Are waxworms a good staple feeder?

No. Waxworms are high-fat (around 20–25% fat) and only modest in protein, so they're a treat and a conditioning food, not a staple. Overfeeding causes obesity and animals can get hooked and refuse better feeders.

How do I store waxworms to keep them alive?

Keep them cool but not frozen, around 55–60°F, in their ventilated tub with bran or wood shavings. The fridge door or a cool basement works. Too warm and they spin cocoons; freezing kills them.

What are waxworms good for?

Adding weight to an underweight or recovering animal, tempting a picky or off-food eater, and as an occasional high-value treat. They're soft-bodied, so they're easy for young or delicate animals to eat.

Do waxworms need to be gut-loaded?

They don't eat much in storage, so traditional gut-loading is limited. The bigger fix is dusting with calcium before feeding, since like most feeders they're phosphorus-heavy.

Why buy waxworms at an expo instead of online?

You can inspect the stock before you buy, skip shipping stress and shipping fees, get them fresh from the breeder, and ask care questions face to face. Expos also let you compare several vendors at once.

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Feeder Insects

Buying Waxworms at Reptile Expos: What to Look For and How to Store Them

By Matt Goren · Updated June 26, 2026

Care at a glance

Role: Treat only
Protein: ~14%
Fat: ~22%
Moisture: ~60%
Chitin: low
Ca:P: 1:7
Calcium-rich: No (dust it)
Best for: High-fat treat / weight gain

I've sourced feeders from local pet stores, online, and reptile expos, and for a delicate, fat-rich feeder like the waxworm, the expo is genuinely my favorite option. You can see what you're buying before money changes hands. Here's why that matters and how to make the trip pay off.

What a waxworm actually is

Waxworms are the caterpillar larvae of the wax moth (Galleria mellonella), a pest of beehives. They're soft, cream-colored, and small — easy for almost any insectivore to eat. Nutritionally they're a treat, not a staple:

Nutrient	Approximate value (as-fed)
Fat	~20–25% (very high)
Protein	~15% (modest)
Moisture	~60%
Calcium-to-phosphorus	poor, phosphorus-heavy

That high fat is the whole story. Waxworms are excellent for putting weight on an underweight, recovering, or breeding animal, and for tempting a reptile that's gone off its food. But they're also habit-forming — feed too many and an animal can start refusing healthier feeders, plus the fat load leads to obesity. I treat them as a conditioning tool and an occasional treat, dusted with calcium, never the main diet. For the bigger picture on why feeder fat and calcium balance matter, the Merck Veterinary Manual's reptile nutrition section is a solid reference.

Why expos are a great place to buy them

You can inspect before you buy

This is the big one. Healthy waxworms are plump, pale, and actively wriggling. Dark spots, sluggishness, webbing, or a sour smell mean stressed or aging stock. Online, you order blind; at an expo you handpick from the tub.

No shipping stress or shipping fees

Waxworms are fragile and temperature-sensitive. Shipping subjects them to heat, cold, and rough handling, and live-arrival shipping isn't cheap. Buying in person removes both the risk and the surcharge — you walk out with live, fresh worms.

Fresh from the breeder

Many expo vendors are small-scale specialists who raised the stock themselves. That usually means worms that haven't been sitting in a warehouse, plus a person who can actually answer your care questions.

Compare vendors in one trip

Several sellers under one roof means you can compare price, size, and quality side by side, and find bulk deals if you feed multiple animals. If one vendor is picked over, the next booth usually has fresh stock.

Ask the experts

Expos put you in front of breeders who'll tell you how they keep their colonies, how to store the worms, and how to rotate feeders so you're not over-relying on the fatty ones.

What to look for at the booth

Color and movement: pale, creamy, actively moving worms.
No webbing or cocoons: silk means they're maturing toward moths and won't last.
Clean bedding: dry bran or shavings, no mold, no foul smell.
Sensible quantity: buy what you'll use in a few weeks; waxworms don't keep indefinitely.

How to store them once you're home

Waxworms want it cool but not freezing — roughly 55–60°F. A fridge door shelf, a cool basement, or a wine cooler works well. Two rules:

Don't freeze them. Freezing temperatures kill them. The crisper drawer is often too cold; the door is usually safer.
Don't let them get warm. Room temperature and up triggers them to spin cocoons and pupate into moths, ending their usefulness as feeders.

Keep them in their ventilated tub with the bran or wood shavings they came in. They eat little in storage, so you don't need to feed them; a tiny bit of honey or oats only if you're holding them several weeks. Handle them gently and use feeding tongs rather than fingers — over-handling stresses and shortens their lives.

Don't forget the other feeders at the show

An expo is also the place to diversify. You'll find crickets, discoid roaches, black soldier fly larvae, hornworms, silkworms, and superworms — most of them a better everyday choice than the waxworm. Use the trip to build a rotation, not a stockpile of treats.

Prep for the trip

Bring a small insulated container so the worms stay cool on the ride home, carry some cash for vendors who don't take cards, and arrive early for the best pick before popular booths sell down. A quick look at the vendor list beforehand tells you who carries feeders.

If there's no expo near you, you can still get fresh, hand-raised stock shipped well — I order waxworms from All Angles Creatures when I can't make a show.

Pair them with a leaner staple — see discoid roaches vs. black soldier fly larvae — or browse all the exotic animals guides.

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