Are mealworms safe?

[cindym]

Hello all,
I am delighted to have my very first leopard gecko, Silke, join my family. I have read in many different places that mealworms and crickets are appropriate food for them; however, I also heard from a few different gecko owners that they are not necessarily a good idea. One gecko died when a mealworm ate its way through the gecko's stomach; another died after crickets chewed off his toes.

I have mealworms, but have been feeding gecko kibble sprinkled with calcium until I know if it's safe to feed worms.

Thank you!

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Mealworms are not only safe, but I would say the vast majority of leopard gecko owners use them as a staple or co-staple. The issue of them chewing through the gecko has been discussed on this forum before and it was very clear that it is not true and they are safe. About the cricket problem, they are also very safe for leos, but in order to stop them biting and eating at the gecko, uneaten crickets should not be left in the tank for more than an hour. I feed my little girl 4-5 crickets a day, and keep a constant supply of mealworms in a dish in the tank at all times. Hope this helped.

P.S. - Be sure you are gutloading all live feeders and dusting with calcium.

You can also use superworms, waxworms (as a treat) and roaches.

 

[cindym]

Thank you so much. What is gutloading and why does it need to be done?

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Thank you so much. What is gutloading and why does it need to be done?

Gutloading is when you feed your feeder insects with nutritious foods. You do not want to be feeding your gecko starving, empty-stomach insects. They are basically only eating the exoskeletons that way. By "gutloading" at least 24 hours before being eaten, your leo is getting more nutrients and a more balanced diet.

Crickets - The easiest way I have found to do this is to buy a Cricket Keeper from Petco. That comes with little water dishes and food dishes. This way, you can buy enough for a week or two and they will gutload themselves. You can buy gutload such a Fluckers Orange Cricket Cubes, or use a variety of vegetables.

Mealworms - As you may already know, since you own them, mealworms can be refrigerated. Once a week you should take them out for them to warm up. At this time you should feed them some sort of gutload such as Cody's http://www.progeckos.com/~progecko/...id=49&osCsid=a77f63692570c4c44e3c36cd71132670 found here. You can also keep this in the mealworm dish inside of the tank mixed in with some calcium/vitamin D3.

Feel free to ask any other questions you have.

 

[ReptileMan27]

Mealworms are 100% safe and fine for leos. The myth of them eating their way out of the leos belly, is just that, a myth and theirs no truth to it. Just make sure to remove all uneaten food because mealies and cricks have been known to chew of toes and stress the lizards.

 

[GoGo]

Like ReptileMan said the myth about mealworms eating your gecko from the inside out is entirely fake. In most cases the gecko died for some other reasons and mealworms loose inside the cage found the carcass and feasted on it.

We keep our mealworms out of the fridge in a cricket keeper filled with flukers cricket feed(the grainy stuff) and oatmeal oats.

The reason we use mealworms as a staple is that crickets didnt work out due to the leo's hating the crickets and killing them instead of eating them, even those raised on both crickets and mealworms.