Mealworms as main diet

[Kike]

Hi all!

In Spain the majority of the breeders dissuade the use of mealworms as main diet due to the high content of fat. They recommend to use the crickets as main diet and the mealworms only occasionally and but i've read that they can be used as main diet. I've been reading lots of information without any conclusion. I'm so exhausted... I prefer to use the mealworms due to the facility of his breeding but i need to be sure that this type of diet it's not harmful to my geckos.

Is this problem solved with a good gut-loading? Is there any several difference between the two diets?

Thanks in advance

 

[roaches42993]

I believe its the waxworms are the fat ones to my knowledge mealies are ok

 

[ExcessiveHerps]

Provided mealworms are properly gut loaded they are fine as a staple, infact they are probably the most common main food sorce for breeders in the US.
I've raised my leos with no problems on mostly mealworm diet.

 

[brandy101010]

Mealworms are ok for a staple. But variety in diet is very important IMO

 

[Arconna]

I've had no problems whatsoever feeding mealies and supers to my leo's and my beardie. Supers are said to be more fatty, but some on here have had great success rearing their adults on them, I just mix.

I agree that some variety is good. Hence why I mix in the supers, which is practically the same thing as a mealie, but it's more entertaining I guess. I stopped keeping crickets cause they are a pain. Others use roaches.

But, many have kept their leo's on the mealies and as long as you gutload, keep them healthy, and dust appropriately your lizzies will be fine.

 

[PaulSage]

Grubco has an interesting nutritional composition of various feeding insects on their website. Keep in mind though, that it can vary with regards to what the insects are fed.

http://grubco.com/Nutritional_Information.cfm

 

[nwheat]

I know many people do use mealworms as a staple with no problems. I've always tried to offer a variety, but it has been rather heavy on mealworms. I am afraid that mealworms may actually be too fatty to use as a staple and I am trying to switch over to more silkworms, crickets, and perhaps roaches.

I posted this in a thread regarding breeding age, but it is important here too: I lost a gecko to Xanthomatosis this year. This, I believe, is caused by too much cholesterol / high fat in the diet and perhaps (?) a genetic predisposition. I had some of my other geckos cholesterol levels checked and they all were high. My thought is that the culprit is too many mealworms. Another possible contributor is resorbing follicles! Apparently, resorbing follicles causes females to deposit cholesterol all over their bodies.

I only had females' cholesterol levels checked, some were breeding, some ovulating, so it is possible that this has more to do with breeding than with mealworms. I'm not sure how much research has been done to establish a baseline for cholesterol levels in geckos, but I'd love to start accumulating such data myself. If anyone is interested, let me know. Cholesterol tests are not terribly expensive and if anyone is already having blood drawn from a gecko, this would be a great time to add to the data. Info from males as well as females, age, what they are eating, and what stage of the reproductive cycle for females are all important.

I would love to show that mealworms are not the culprit, as they are my favorite feeder! I would also like to know if they are responsible......

 

[Arconna]

I have a feeling, though I am no medical expert, that mealies might have helped in the issue you presented, but I don't think they are the soul cause. If they were the cause you'd probably hear a lot more about it out there from breeders (sort of how it got around not to make wax or supers a staple diet, though some do use supers). It's probably a combination of factors, or as you said some sort of genetic predisposition. That's something that a vet. researcher needs to look into I think. If there is in fact some sort of gene that leads to high cholesterol/high fat that would be information that all leo owners could really use.
I've had all of my lizzies on mealies (except my one male will sometimes refuse them), and haven't had anything like you mentioned. I also mix in supers though, which is even higher in fat, etc.
But anywho, that's something that needs to be looked into...

 

[nwheat]

I know lots of people use mealworms without any obvious issues. It was only one that died and I do think there may have been some kind of predisposition for her. The ones that I had cholesterol levels checked were healthy - no symptoms (other than decreased appetite due to ovulation for some). The only reason I know that the reason (xanthomatosis) my girl died was because I had a thorough necropsy performed. Most people don't do this. So that could be why you don't hear about it that often. You do hear about geckos refusing to eat and just wasting away for mysterious reasons pretty often. Xanthomatosis is common enough that the lab that performed the necropsy did not find it unusual and sent us a paper on xanthomatosis in geckos - although the geckos in the article were not leos.

I think you may be correct that mealworms may be contributors - but not really responsible - for the high cholesterol problem, which is why I'm interested in pooling information. If it has more to do with the reproductive cycle, males fed on mealworms would not have such high cholesterol levels. Perhaps having high cholesterol during egg-laying or ovulation may be normal? Perhaps I'll take a male in for a cholesterol check next time I go in. It'd only be an N of one, but enquiring minds (or mine at least) want to know!