Mealies Eating Through A Gecko

[dmward]

Alright. I keep hearing this from people who I really don't think know what they are talking about, Is it some sort of urban myth? I know lots of folks here feed mealies almost exclusively.

Has anyone here EVER heard of a mealworm eating its way to freedom from the stomach of gecko???? :brood:

 

[Ccrashca069]

As far as I am concerned it is a Urban Myth. I can't see how it would live from stomache acid. And if it was true, why are we all feeding our geckos mealworms lmao

 

[dmward]

That's what I told the guy in the pet store. He looked at me like I was crazy and said several times a year people come into the store and tell him it happened to their leo. I think he's full of crud!!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Urban myth.

 

[The Sunset Gang]

Yeah big urban myth. I heard this at one of the pet stores.

 

[dmward]

The bad thing about this is this pet store had and 10 leos from juvenile up to full adults. They are getting crickets but i notice only very weak overhead heat not UTH. But they did have humid hides. so i guess they are better off than some BigBoxCo leos.

 

[Nigel4less]

Simply an Urban Myth... Just a bunch of...$%^#!

 

[Bodon]

First of all the geckos chew them once or twice before they swallow them, so that should kill one anyhow, two the stomach acid would kill it faster than it could chew its way out, and thirdly it wouldnt have any oxygen in there so how long could it last to chew its way out? No way it is true.

 

[LizMarie]

I remember some guy at the pet store told me this when I went to buy Mealies. He asked what reptile I had, and I told me a Leo. He came back with "ohh mealies are bad for them because they can chew right through them, waxies are better". I said thanks for the info but I've done my research, have you!?

 

[redmonkeystarr]

yeah! this lady at the petshop would tell me that i should cut the mealies and superworms heads off before feeding...cause the worms would either chew their way out or crawl up out of the throat..I couldn't tell them not true cause they think they know better than me...

Redmonkeystarr

 

[rhino43grr]

ok, one more time... leo dies (probably due to owner not doing research/trusting pet store) owner doesn't notice or is away, mealies loose in tank eat away at softest part of leo (stomach) owner assumes mealies ate their way out instead of in and tells the pet store what happened, pet store says that sucks, here buy a new one and feed it some more expensive food instead.

 

[Lennysmum]

I was told this by a zoologist , he was adamant it was so . He said it was difficult sometimes for the mealies to be chewed as they have a hard outer shell.

 

[dmward]

I can't believe a zoologist told you that. Think about it. We know loose crickets can aggravate and chew on leos. And all insect outershells are bassically made of the same chitin material. Lizards in general must be uniquely adapted to digest chitin since some many lizards subsist on insects of some sort.

You would think a zoologist would know that.

 

[Brhaco]

I was told this by a zoologist , he was adamant it was so . He said it was difficult sometimes for the mealies to be chewed as they have a hard outer shell.

Zoologist? What were his/her credentials? Degree? What University/museum affiliation? Publications? What specialty?

A lot of folks in pet stores, Nature Center workers, Volunteers, etc call themselves "Zoologists" based entirely on a general interest in animal life and the fact that they deal with animals for a living or as an avocation.

Regardless, this "zoologist" is misinformed. I would also add that, for an insect, mealworms do not have a particularly "hard" outer shell....

 

[dmward]

You know I kinda thought the meal worm "skin" seemed softer than crickets as well. GOOD POINT

 

[malt_geckos]

OMG! lol. Some people are so...uneducated.

Matt and I went into a petstore and told the guy we fed superworms. He flipped out and told us they were going to eat through our geckos...and he had seen a super worm eat its way out of an Oscar.....omg...some people. lol.

 

[Lennysmum]

Sorry i am not lying ! He is a qualified zoologist , he did tell me that right or wrong ! Maybe he is wrong i am no expert i am just relaying what he told me so please don't make me look like the idiot here i am just relaying what i was told !

 

[Lennysmum]

I just went and double checked his credentials , he has a degree in zoology he trains undergraduates , has a vet on site that he trains regards exotic pets. He has a number of film and TV creditations including working with David Attenbrough and Nigel Marvin .So i guess he is fairly well informed.But i am not i can only follow what i am told by the so called experts .

 

[malt_geckos]

I don't think anyone is trying to make you look like an idiot. It's just a common misconception, that is all.

 

[Brhaco]

We definitely aren't trying to make you look like an idiot-but this is a very damaging myth in that it encourages people to remove from consideration a very beneficial food item!

For example, Ron Tremper has a collection consisting of thousands of breeder leopard geckos (and tens of thousands of their offspring). He has fed this gigantic collection almost nothing but mealworms for decades, without even one single instance of "killer stomach-boring" behavior! That alone should be more than sufficient proof that it does not happen.

If this person does indeed have a B.S. in zoology, I find it quite strange that his basic undergrad training didn't equip him with the fundamental knowledge of physiology that should have led him to reject this out of hand! I know mine did.