Need help! Feeding something 2 Mealworms, will kill!!?

[snakegirl]

i need some help fast, for feeding mealworms i used some left over Tomatos to them.. now to find out "tomato leafs" can kill reptiles?! And if the feeders eat that then i feed the reptiles the mealworms that only ate the Tomato....Well whats going to happen?! is this safe? what should i do? help!

 

[leegooman2323]

No, you should be fine...I gut-load my mealies and crickets with carrots and potatoes. These are healthy and nutritious for both the feeder insects and your gecko. Cheers.

 

[THE WHISPERER]

Carrots and potatoes are not the same as tomatoes. I personaly don't know if its o.k. or not , but I would suggest not feeding them the crickets until you find out. I do Know that Chameleons love to eat horned worms and I almost gave my panther that I had some that were on my tomatoe plants, Thank god he didn't eat them cause I was told later that it could have killed her. I don't know if its the same for leos or not but I wouldn't risk yours.

 

[GeckoGathering]

BLT

i need some help fast, for feeding mealworms i used some left over Tomatos to them.. now to find out "tomato leafs" can kill reptiles?! And if the feeders eat that then i feed the reptiles the mealworms that only ate the Tomato....Well whats going to happen?! is this safe? what should i do? help!

I wonder where the Killer Leaf info came from?
This is the first I have heard that.
Anyway here is JMO from tests and much observing of geckos eating different prey raised up on many items as prey food. .....
have you watched geckos eat things?
If so, you will note a picky type attitude at times toward foods.
I feel unless they are in a starving state, they know
if the food is healthy and should be eaten or not.
Some time they turn down foods they eat regularly
just because we don't keep that PREY food
fed to their standard. In the wild or food deprived
could be a different reaction.
Take care. HJ

 

[GeckoGathering]

Tomato leaves and stems

I wonder where the Killer Leaf info came from?
This is the first I have heard that.
Anyway here is JMO from tests and much observing of geckos eating different prey raised up on many items as prey food. .....
have you watched geckos eat things?
If so, you will note a picky type attitude at times toward foods.
I feel unless they are in a starving state, they know
if the food is healthy and should be eaten or not.
Some time they turn down foods they eat regularly
just because we don't keep that PREY food
fed to their standard. In the wild or food deprived
could be a different reaction.
Take care. HJ

OK,I pulled some info up on tomato leaves to satisfy my curiosity.......here tis:

A quick look for tomatine on the Hazardous Substances Database and the
Toxline database at Toxnet http://www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ pulled up
the statement that it is found in higher toxic levels in the leaves
and stems of wild tomatoes, while the ones grown domestically have
lower levels. It seems that a human would have to eat quite large
quantities of leaves and stems to be affected. On the other hand, a
large number of web sites state that tomato plants are toxic to cats.


Sooooo, although my opinion stays the same as above comments.

Is it worth the risk? NO

Take care. HJ

 

[snakegirl]

I Just started yesterday giving One tomato to One bin of mealworms, this Afternoon i gave another to a other bin. Then a few hours later i found a Huge worm on the plants outside....then going online to found out what it was a "Hornworm"....i then looked more in to the Worm..reading "WARNING: DO NOT FEED TOMATO OR TOBACCO LEAVES TO HORNWORMS BECAUSE THEY ARE TOXIC TO REPTILES" now remember this is for Hornworms.


And as soon as i saw that i took all of it out of the bins. (they said leafs, not tomatos in themself) Also non of my mealworms Where fed it very long *only within a few hours*. i remember seeing a few geckos eatting from yesterday..they seem fine.


Now i have cleaned out everything and added Only clean potatoes. am going to wait a few days...Make sure anything they ate is out of there system before refeeding.

 

[Baoh]

The leaves and main body of the plant are the real concerns. The tomato fruit itself should be safe, assuming no pesticides.

 

[snakegirl]

Nope non at all pesticides....Lol might be why the hornworms took over...grr...Anyway tomorrow i will be going to the store and getting a sack of spuds (potatos)

but to anyone what also is 100% safe to feed to the mealworms?

 

[stewy84]

Apples, carrots, lettuce, oranges, sweat peppers, bannana, strawbarries, grapes, rasbarries, and so on. These are just what ive fed, favoret is apple. Really dont care for spud, when they dry on the out side seams like they arent interested in them and from my experience they grow faster on apples. Hope this helps

 

[snowgyre]

Tomatoes are actually the only edible member of the nightshade family, which is a group of plants known for their high toxicity. It wasn't until the early 19th century that we knew tomatoes were edible, and it was mainly through one 'circus' star (he wasn't really in the circus, but there was one man who basically made a show out of eating tomatoes to prove they were edible) who ate them in front of huge crowds (who thought they were watching him poisoning himself) that made tomatoes the popular fruit they are today. However, the FRUIT is the only edible portion of the plant. The rest of the plant is TOXIC. If you ate the plant, you'd get very sick. Do not feed the plant itself to anything. The tomatoes themselves are fine, but that's the only part that is.

In short, this is NOT a myth. Do not feed tomato plants to anything!