Feeding mealies non-organic carrots

[Designer Geckos]

We have always used organic carrots to feed our mealies. We can get them in bulk pretty cheap through Whole Foods, so we use those sliced lengthwise during gutloading.

Last week we ran out of carrots so we gutloaded with regular conventional carrots. After 24 hrs we noticed the mealies were very letharic, dehydrated, and several were dead or near dead. Amazing. The very miniscule amount of pesticides in conventional carrots had a horrible effect on the mealies.

Guess we'll stick to organic carrots from now on. Also, we always use organic oat bran for bedding in our mealies and supers.

 

[Coby78]

Wow, really? I have fed my supers before with non-organic carrots and they were more or less fine. Are superworms hardier in that aspect? That is really interesting though.

It makes you think about what we're actually eating when we don't buy organic. ;P

 

[ibehigh420]

Yo im glad that you posted this because i have non organic carrots with my mealworms right now gutloading and like you i normally use organic baby carrots, i just checked on them and they do seem lethargic but none are dead as i can tell.

What effect will this have on my leopard gecko? thats what im worried about...i never even thought about the pesticides.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Thats interesting. We have always used non-organic carrots for our colony and have never had any problem with it at all.

 

[animeavatar]

I wash all non-organic foods before feeding to any of my pets. I just scrub with my hands under running water.

 

[MarkXS]

I've always used regular run of the mill carrots from the supermarket and have never had this experience, though I can imagine that some brands of carrots have a higher level of pesticides in them then others.

 

[Designer Geckos]

Yo im glad that you posted this because i have non organic carrots with my mealworms right now gutloading and like you i normally use organic baby carrots, i just checked on them and they do seem lethargic but none are dead as i can tell.

What effect will this have on my leopard gecko? thats what im worried about...i never even thought about the pesticides.

That is a concern as well. Wonder what pesticide residues have on the geckos, eggs, hatchlings, etc. If it has adverse effects on the mealies, of course insects will be much more sensitive to pesticides, but is it having effects on the geckos....not worth taking chances in our estimation. We'll stick to organics.

 

[KelliH]

We've been using non-organic carrots on our feeders for 20 years and have never had any problems.

 

[Designer Geckos]

We've been using non-organic carrots on our feeders for 20 years and have never had any problems.

That's great Kelli, you must have a good conventional source in your area.

When this happened to us, we did a lot of reading on pesticides in carrots. It appears they absorb heavy metals and pesticides quite readily through the soil. China and Russia are the world's biggest producers of carrots, and regulations there are very loose to say the least.

Here are a few sites that we checked out, but there are many....



Pesticides in Carrots
I really don’t want to scare off anyone from eating carrots because they’re so healthy, but unfortunately they also tend to absorb pesticides from the soil they are grown in. Peeling will help, as the peel has by far the highest concentration of pesticides. But, even when peeled, testing shows conventionally grown carrots often contain a wide variety of pesticide residues.

Some of these pesticides are pretty nasty too. A few have been banned for being too dangerous, but are still turning up in testing years and even decades later. Others are said to be tolerable at certain levels, but the truth is we don’t really know what they do and how they accumulate in the body. I for one don’t want to take the chance.

The Environmental Working Group publishes a guide every year to the ‘dirty dozen’ of fruit and vegetables with the highest pesticide load. Anything on this list is really worth considering buying organic, or at very least washing very well (perhaps with some veggie wash which is said to be good at removing all kinds of residues).

Carrots, even being underground and not spray directly, have made this list in the past and are usually up quite high. This year they are just out of it at 14, but that’s probably only due to foods like potatoes and grapes getting worse, rather than pesticide load of carrots getting any better.

Some fruits and vegetables really are a lot more expensive for the organic versions, but this usually isn’t the case with carrots. It’s really is worth the little more to buy organic carrots. As a bonus they shouldn’t need to be peeled and the peel does contain a lot of the health nutrients. Best of all, I think you’ll find they taste far better too.


And here: http://whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=CR



I'd say the bottom line is that mealies are a canary in the coalmine. If your mealies aren't affected by conventional carrots, you have a good source. If they are you might want to experiment with organics to see if your mealies seem healthier. Ours gorge on the organic carrots and get very fat and juicy, and our organic carrots here are the same price as conventionals.

Thanks for the dialogue. Interesting topic I think.

 

[Dimidiata]

We grow all kinds of veggies on the farm, mealies love carrots fresh picked lol. I know i use mild ferts and occasionaly a slight pesticide(hardley anything) but i always wash my carrots clean and keep them without pesticides or ferts 2-3 weeks prior to harvest.

 

[MarkXS]

I'd say the bottom line is that mealies are a canary in the coalmine. If your mealies aren't affected by conventional carrots, you have a good source. If they are you might want to experiment with organics to see if your mealies seem healthier. Ours gorge on the organic carrots and get very fat and juicy, and our organic carrots here are the same price as conventionals.

Thanks for the dialogue. Interesting topic I think.

Good point about the canary in the coal mine. I guess it is reasuring to note that the carrots I feed my family aren't killing off my mealworms. If I ever do notice a lot of dead worms, it'll be time to change sources.

 

[GeckoCrossing]

It's amazing all the bad stuff on our foods. I prefer to grow my own carrots and have them fresh out of the ground. Every house I've lived in, I've always had a veggie patch and I love it

 

[Designer Geckos]

It's amazing all the bad stuff on our foods. I prefer to grow my own carrots and have them fresh out of the ground. Every house I've lived in, I've always had a veggie patch and I love it

Re: fresh garden carrots....awesome. Those carrots right out of the garden are the best. Carol always grows carrots and when I feed those to our mealies they are like sharks on them!

 

[MarkXS]

I don't know about you, but if I'm going to the trouble of digging and sowing and weeding and harvesting, those carrots are going to ME... The mealworms can settle for store bought.

 

[Dimidiata]

what about all the carrots that turn up like crap. Its not all glitter when you farm, many times your carrots look deformed and disfigured lol. Still good for eating though.

 

[Designer Geckos]

I don't know about you, but if I'm going to the trouble of digging and sowing and weeding and harvesting, those carrots are going to ME... The mealworms can settle for store bought.

Shhhhhhh. I have to sneak some out of the fridge for the mealies. If Carol knew I was feeding her garden carrots to the mealies....well, you know! But she grows a huge crop of them so a few here and there should be OK, I think....I even give a few to our horses. Again....shhhhhh......

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Lol Ray, mums the word

 

[30secondstobob]

Carrots rank somewhere in the middle of the list when it comes to the amount of pesticides applies to them. They don't require as much as readily attacked fruits and veggies that grow above ground. When I grew carrots for personal consumption, I never applied pesticides to the plant. I feed my mealies and superworms nothing but ordinary supermarket carrots and have never had a problem with them. The only "problem" is keeping them in their larval stage as I don't refrigerate them. :main_yes: Bob