Butterworms?

[muddled]

I'm following the diet plan on tortoiseyard.com, redfoots.com and redfoottortoise.com -- so far I've fed my RF hatchling hibiscus, romaine lettuce, turnip greens, apples, mangos, strawberries, and last week on meat day I fed my tortoise hard boiled eggs. But it seems that butterworms are the best choice for redfoots, so here I am with questions...

How many butterworms am I supposed to feed the tortoise per serving? I couldn't find specific info on that. And, how many do you recommend I buy? There's an option of buying either 50, 125, or 250. I don't want want to buy too little of then, but then again I don't want to have worms stocked in my fridge for half a year uneaten.

I tried calling local pet stores to see if they have butterworms, they didn't have any but most times when they asked me whom I was feeding butterworms to I was told that I should not feed protein to any tortoises. I'm going to assume that they all didn't research on redfoots? I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to have to buy the butterworms online because obviously I have bad luck locally. ._.

 

[Laura]

How long do they live and can you raise them yourself? Life Meal worms.. Very easy to do so,, not sure about Butterworms..

 

[Yvonne G]

If I'm remembering correctly, you don't store the butterworms in the fridge. And they really smell bad. I bought some for my box turtle babies once, and they smelled so bad I've never bought them again. The reason no one tells you how many to buy is because different sized tortoise would eat a different amount of worms. A baby tortoise probably would only eat two or three,while an adult would be able to scarf down the whole tub-o-worms!!

Yvonne

 

[muddled]

Really? O<O I kept reading on how they smell citrus-y or something, I guess they're not as cute anymore lol. What's the proper way to store them? I guess if only two or three will be eaten per week I might as well buy the smallest package?

 

[Yvonne G]

You would have to ask the person who sells them to you, but if I'm remembering correctly, they just get left in their tub on the counter...not in the fridge.

Yvonne

 

[james]

Butterworms smell GREAT!!! Really fruity. I use them all the time for my bearded dragon. It is the ONLY worm he seeks out and loves. They are stored in the fridge. I get mine from mulberryfarms.com If you go to beautifuldragons.com you will also find the nutritional content of Butterworms.

 

[muddled]

I was going to place an order for butterworms, but someone recommended me that I should try feeding him mealworms who are much cheaper just to see if he would eat them, because Mater's never had a worm to eat before. It seems like he's terrified of the worms He'll try to eat anything, even the floor when there's nothing in there, but he immediately starts to run away when he sees the worms.

Is that reaction towards the mealworm the same that your bearded dragon has? I still have hope that maybe he'd warm up to the butterworms better because they smell nice (I think?) but I don't want to put a $20+ order just to end up with more uneaten insects :x

 

[Crazy1]

I don't know about the butterworms but what about the cat food suggested on redfoots.com ? Since you have a cat and a red ear slider they could all be eating it and you don't have an added expense. Just thinking aloud here. Also Meal worms can be fed to your RES.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I think Yvonne is getting superworms and butterworms mixed up. I buy superworms regularly for my box turtles and they sink bad. Butter worms don't smell and I think you keep them in the 'fridge...

 

[baseballturtle48]

I occasionally buy 250 butterworms at a time from carolinapetsupply.com. I'm feeding a lot of critters, though--boxies, beardie, leo geckos, aquatic turtles--so they don't last more than 6 or 8 weeks. They are high in calcium and because they're expensive they are more of a treat than a staple.

 

[Yvonne G]

I think Yvonne is getting superworms and butterworms mixed up. I buy superworms regularly for my box turtles and they sink bad. Butter worms don't smell and I think you keep them in the 'fridge...

YES!! Super worms! Thanks, Maggie.

Yvonne

 

[muddled]

Superworms!!! I mixed it up too, I bought 5 superworms (not mealworms) and Mater was terrified of them. They eventually died on their own, and yes those things stink, BLEH!!

 

[terryo]

I used to get meal worms and wax worms. They don't last long and turn black. Now I get the butter worms. They make a nest kind of thing with a little hole and stay in there. I put them in the refrigerator and they last so long. I've never had one die. My boxie loves them. Pio, my Cherry Head won't eat anything live. He actually backs up away from a worm. I have tried everything (except pinkies....could never do that, even if they were frozen) The only protien he will eat is the low fat cat food.

 

[Flametorch]

Butterworms are usually pretty expensive because they're imported from chile (I think) as well they have a high fat and protein content. They can take up to six years to mature, so they should last long; just cultivating them would be hard (and most likely illegal lol). They're supposed to be reliant on the trevo bush (Which is why they are sometimes called trevo worms). I found a site that sells them but I would use it more for an example than actually purchasing from them if you're out of state http://www.nyworms.com/trevoworms.htm Lol sorry for the big rant

 

[heyjude55]

I have been feeding my 3-toed box turtle butterworms for a while now. He loves them. I order them from a bait company in Indiana (I'm in Illinois). They're a bit pricey but they last forever on the inside door of the frig where it doesn't get as cold as it does on the inside shelf area. I highly recommend butterworms.