Mealworms

[rsawells]

Does anyone raise their own mealworms?  If so could you share how to or give me  a good site that is simple to follow.  Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.

[ColleenT]

mealworms can cause impactions in crested geckos.

[GECKOHAVEN]

meal worms are pretty easy to raise. i use a 3 tier rack. you can get them a pretty much any dept. store. starting at the bottom i put in my worms. when they pupate i put them in the second bin. when they turn to beetles they go to the third bin. they will lay the eggs in there. then they hatch and are larva again(mealworms). very easy, just make sure you get good bedding and have water supply or the process is very slow. my buddy try it with out a water source and couldnt figure out why it didnt work. lol

[Rhacodactyl]

I bought a few hundred and put them in dry oatmeal.  I just add carrots or some other food/moisture source every week or so and they pupate and eventually turn into beetles.  The beetles then lay eggs (where, I don't know) and you end up with tiny baby mealworms given enough time.  I often give mine old CGD mix to help gut load them.  All of my Rhacs that eat any insects are happy to take mealworms and although they're difficult to dust, they are easy to gutload since they swarm any food you leave in with them fairly quickly.  I've fed mealworms to various herps for years and never had any issues.  As long as your husbandry is correct, you shouldn't have any issues with impactions from them.

[ColleenT]

i don't understand that phrase- if your husbandry is correct you should not have impactions from mealworms. what does that have to do with their exoskeleton being to difficult to digest?

[rsawells]

Why don't we let Anthony let us know what he thinks about mealworms???

I have had several breeders say that they have used mealworms and had no problems.

I don't want to use mealworms exclusively, but just want to have them when crickets are hard to find and I can sale them to local pet shop and bait shops in my area.

Thanks for the info!

[firecrested]

Why don't we let Anthony let us know what he thinks about mealworms???

if you need something when crickets are hard to find there is always the cgd option (probably the best food you can give them anyway)


This is off of this website's home page under faq & can crested geckos eat mealworms? written by Anthony


Can Crested Geckos eat mealworms?     
I wouldn't say that they can't eat them, but that it's not worth the effort.  Mealworms are of little nutritional value and are difficult for lizards to digest, therefore I don't see any reason to feed them to Crested Geckos.  If you just happen to have extra meal worms and want to feed them off, go for it.  However, I wouldn't go out of my way to get them.  The main problem is that mealworms move slowly, so many times they go unnoticed.  If left in there too long, they will pupate and turn into beetles, which you'll then have the pleasure of removing.

All in all, feeding live prey is a hassle no matter how you slice it.  Meal worms may be convenient (you can throw them in the fridge), but they simply aren't an ideal food for Crested Geckos. 

I see a lot of young keepers that want to feed live prey, but they have a mom or dad with an aversion to crickets.  For those keepers, I think you would be better sticking primarily with Crested Gecko Diet.  When and if possible, just pick up a dozen crickets from the pet store and feed them off in one day.  Even one cricket meal per week, just to change things up, can be beneficial.  This way, your geckos will still get a treat from time to time and you won't have to worry about keeping crickets in the house.
 

[smith710]

Why do people always have to take risks that don't need to be taken?  If 1 person out of 10 has a problem with mealworms causing impaction in their cresties, why take the chance?  I have heard this problem from several people.  Who cares about the breeders that you know who have had no problem.  I know alot of people who do things with no problem either, I don't do it, because I'm not willing to take a risk that doesn't need to be taken, especially since, if you don't want to feed crickets, they can live soley on CGD.

[rsawells]

Thanks for the input. 

[smith710]

Sorry if I sounded kind of mean, I had a couple things bugging me at that time as well.  But that is how I feel about that kind of stuff, just like using bark for bedding.  Alot of people don't have problems, but SOME people do have problems with their geckos ingesting it and becoming impacted.  So why take the risk?  There's no reason for it.