Can Colombian Tegus Eat Silkworms?

Can a Colombian Tegu Eat Silkworms?

Yes — silkworms are one of the better feeders you can offer a colombian tegu, and they can be a regular part of the diet rather than a treat.

Silkworms (Bombyx mori) are one of the few feeders that are genuinely good rather than merely convenient: roughly 64% protein and only 10% fat by dry weight, over 80% moisture, and a calcium-to-phosphorus ratio of about 1:1. Most feeder insects are badly inverted on that last one and need dusting to correct it. Silkworms mostly do not.

They are also soft-bodied and highly digestible, which matters for a young animal, a recovering one, or anything that struggles with hard-shelled prey.

How Many, and How Often

6–10 silkworms in a mixed feed, two or three times a week.

Why Silkworms Suit a Colombian Tegu

Same case as any tegu: a large, fast-growing lizard where calcium is the limiting nutrient. Silkworms are among the few feeders that do not need heavy dusting to get the ratio right.

What Else to Feed

Silkworms are excellent but they have no real exoskeleton, and a diet of nothing but soft prey leaves the gut underworked. Run them alongside a varied omnivore diet with discoid roaches rather than instead of them.

One Thing That Kills More Silkworms Than Anything Else

Never refrigerate them. Cold is the single most common cause of a whole cup dying at once. Silkworms are not crickets or waxworms — they want room temperature, and putting them in the fridge to "keep them fresh" is what kills them.

More detail in the complete silkworm raising and care guide.