interesting mealworm information...

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I just called one of the biggest feeder suppliers in the USA and got a very interesting recorded message about pesticide in the mealworm bedding: (800)-322-1100

Please don't break the TOS in regard to metioning any company names.

 

[David Loftin]

Hmm.. Thanks for the info Marcia. I am surprised they actually admitted it. Wow..

 

[PacHerp]

Very interesting indeed....

 

[MSMD]

Wow.....Thanks, Marcia!

 

[yellermelon]

grrrrr

 

[Baoh]

Well, that confirms it. Thanks.

I hope somebody can find out which pesticide and post it here.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Thank you Marcia! It's nice to know that there was pesticide in the bedding and that we're not all crazy. It's sad that so many geckos were affected by it though.

 

[sushikam]

Thanks for posting that Marcia...good to know. I wonder how many other companies use the same bedding.

 

[Mel&Keith]

Many mealworm suppliers get their worms from one major supplier, so probably a lot.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

You know, when I think about the past 4-5 months of all the dead babies, and failed eggs, and females laying their hearts out... and all the beautiful babies I had to put down, and the deformities, it makes me heartsick beyond description. I have been so discouraged this season I even considered selling Golden Gate Geckos.

Do you all know how devastated I am every time I have to kill one of my beloved geckos??? Do you all know how much it rips my heart out to see a hatchling so deformed or weak that it cannot thrive? To see my robust and healthy girls lay nothing but infertile eggs, and put them through this for nothing?

At least I know now that I was not going crazy or just being paranoid.

 

[godzillizard]

Do you all know how devastated I am every time I have to kill one of my beloved geckos??? Do you all know how much it rips my heart out to see a hatchling so deformed or weak that it cannot thrive? To see my robust and healthy girls lay nothing but infertile eggs, and put them through this for nothing?

Yes Marcia, it makes me sick to my soul also. I started doing little 'ceremonies' for them, then I gently place them in the pond behind my house, and then I sing or hum until I stop crying

 

[Mel&Keith]

It just plain sucks... I lost one of my favorite females this year for absolutely no reason. She wasn't egg bound, she wasn't sick, she just died. I was almost relieved when eggs would go bad because I was afraid of what might hatch out or that it wouldn't live. I'm really glad that our incubators are now off and that they've admitted the poisoning issue.

 

[fallen_angel]

Wow.. that is just so very horrible. I suppose it is good to finally know the truth, but still very sad considering all that has happened to so many people and their geckos.

 

[MagicalGecko]

I didn't hear anything saying that it caused the geckos to die. I just heard about the pesticide making the mealworms not pupate. Did I miss something?

I'm just wondering because I finally found a place that has mealworms and am starting to ween them off of crickets and supers and go back to mealies.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I don't think we will ever be able to prove without a doubt that pesticide caused the problems many of us have been having with our geckos this season. I also do not believe there was any true negligence or malice on the part of the mealworm grower/supplier. But, the infertility and deformity issues we have experienced are consistent with pesticide poisoning, which I suspected.

I'm just grateful that it was disclosed.

 

[MagicalGecko]

Thanks so much for letting everyone know. Although it's a hassle, I may just stick to supers and crickets until I'm sure this is over.

 

[dprince]

I'm very grateful that the company was honest about it. Too many times things are covered up or not disclosed. It's a breath of fresh air. :main_yes:

I can relate to you guys that didn't even want to check the incubators.........it was totally heartbreaking to see little deformed geckos in the incubator, and really discouraging to see how many eggs DIDN'T hatch this year. I'm relieved that "it wasn't just me" (though I'm so terribly sorry it happened to SOOOOOOO many of us), and can only hope for better luck in the future.

That is the problem with depending on others for feeders. Honestly, this could happen with ANY kind of feeder - crickets, supers, mealworms - and unless we breed our own feeders, we are at their mercy. Which is pretty scary.

 

[SteveB]

This industry has gone through a lot of 'worst seasons' where we found something to blame due to nutrition. One year it was t-rex/sandfire supplements, this year it's mealworm bedding.... go figure.

 

[spykerherps]

Luckily for us we decided not to breed many geckos this past year. I am sure we would have had more problems then we did had we not don so. At the end of last year and beginning of this year we switched all leos on to reg mealies . This season we bread two females.

One female (hatched 9/21/05) laid 6 clutches, out of those six clutches we got 3 health babies and one small none thriving one that is just now catching up in size with the clutch that hatched 3 weeks after his. the rest of the eggs peaded out or hatchlings were too deformed to live or hatch.

Second female (hatched 2003) lade 5 clutches. No hatchlings as of yet and she has stopped laying. We are waiting on her final clutch to hatch, looking fertile and hope they are healthy. We started feeding both laying females more dubia and king worms over the past 3 months

 

[lampeye]

Where does this situation stand, currently? Has the mealworm situation been corrected? Has anyone had any autopsies done? I noticed a lot of youngsters for sale this year that looked rather small for their age - I guess we know the cause.