Why Choose Live Insects For Your Pets?
Live insects are a wonderful choice for pet lizards, frogs, birds and even chickens! Not only are live insects nutritionally rich - providing vitamins and minerals, fibre and protein - but they also help alleviate boredom for your pets and can stimulate natural feeding behaviors.
Which Live Feeder Is Best For My Pet?
While live feeders vary in nutritional content, and you may prefer to feed one over another, you may also find that your pet develops his or her own “favourites”! Just like us, our pets can also be a little on the fussy side sometimes, so there may be some trial and error involved in figuring out what he does or doesn’t enjoy. However, the guide below is a good starting point:
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Black Soldier Fly Larvae, or BSFL in larvae stage are ideal feeders for frogs, reptiles and insectivorous birds. If they are allowed to develop into flies, they also become favoured by small reptiles, frogs, geckos, spiders and scorpions.
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Crickets are the longstanding most popular choice for a wide array of reptile pets. They are a highly active live feeder, encouraging energetic feeding and activity from pets. Highly recommended for lizards such as Bearded Dragons, Green Tree Frogs, large fish and birds, live crickets are considered a staple for both reptiles and frogs.
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Earthworms offer low protein and fat content and as such, they are a great choice as a treat or some diet variety for lizards, large fish, birds and frogs. With their low calcium to phosphorus ratio, they do require calcium dusting prior to feeding.
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House Fly Pupae are a nutritious live feeder, and their lack of movement means that they are easy to catch for your pet. However, this lack of movement may also mean you face difficulties in your reptiles and frogs being drawn to them as food. If your pets need encouragement, mixing fly pupae with other insects (such as mealworms) will encourage your pets to feast on them. With successful encouragement, fly pupae are a strong food choice for frogs, reptile and insectivorous birds. House Fly Pupae will soon hatch into flies which are perfect active food for frogs, baby izards, spiders and scorpions.
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Mealworms, Giant Mealworms and Superworms are a popular choice for breeding insectivorous birds and feeding chickens, but their high fat content and hard exoskeleton (or chitin) mean they should only be an occasional treat for your lizard and frogs, as too many are believed to cause gut impaction. As a treat, they can also be used to stimulate a good feeding response in many pets. Mealworms are great feeders for chickens.
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Silkworms are a fantastic choice for both amphibians and reptiles due to their high protein content. Their movement encourages a great feeding response in large fish, lizards, birds and frogs. Live silkworms which have been raised exclusively on mulberry leaves are one of the most nutritious choices for reptiles and frogs with a high protein level and moderate calcium to phosphorus ratio. They also have soft exo-skeletons which makes them easy to digest and unlikely to cause gut impaction.
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Wood Roaches or woodies are popular due to their ability to stimulate a good feeding response in numerous pets - including chickens and frogs! They do have a low calcium to phosphorus ratio and should be dusted with calcium powder prior to feeding.
How Do I Store Live Feeder Insects?
Live feeders have a range of storage requirements, an important factor to note prior to purchase. There are several general guidelines which apply to all kinds of live feeders, such as:
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Toxins - Live feeders must be stored in a well-ventilated area that doesn’t risk any exposure to toxic fumes which include cleaning products, smoke and insecticides. Additionally, any fresh produce provided to the live feeders should be washed thoroughly to ensure any residual insecticides are washed away.
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Ventilation - In addition to reducing the risk of toxic fumes, a well-ventilated storage area and container are essential to help keep moisture and condensation at bay. High humidity poses an extreme risk to the wellbeing of your live feeders.
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Light - Live feeders should always be stored in a darker area, away from direct sunlight.
Live Insects - Quick Guide
Mealworms, Superworms
Giant Mealworms, Morio Worms, Tropical Worms
Woodies
Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Fly Pupae
Earthworms
Silkworms
Specific Live Feeder Care
We have covered the specific care of a range of live feeders in our series of Care Sheets:
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Guide - Live Insect Arrival
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Guide - Best Feeder Insects for Reptiles and Frogs
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Cricket Care Sheet
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Mealworm Care Sheet
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Woodies Care Sheet
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Black Soldier Fly Larvae Care Sheet
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Superworm Care Sheet
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Giant Mealworm Care Sheet
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Fly Pupae Care Sheet
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Earthworm Care Sheet
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Bird Eating Spider Care Sheet
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Live Insect Summer Guide
About PetWave
PetWave is an Australian online pet supply company that is expert in shipping delicate, live and frozen products to you and your pet’s door. We know that your time is valuable & you want access to reliable, premium products at perfect prices. We are able to satisfy your needs through our premium online offer. We are very proud to offer the highest quality and largest selection of live fish, aquarium plants and driftwood creations, a wide range of live food such as insects, frozen pet food especially for snakes, lizards, amphibians and birds of prey and many rare, creative and beautiful decorations for your aquarium and terrarium.