Mealworms?

[Creaturelover123]

Are Mealworms nutrices for chams??????

 

[Draco1702]

Are Mealworms nutrices for chams??????

Mealworms are fairly fat and should not be fed as a staple feeder, but just occasionally. In general, I think they are good as part of a varied diet but if fed often you run the risk of getting your chameleon hooked! At that point it may refuse other feeders...

 

[Draco1702]

Here are nutritional values for crickets and mealworms as published online by Grubco.com

Crickets Meal Worms
Moisture, % 69.07 62.44
Fat, % 6.01 12.72
Protein, % 21.32 20.27
Fiber, % 3.2 1.73
Ash 2.17 1.57
Ca, ppm 345 133
P, ppm 4238 3345
CA/P ratio % 0.081 0.04

More feeders' NV at http://www.grubco.com/nutritional_information.cfm

 

[Creaturelover123]

Thanks!

 

[Draco1702]

Thanks!

No problem

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

I don't use them myself because I've heard they don't have any nutritional value as compared to other much better treats.

 

[saintarv]

Are Superworms same as Mealworms?

 

[Elizadolots]

Are Superworms same as Mealworms?

Hi, Saintarv. No, they are not the same. Superworms are better nutrition...but way nastier.

 

[saintarv]

Hi, Saintarv. No, they are not the same. Superworms are better nutrition...but way nastier.

Thanks Eliza. I have a 5 month old panther are the Superworms too large for him to eat?

 

[Elizadolots]

You can get them pretty small. I would think a 5 month old could handle the small or even medium ones.

 

[Thezillaman21]

first\ off\ sorry\ for\ 6my\ typeing\ here\ co6mputer\ is\ 6messed\ up.\ the\ reason\ 6most\ people\ dont\ use\ 6mealwor6ms\ is\ because\ they\ ha5ve\ high\ chiton\ le5vels\ which\ is\ hard\ for\ cha6meleons\ to\ digest.\ they\ also\ ha5ve\ high\ le5vels\ of\ fat.\ so\ if\ your\ ganna\ feed\ the6m\ i\ reco6m6mend\ feeding\ the6m\ when\ they\ 6molting\ so\ they\ ha5ve\ lower\ chinton\ le5vels.

sorry\ 6my\ co6mputer\ is\ crashed.\ :-/

 

[Davonat]

hi, saintarv. No, they are not the same. Superworms are better nutrition...but way nastier.

lmao!!!....

 

[fluxlizard]

You will notice those nutritional levels don't talk about various vitamins or minerals or amino acids.
Mealworms are a good part of a well rounded varied diet. They gutload calcium better than crickets (ferguson- panther chameleon book where he went multi-generations on alternate gutloaded crickets and mealworms and had the calcium content analyzed after gutloading both).
It is wrong to think of them as an all or nothing. Just one part of a whole diet.
Like your diet.
Healthy chameleons have no problem digesting them- dealing with exoskeleton is what insectivores do for a living for millions of years....

 

[Miss Lily]

I think problems arise if they are fed exclusively on mealworms. Like has been said above, they are ok as part of a varied and balanced diet. Having said that, Jacksons seem to have more 'cast iron stomachs' than other chams. They will eat snails and slugs, etc in the wild. The newly moulted 'white' mealworms are softer and easier to digest though. My baby Jackson loves mealies, as do his brothers and sisters, plus they are really easy to keep, gutload and they don't stink!