feeding meal worms to a beardie

[Tygri]

is it true that if u feed mealworms to an adult beardie the worm can eat thru the stomach?

I only ask because i had given my daughter's beardie 4-5 meal worms a few days ago and my daughter got upset telling me it can eat thru the stomach if i didnt cut of the worms' head.... i was horrified! but then i thought about it and told her that it would die in the stomach acids if it managed to lived thru being munched on and swallowed...
Today my daughter shows me her beardie's stomach and he has a big yellowy patch along the side of the stomach that wasn't there before i'll try to get a pic of it

 

[The Sunset Gang]

As far as I know, no mealworms can eat through anythings stomach. The problems with feeding beardies mealworms is that the beardie can actually choke. From what I understand a beardie isn't made to eat the mealworms hard outer shell like a gecko for instance. Usually people that have beardies try to stick with crickets and waxworms and other things that don't have hard outer shells. Good luck and I hope everything turns out okay!

 

[Zbiz]

Ok heres an experiment to try with your daughter to ease her worries. Take mealworm and drop it into water... record how fast it dies. Most likely itll be done within seconds. Mealworms need air to breath, without it they quickly die. There is NO way a mealworm can eat through any lizards stomach. The rumors that they could started when ppl found their lizards dead with mealworms munchin on them. In these cases the lizard died from another cause and the loose mealworms in the tank found "food" to eat, aka the lizard. But ppl jumped to conclusions and now every petstore in america will tell you the urban legend as truth. Dont be fooled!

But i would stick to crix. If you like feeding worms, Super worms (basicly REALLY big mealworms) are a good choice, they have a much better shell to meat ratio. Mealies are mostly shell and it can cause impaction in beardies. Although 5 mealworms really shouldnt be an issue!

Good Luck with everything!

 

[Tygri]

Thanks for the responses we usually keep him on a cricket, beardie pellet food and a veggie salad, i only gave it a few worms more as a treat thinking it was ok. Now i know better thanks so much

 

[eric]

i have raised and breed dragons for almost eight years NEVER have i had a problem with mealies. your right in that the dragons stomach acid will dissolve the worms way before they could ever do any damage plus the way dragons eat they don't swallow whole they chew so chance of that mealie even being alive are slim..so rest assured you did nothing wrong! there will all ways be debates whether certain foods are better than another.variety is the key! a couple mealworms here and there won't hurt anything.we feed crickes,super worms,mealworms,hissing roaches,mice and hornworms. never a problem! good luck your doing things just fine.. oh the yellow patch is most likely a shedding issue.posting a picture will help decide.

 

[nicolenadia]

The water idea is a good one! My juvi bearded is getting superworms,squash and collards. From what I have heard, the worm should not be longer than its head.(I think) All I know, is that my beadie crushes superworms and beadies seem to have the teeth for crushing. its takes him 2 seonds max to down one.

I have heard of superworms killing young geckos, but not beardies. Let us know about the yellow patch? Maybe thats just a minor skin issue, fingers crossed.

 

[Pookachu]

I've only fed dubias and crickets to my beardies as they are still very young (3 months or so).

From what I've read the meal worm issue with Beardies is not with them eating out of their stomaches but more that Beardies are not able to digest the hard shells for mealies as well as lets say a gecko would.

The danger is more so for younger beardies as their digestive tracks are short and zigzagged so taking in a larger amount of mealies and the non ability to fully digest them the risk of impaction is present.

Because of this and some other other reasons mealies are not recommended as a staple for beardies. But a few here and there would not do any harm.

Then again, this is all from what I have read from beardie forums and such and as to the validity of the above statements I cannot say.

 

[Marmalade Ho]

The issue of feeding mealworms is not that they will eat out of the beardie's stomach. So much of the crap that pet stores tell you are terrible.

The worms would die before having the chance to burrow out of their stomach.

The problem with meal worms is that (especially for younger dragons) the chitin is too hard. And they're more likely to cause impactions or even suffocation. If you EVER feed meal worms to a beardie it should be immediately after the worm's shed. That way they're easier to eat and digest. They're okay as treats, just not good as a staple. Try roaches, crickets (dusted in calcium and D3 without phosphorus), or silkworms. The main issue with the meal worms is when fed to younger beardies, as far as I know once they get to adulthood it's not as much an issue. But personally, spending almost $300 on the little one and then having a bond with it; I wont risk any iffy stuff on mine.