Mealworms

[Progrmor]

Will mealworms even provide my cham with any nutrition at all? Same thing goes with the mealworm beetles, are they any good? And yes, they both are gutloaded.

 

[fluxlizard]

Yes, and yes.

Ferguson used them in his lab as an important part of his panther chameleon diet over multiple generations. The chameleons were fed only 2 insects- crickets and mealworms. Both species were fed a specialized diet, but if I remember correctly, it was the exact same diet. Mealworms were selected not only for the nutritional variety, but also because they gutloaded calcium from the diet better than crickets. (had a higher calcium content after eating the same stuff the crickets were eating, than the crickets did)

I thought I just posted a link not long ago about their nutritional analysis with some links- now I can't find the post, but you can use a search engine to find nutritional analysis- basically the links pointed to mealworms being similar to crickets in some respects and similar to superworms in others.

One thing I hate about nutritional analysis of insects though- they always come across like the analysis is written in stone. We know this is not true- feed your feeders different things and the analysis will be different- just like ferguson found in his lab with gutloaded prey. We also know that if the insects are fed a high quality diet long term and grown on it, they are much more nutritious as well. The foodstuff becomes the stuff that they build their body out of. Gutloading short term or late term after growth does not do this and does not have the same effect. Sorry- no references handy, just stuff I read years ago.

 

[fluxlizard]

Oh and for whatever it is worth- I've used mealworms as an important part of my lizards diet for 30 something years.

My first lizards ever bred- anoles around 1980- were fed only mealworms, because that is all that I had available in that day and age and place, and yet they still reproduced very successfully and thrived.

You can find many many leopard gecko breeders that had long lived geckos over multiple generations fed nothing but mealworms their entire lives- useless food cannot do that.

I also posted a link on youtube (jdog video?) where a chameleon forums member claimed to have raised jacksons chameleons the first 4 months of their lives entirely on mealworms and not only did not loose any, but they grew very well for him.

I dont' recommend that, I feed mealworms generally 1x per week- but it gives you pause for thought when considering how nutritionally useful they might be.

 

[Progrmor]

Yes, and yes.

Ferguson used them in his lab as an important part of his panther chameleon diet over multiple generations. The chameleons were fed only 2 insects- crickets and mealworms. Both species were fed a specialized diet, but if I remember correctly, it was the exact same diet. Mealworms were selected not only for the nutritional variety, but also because they gutloaded calcium from the diet better than crickets. (had a higher calcium content after eating the same stuff the crickets were eating, than the crickets did)

I thought I just posted a link not long ago about their nutritional analysis with some links- now I can't find the post, but you can use a search engine to find nutritional analysis- basically the links pointed to mealworms being similar to crickets in some respects and similar to superworms in others.

One thing I hate about nutritional analysis of insects though- they always come across like the analysis is written in stone. We know this is not true- feed your feeders different things and the analysis will be different- just like ferguson found in his lab with gutloaded prey. We also know that if the insects are fed a high quality diet long term and grown on it, they are much more nutritious as well. The foodstuff becomes the stuff that they build their body out of. Gutloading short term or late term after growth does not do this and does not have the same effect. Sorry- no references handy, just stuff I read years ago.

Oh and for whatever it is worth- I've used mealworms as an important part of my lizards diet for 30 something years.

My first lizards ever bred- anoles around 1980- were fed only mealworms, because that is all that I had available in that day and age and place, and yet they still reproduced very successfully and thrived.

You can find many many leopard gecko breeders that had long lived geckos over multiple generations fed nothing but mealworms their entire lives- useless food cannot do that.

I also posted a link on youtube (jdog video?) where a chameleon forums member claimed to have raised jacksons chameleons the first 4 months of their lives entirely on mealworms and not only did not loose any, but they grew very well for him.

I dont' recommend that, I feed mealworms generally 1x per week- but it gives you pause for thought when considering how nutritionally useful they might be.

Thank you so much! Could not ask for a better answer! Well the trouble im in right now is that im living faaaar away from the reptile store here in Sweden and they dont really ship at winter. I do have about 100 small crickets that are about to grow into size for my cham and some turk roaches but they might be all out in a month and the only access to food is a local guy breeding hundred of thousands of mealworms. And now that you told me this Im going to buy lots of them and start feeding them a good diet from start and feed them of 1-2x a week. But im also concerned about the mealworm and beetles exosceleton, since they are hard to digest. I feed her beetles almost 4 times a week and im getting worried this will hurt her?

 

[fluxlizard]

Not a good idea in the long term, but not really because of the exoskeleton. A healthy lizard will have no problem with chiton- they eat it all the time and they are good at it. All insects have it.

But nutritionally- the sooner you can get your roaches and crickets going, the better. Although I disagree that mealworms are worthless in spite of my endorsement- I don't really think they are a great primary dietary ingredient over the long term.

Your roaches are much better for a primary diet.

You cannot find anything else in sweden? There are other lizard lovers there, right? They must all be feeding something and maybe can get you starter cultures of other insects...

 

[Progrmor]

Not a good idea in the long term, but not really because of the exoskeleton. A healthy lizard will have no problem with chiton- they eat it all the time and they are good at it. All insects have it.

But nutritionally- the sooner you can get your roaches and crickets going, the better. Although I disagree that mealworms are worthless in spite of my endorsement- I don't really think they are a great primary dietary ingredient over the long term.

Your roaches are much better for a primary diet.

You cannot find anything else in sweden? There are other lizard lovers there, right? They must all be feeding something and maybe can get you starter cultures of other insects...

Sure I can, but not close to me.. and with the Swedish weather this time of year im not really comfy with driving too much!

I guess I can feed of the roaches, it was meant to start of a breeding colony but maybe I can do that in the summer

 

[kaytiller]

This is very fascinating, thanks for the info everyone!! I was always under the impression that you should NOT feed a cham meal worms unless you have no other options because they get blocked.. I fed mine them for a week when I first got her and it was the scariest thing ever, took her a while to pass it but a hornworm loosened that right up!

 

[PoshPenny]

I wish I could mail you some of my crickets.