Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

cass · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject: WHO AGREES WITH THIS ????

this is not written by me i have read it off another site ...

The phoenix worm has recently come into use in the reptile industry. Dr. Allan Sheppard developed this larvae under laboratory conditions for their proposed Ca:P ratios. In an effort to learn more about the Phoenix worm I did some research to further understand just how good or bad they were for Bearded Dragons, I found the following...

1. The Phoenix Worm (Hermetia Illucens) or Black Soldier Fly is commonly found
breeding in outdoor toilets, poorly managed compost and manure. The flies are
scavengers and live on decaying matter including carrion, manure, plant waste and
beehive waste.

2. The larva have been observed to enter the intestinal tract of humans, but cause little
damage with treatment.

3. After purchasing some Phoenix worms I, along with Dr Dan Johnson took them to the
lab at NCSU and found that they were packaged with decaying animal matter,
presumably for the Phoenix worms to feed off of.

4. The nutritional Content information from Dr Shepard has been removed from his
sites. All other sites offering nutrition charts or information on Phoenix worms took it
directly from Dr Shepard and since he has pulled it from his site we have to assume it
was inaccurate or had some other issue. This creates a situation where we have no verifiable
nutritional facts on Phoenix worms.

5. The insect larvae were tested for a maximum of 6 months on a clutch of nocturnal leopard gecko
hatchings, which have a much lower calcium requirement than day dwelling reptiles.
Dr. Sheppard states that the control group was fed romaine lettuce and carrots.

6. Only one study was performed on Bearded Dragon's and the final results of that
study were not released. However, multiple cases have reported dry, hard, yellow
urates after consumption indicating a possible calcium overload.

Due to the lack of verifiable nutritional facts and no long term study on Bearded
Dragons I can not recommend feeding them as a staple prey item and feel using them
even as a treat item is questionable until more long term testing is done and nutritional
facts can be confirmed.

Scott W · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject:

Interesting, thanks for posting, Have you the source of the info, it almost reads like a competitor putting the product down, would like to know how independant it is.
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