They gave me a new can of the mealworms with Zeus, I dont plan on using them. What kind of reptile would eat them? Does anyone here feed them?
The only lizard i know for a fact that people feed mealworms to are leopard geckos. I'm sure there are other gecko type lizards that eat them too though.
If they are dead worms that don't move, I doubt that a leopard gecko would be interested in them. You might try using them as part of your gutload for crickets or some other live insect.
They're okay for beardies as long as they are used in moderation. I give my beardie a couple of small mealies a week, if I have any. Do you mean that the mealies are freeze-dried? If so, they will keep for a while and you can use them over a long time. Just be very careful with feeding mealies to beardies; one Friday I realized that I was out of crix and Flukers didn't ship on weekends, so I fed Budo only mealies for a few days. He got minorly impacted, and it was such a headache! Daily baths, massages, syringe-feeding babyfood with vegetable oil, time on the heat pad... it was a lot of work. But with a younger beardie, impaction can easily lead to death.
Yeah I would just rather not risk it. Zeus is two, but I'm a worry-wart about my animals lol. I didnt even think about feeding them to the crickets though.
They gave me those and some reptile pellets, I've been giving those to the crickets. They eat them and a variety of other things so those dont seem to be too much of a waste. The mealworms, I guess if the crickets will eat them and if their ok for them its not that bad. I didnt buy them so it doesnt bother me. I just dont know what to do with them.
the pellets are actually pretty nutrititous from what i hear and ive seen videos of beardies munching them up. you have to soak them in water though to get them soft. of course they would be just a small part of a beardies diet, but those freeze dried mealworms are just a waste of money like luke said. i wouldnt even want to feed them to the crickets because the chemicals used to preserve them will get into your herps.
I didnt try soaking them, I'll give that a shot and see if Zeus will eat them. I was wondering about that, I havent bothered opening the mealworms so I'm just not going to mess with them. Maybe my brothers will want to use them for fishing or something.
Lol sounds like something my brothers would do! The pellets have some good vitamins in them, but they shouldn't replace live food or salad in your beardie's diet. Don't be worried if he doesn't eat them; Budo won't eat pellets either.
I dont know if they would use them or not, where they usually go has some giant catfish, those tiny little worms wouldnt even be a snack lol. I have to find some use for them I cant just toss them, even though I didnt pay for them I just cant be wasteful.
Birds love them. They are totally fine for your reptiles too and should have little to no smell as they are cooked in the can. Most pelleted reptile food is corn based.. not exactly a great start to a nutritious reptile diet.
Corn is low on the list, but its still there. I dont even feed my dog corn based food, dogs dont digest it as its a filler and reptiles probably wouldnt either. Ah well, its not like it would be a big part of his diet anyways, if I do give them to him.
some reptiles cant digest the shell as well as others and it can cause impaction. mealies are great for leos but bad for beardies
Yes, I can say from experience, meal worms do cause impaction. Budo, my beardie, was only minorly impacted; no vet trips necessary. Daily baths, massages, syringe-feeding, babyfood with olive oil, and time on the heat pad, every day. A lot of work, and he wasn't seriously impacted; with serious cases, usually occurring in young beardies, as their digestive systems are weak, the result can be death. Mealies are high in chitin, which is the hard shell. They are also high in fat and have very little nutritional value. It is best to stay away from them in general. Phoenix worms and silk worms are both great feeders; high in calcium, low in chitin, low in fat. Horn worms and butterworms are high in calcium, low in chitin, but also high in fat, making them not the best feeders for adult beardies, although they are great to use as treats.
