favourite food: Lobworms – Large/Med
Why: Adult Bearded Dragons need substantial prey. Lobworms are large, meaty, and high in protein, making them an enriching staple or a generous, stimulating treat. They mimic the kind of large prey a dragon would forage for in the wild.
Blue-Tongued Skink
These smart, opportunistic omnivores are renowned for their love of large, nutrient-dense prey items.
Favourite food: Lobworms – Large/Med
Why: These Australian omnivores love big, wriggly food. Lobworms perfectly match a skink’s need for large, high-protein prey and their foraging nature. They are an ideal staple for a healthy, varied skink diet.
African Fat-Tailed Gecko
Similar in size and care to Leopard Geckos, Fat-Tails are another excellent candidate for moisture-rich, soft-bodied worm feeders.
Favourite food: Small or Mixed Dendrobaena Worms
Why: Dendrobaenas are soft-bodied, palatable, and deliver a valuable hydration boost, which is excellent for this gecko species.
Box Turtle
For terrestrial and semi-aquatic turtles, earthworms are not just a food source—they are a vital, natural part of their diet.
Favourite food: Large Dendrobaena Worms
Why: Earthworms are a natural and essential part of the diet for many terrestrial and semi-aquatic turtles. Lobworms provide an easy-to-accept, high-quality protein source that is crucial for their overall health and shell development.
Juvenile Water Dragon
These fast-moving, semi-aquatic lizards require constant stimulation and a varied intake of prey to fuel their rapid growth.
Favourite food: Mixed Dendrobaena Worms
Why: Water Dragons are active, fast-growing lizards that need a varied diet. Offering mixed dendrobaena worms ensures they get varied prey sizes and provides great enrichment as they chase the worms around their enclosure.
Crested Gecko
While primarily relying on fruit-based powdered diets, Crested Geckos still benefit from the occasional live feeder to encourage hunting and provide supplemental protein.
Favourite food: Small Dendrobaena Worms
Why: While their staple diet is usually powdered, live worms are vital for mental stimulation. Small Dendrobaenas are a fantastic, high-protein treat that encourages natural hunting, provided they are offered via tongs or in a shallow dish.
Juvenile Green Anole
For keepers of smaller, more delicate lizards, earthworms offer a soft, manageable, and highly nutritious supplement.
Favourite food: Small Dendrobaena Worms
Why: The small size of the Dendrobaena makes them a perfect, nutritious offering for smaller lizards like Anoles. These worms are best served chopped slightly or presented on a leaf to suit the Anole’s arboreal (tree-dwelling) nature.
Chameleons
Chameleons are renowned insect specialists, but offering a gut-loaded worm can provide a nutrient blast not easily matched by standard insect feeders.
Favourite food: Mixed Dendrobaena Worms
Why: Although they prefer insects, Chameleons can greatly benefit from the nutritional density of a worm. Worms provide an excellent “gut-loaded” meal, offering a calcium and protein boost, and are best presented directly via tongs.
Tegu (Juvenile)
These highly intelligent and very large lizards have an insatiable appetite for protein during their juvenile growth phase.
Favourite food: Extra Large Dendrobaena Worms
Why: Juvenile Tegus are incredibly carnivorous and have massive appetites to fuel their rapid growth. Large Dendrobaenas provide a hearty, natural, and nutritionally rich meal that satisfies their need for substantial prey items.
Tip: Gut-Loading Your Worms
To ensure your reptiles get maximum nutrition, you must keep the worms healthy and “gut-load” them correctly. This involves feeding the worms a nutrient-rich diet prior to offering them to your reptiles. By doing so, the beneficial nutrients consumed by the worms are passed on to your reptiles, improving their overall health, vitality, and development.
Final Thoughts
Adding high-quality, worm-based live food to your reptile’s diet is one of the best ways to provide variety, natural enrichment, and superior nutrition. By choosing Dendrobaena and Lobworms from a reputable supplier, you guarantee your pet is receiving the best.
View our full range of live reptile food.