mealworms like main feeding .

[Crocodilopolis]

Hello all ,

So , here in Europe , it's a controversial debate to know if the mealworms can they be use for the main feeding .

So , i want to know your opinion , what do you think ? I know that the biggest leopard gecko breeders use mealworms like main food ..... but here it's an another "world" ( if i can tell like that ... ) and an another mind ...

Thanks for all your responses ,

Ps : Excuse my bad english ( i'm a french belgian )

Cordially ,

Guillaume de Lombaerde .

 

[proBie3]

I know a lot of people who use mealworms as their main diet.

I keep a dish filled with mealworms in the enclosure constantly so my little guy can eat whenever he feels and also feed crickets in the evening.

The main thing to keep in mind i believe is to just make sure there is a variety.


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[LCReptiles]

Guillaume,

I can only hope to shed some light on this subject for you. I have never been to Europe but my guess would be that the opposition to mealworms may just be a cultural thing. It is very similar here when you mention breeding roaches. People just automatically wrinkle their nose at the idea, even though roaches are quite clean bugs to keep. Again I have no basis for this assumption but I cannot honestly think of any other negative reaction mealworm would cause.

Hope this helps some.

 

[B&B Geckos]

It's difficult to argue against mealworms when so many experienced breeders have kept long lived, healthy geckos for years with them. I personally prefer to supplement with dubia and superworms as each feeder metabolizes food differently thus offering a more varied nutritional value. I have read that dubia offer twice the protein value of crickets, they have proportionately less exoskeleton...more meat, a higher calcium to phosphorus ratio than crckets, and the longest intestinal track to gut load.

 

[Crocodilopolis]

Hello all ,

thank you for all your responses !

"It is very similar here when you mention breeding roaches"

Here , that isn't a problem , because the roaches can't have babies in our houses .


"The main thing to keep in mind i believe is to just make sure there is a variety."

And if it's just mealworms and only mealworms , what do you think of that ?


"It's difficult to argue against mealworms when so many experienced breeders have kept long lived, healthy geckos for years with them."

Yes , like R. tremper and other big breeders !


Have a nice day ,


Guillaume .

 

[madison45]

When I was researching what to feed my leo I cam across a few web pages that informed me with the right supplements mealworms are a great type of food, but for me i still like variety so he gets crickets and wax worms as well
Hope I helped

 

[cassicat4]

Ron Tremper's practices have been called into question quite a bit in the last few years, so it's debatable whether the practice of feeding solely mealworms is beneficial. Keep in mind that as a large breeder, it would be in his best financial interest to feed only mealworms (compared to crickets or other worms) as they are much cheaper and easier to breed. As well, it's hard to determine the long-term effects of sole mealworm feeding when the majority of his geckos are sold relatively young. What he has found is that you can safely feed mealworms without issue (for e.g. impaction) if your husbandry is correct. But should you feed only worms? I personally don't believe so.

I find with most reptiles that variety is key to a healthy diet. In the wild, they are exposed to all different kinds of feeders which allows them to ingest the required vitamins/supplements/nutrition they require. While we attempt to make up for this shortcoming using powdered supplements, we cannot possibly hope to replicate their conditions in the wild. The best we can do is offer a variety of insects along with supplements to attempt to mimic what they would consume naturally.

I see nothing wrong with feeding gutloaded mealworms as a staple, but I would be sure to offer a variety of other feeders as well.

 

[Crocodilopolis]

@cassicat4

Thank you for your opinion !!!!

:main_thumbsup: