The bearded dragon’s diet is composed of insects and plant-based food. These reptiles are omnivores and need a wide variety of food on their diet.

Bearded dragons eat insects like cockroaches, crickets, and even different types of worms. But can bearded dragons eat nightcrawlers as well as earthworms and the likes?

Regardless of whether insects are toxic or not, bearded dragons will eat them. Food in the wild can be hard to come by. That’s why they will resort to anything around them. Bearded dragons eat earthworms as well as nightcrawlers.

Although in captivity, beardies don’t have food scarcity anymore. They may still eat nightcrawlers when they have other food choices around.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Nightcrawlers?

Yes, bearded dragon can eat nightcrawlers, earthworms, as well as red worms. But they should only eat these occasionally. If you decide to feed your beardie some nightcrawlers, make sure it’s from the pet store. It’s safer to buy from there since wild worms from the garden may not be safe for your pet.

They might be carrying parasites and pass to your beardie. Nightcrawlers, red worms, or earthworms can be given as a treat.

It’s high in fat and can make your bearded dragon obese. Pet bearded dragons don’t exercise as much as their wild counterparts.

Why Are Nightcrawlers Good for Bearded Dragons?

1. Protein Source

As a bearded dragon owner, you have to try to provide a similar diet to your beardie. That must include enough live feed. It will be a good source of protein for your pet.

Feeding your bearded dragon earthworms and Nightcrawlers can be an affordable source of protein.

These types of foods are rich in protein which bearded grains need for their growth and development. Both juvenile and adult bearded dragons will benefit from eating nightcrawlers.

Younger bearded dragons need more protein on their diet. It’s a good idea to offer it to them.

2. Vitamins and Minerals

Aside from protein, nightcrawlers also provide vitamins and minerals. That includes copper, iron, manganese, and amino acids.

It will help the bearded dragon to break down the food they eat. This can also help with the absorption of essential nutrients which aids tissue repair.

Nightcrawlers and earthworms are also good sources of calcium. It’s the most important nutrition that bearded grains need.

Calcium helps with the development of and avoids illnesses like a metabolic bone disease. This may happen due to a lack of calcium.

3. Great Source of Moisture

Bearded dragons seem to be uncomfortable drinking water from their bowls. They need to have plenty of water to stay hydrated.

But offering them a bowl of water may not work sometimes. Offer them food that is high in water such as nightcrawlers and earthworms.

Both types of work are the perfect solution if your beardie doesn’t like drinking water directly.

Nightcrawlers and earthworms contain 95% of water. Feeding it with nightcrawlers will help your dragon to avoid dehydration. It’s very bad for your pet.

4. Contains Healthy Fats

Nightcrawlers and earthworms happen to eat foods that come with high-fat content. Fats will help your bearded dragon to stay active. It can also regulate their body temperature.

As well as including the overall hormonal production. It contains healthy fats but feeds it to your beardie sparingly to avoid obesity.

How to Prepare Nightcrawlers for Your Bearded Dragon?

1. Wash Thoroughly

Once you have harvested a good amount of nightcrawlers, make sure to wash them first. Even if you bought from the pet store or harvested them, wash them through.

The main reason for this is to wash away your beardie from chemical contamination. Take out dead worms before you offer the live ones to your beardie.

2. Dust with Calcium Powder

Nightcrawlers and earthworms have calcium which they need to grow and develop. Before feeding your pet, make sure to add some dust with calcium.

Use a salt shaker to coat the worms to increase their nutritional value. Bearded dragons need a lot of calcium.

How to Feed Nightcrawlers to Bearded Dragons?

1. Juvenile Beardie

Bonding with your juvenile bearded dragon is possible. Just feed your beardie from your hand or use a pair of tweezers.

As long as you’re holding the food, your pet will be happy. Make sure to cut them into small pieces to avoid choking. Juveniles need more protein on their diets than plant-based food.

2. Adult Dragon

If you have an adult bearded dragon, it’s already well developed. It means it can easily digest nightcrawlers and other worms.

There’s no need to slice it anymore. You can hold the worm with your finger and feed it to your bearded dragon like that.

Add one or two worms to the bowl and let it use its mouth. The adult dragon can already eat the worm as it is.

Just make sure that the edge of the bowl is not too high for your pet. They also need their greens since they need more fiber than protein.

Read Next Where to Get Worms for Bearded Dragons?

What are the Risks of Feeding Worms to Bearded Dragons?

1. Calcium-Phosphorus Ratio

Calcium is essential for bearded dragons. They need a lot of this nutrient to keep their bones healthy. Low calcium levels can lead to metabolic bone disease.

It’s a dangerous disease for reptiles. That’s why to keep their bones healthy, bearded dragons need to have enough calcium from the food they eat.

Feeding your beardie foods that are high in oxalates like spinach and avocado is not a good idea. It prevents calcium absorption since it reacts with the presence of oxalates.

This will result in calcium oxalates which will prevent calcium from being absorbed by the body. It will be dangerous to their health.

That’s why you need to reduce or eliminate the amount of food with oxalates. It should not be a part of your bearded dragon’s staple food.

it will react to calcium and form calcium phosphates. It will also prevent calcium absorption for the beardie. The foods that other lizards and bearded dragons usually eat contain phosphorus.

The calcium-phosphorus ratio should be either 1:1 or 2:1. If the ratio of calcium-phosphorus is not good, this is what it looks like.

Calcium – 444

Phosphorus – 1590

Calculating ratio – 444:1590

Ratio – 1:3

This calcium-phosphorus ratio is more than the recommended value. That’s why nightcrawlers and other worms should not be fed daily to your beardie.

Make it as a treat once a week so your pet will avoid having issues when it comes to calcium absorption.

2. Fat

Worms are packed with fat and feeding it too much with your bearded dragon can be bad. This will be dangerous for their health as well as their development.

Unlike bearded dragons in the wild, pets can’t exercise as much as the recommended amount.

If you overfeed fat to your beardie, it will have a hard time burning it down in captivity. They can’t move around as much since they have limited space.

It’s important to exercise the bearded dragon regularly. Take it for a walk or let it swim to get the exercise it needs.

Feeding nightcrawlers and earthworms every day to adult beardie can make your pet obese. But juvenile bearded dragons eat worms up to twice a week.

They need more protein than their adult counterparts. On the other hand, you can feed adult bearded dragon worms once or twice a month.

Why Avoid Feeding Bearded Dragon With Backyard Worms?

1. Chemical Contamination

Nightcrawlers and earthworms are not toxic to bearded dragons. But the ones in your backyards can be contaminated.

Wild earthworms crawl from the ground and plants that may have fertilizers. That includes herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, and other chemicals that can be harmful to your pet.

2. Harbor Parasites

Parasites like small worms and other organisms can be in the night crawler’s body. If you feed it to your bearded dragon, it can transfer the parasites and harmful organisms.

Even if they are very small, they can cause harm to your pet. It can also kill the beardie if not attended.

3. Choking and Impaction

Feeding worms to your bearded dragon from the backyard can hurt them. It can swallow a large worm from the backyard.

Their sizes may vary since these worms are not bred. It can also cause impaction to the beardie’s gastrointestinal tract. That will lead to constipation or even worse, paralysis.

How to Raise Your Own Worms?

If you decide to raise your own worms to feed your pet, you have to know what they need to survive.

Nightcrawlers and earthworms need to have moisture, warmth, food source, darkness, and oxygen. Get a worm bin to help you to gather these things they need.

Try the tray-based worm bin since it’s a simple setup to have. It will let you harvest the worms easily. The worm Hastings can also be harvested to use as a good fertilizer for plants.

Worms need to have a temperature between 50 and 80F. If it’s outside these ranges, worms can’t reproduce and will eat the compost.

Get a soil thermometer to make it easier to monitor the temperature. You also need to have the worm bedding for starter culture. It will make it easier to provide food for the worms.

Feed them with organic waste such as fruits or veggie peels. It will gut load the worms and become nutritious for your pet.

Lastly, you have to order some nightcrawlers or earthworms. Find a reputable source such as your local bait shop or pet store. Once you’re done with the setup, wait for a month.

Your worm culture should be ready to use by then to feed your pet with organic worms. Make sure to only feed it sparingly to avoid health problems for your beardie.

FAQs

How Many Worms Should You Feed Your Beardie?

Avoid overfeeding your bearded grains with worms. For young dragons, they can eat around 10 worms at a time. Adult dragons can be fed about 20 worms or less than that. Allow your bearded dragon to eat worms as a treat to avoid health problems.

Can Beardies Eat Wild Worms?

No, beardies should not eat worms that have been caught in the wild. They may carry different parasites and can harm your pet. It’s best to buy it from a pet store where you can get feeder worms. Self-cultured worms are better to ensure it’s safe for the beardie.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Bait or Fishing Worms?

Bait worms not fishing worms can be fed to bearded strains but not recommended. Most of them may have been collected from the wild. Unless the baiting shop can provide proof that they self-culture their worms, it’s better to get them from pet stores or culture your own.

Can Reptiles Eat Nightcrawlers?

Yes, reptiles can eat nightcrawlers and can be a good nutritious snack.

Can Bearded Dragon Be Fed earthworms?

Yes, feeding earthworms to your bearded dragons is safe.