The evils of mealworms

[kinyonga]

You said..."Wow, it surprises me to read you say that! I recall citing something about that not too long ago that included facts & figures, but danged if I can find it now... In lieu, Wikipedia offers these:
Insects as food
Entomophagy
Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects
The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook

And for those who dare, a general search: people eating insects"...
I'll look at your links in a few minutes.

Regarding so many people eating them....sometimes I tend to skim over things that aren't my concern at the moment...bad habit I guess.


Then you're one up one me!
What? You've never eaten an insect?? I'm shocked!

Anyone remember these?



Can't say I paid attention to those either.

"It should be noted that the content of vitamins and minerals in wild edible insects is seasonal and in the case of farm bred species it can be controlled via feed"...something I hadn't thought about before was that the wild insects vitamins and minerals would vary seasonally.

Is this surprising? IME, the same goes with domesticated livestock; summer beef, chicken, & cows milk always tasted better (to me) than winter (fed). For better or worse, that's changed with commercial/industrial farming.
Not surprising....just something I didn't focus on.
Chicken of the tree (iguanas) are said to have a different flavour depending on where they live,...what they eat. Don't chicken eggs taste different too depending on what the chickens are fed?

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Regarding so many people eating them....sometimes I tend to skim over things that aren't my concern at the moment...bad habit I guess.

A habit shared by many, self included.

Then you're one up one me!
What? You've never eaten an insect?? I'm shocked!

Not knowingly (except maybe all those worms under the bleachers as a kid... )
Hence the movie clips; I'm sure I must've swallowed my share over the years.
I've seen various bugs/insects packaged at fairs, festivals, and online. Just not one of the things in life I've been particularly adventurous about (like intentionally jumping out of a perfectly good airplane—No Thank You!)

....

Chicken of the tree (iguanas) are said to have a different flavour depending on where they live,...what they eat. Don't chicken eggs taste different too depending on what the chickens are fed?

That I can attest to personally—both chickens and eggs. Around 1980, I worked with a fellow whose spouse had a chicken farm on the side. He'd come into work selling eggs & dressed chickens out of the trunk of his car. The chickens were hand-raised, corn fed, and the best eggs & chicken I've ever tasted before or since.

Later on we had friends who had a homestead farm who did the same kind of thing. Again, their chickens & eggs tasted better than any store-bought.

 

[Thatwizard420]

Just throwing it out there. I have successfully raised Baby Leopard and Beardies on a “staple” of mealworms, pupa, and mealworms beetles. I offer Variety, but when a baby beardie can eat 30+ Dubias a day, it gets expensive really quick. They’re some healthy lizards.

Before I joined The forum, I raised my Veiled Cham strictly on mealworms for about 4 months, again never had an Issue.

 

[kinyonga]

A habit shared by many, self included.
So I'm not alone!

Not knowingly (except maybe all those worms under the bleachers as a kid... ) Was it a dare?
Hence the movie clips; I'm sure I must've swallowed my share over the years.
I've seen various bugs/insects packaged at fairs, festivals, and online. Just not one of the things in life I've been particularly adventurous about (like intentionally jumping out of a perfectly good airplane—No Thank You!) Do you try new foods when offered them?

....


That I can attest to personally—both chickens and eggs. Around 1980, I worked with a fellow whose spouse had a chicken farm on the side. He'd come into work selling eggs & dressed chickens out of the trunk of his car. The chickens were hand-raised, corn fed, and the best eggs & chicken I've ever tasted before or since.

Later on we had friends who had a homestead farm who did the same kind of thing. Again, their chickens & eggs tasted better than any store-bought.
I've had chicken eggs from hobby farms and such too...and they were all better than the ones that were store bought. My cousin and her husband raised pigs and that pork was the best too.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Not going to make this easy, are you? (Kidding)

A habit shared by many, self included.
So I'm not alone!

Not by a long shot.

Not knowingly (except maybe all those worms under the bleachers as a kid... ) Was it a dare?

No, just a reference to a very old "kid joke". Much of the useless information (trivia) tucked away in my gray matter is in the form of movie & TV clips, old jokes, & running gags I can't even remember the origins of. Result of my misspent youth in the age of TV babysitter/nannies.

Do you try new foods when offered them?

Often—maybe even usually—but not always.

I've had chicken eggs from hobby farms and such too...and they were all better than the ones that were store bought. My cousin and her husband raised pigs and that pork was the best too.

...And BACON! Home-cured, and has to be individually hand-cut/sliced off the slab.
My award for that goes to a third cousin in rural PA.

 

[kinyonga]

Not going to make this easy, are you? (Kidding)
Would easy be any fun?

Not by a long shot.

No, just a reference to a very old "kid joke". Much of the useless information (trivia) tucked away in my gray matter is in the form of movie & TV clips, old jokes, & running gags I can't even remember the origins of. Result of my misspent youth in the age of TV babysitter/nannies.
How about this one...it was good...



Often—maybe even usually—but not always.
So you'll try new foods but not insects?

...And BACON! Home-cured, and has to be individually hand-cut/sliced off the slab.
My award for that goes to a third cousin in rural PA.
So you have a pig farmer in your family too!?

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

So you'll try new foods but not insects?

Ever seen a Magic 8-Ball? Let's just say my answer would most likely be from the yellow or red columns, but I wouldn't rule it out under any/all circumstances.

So you have a pig farmer in your family too!?

Distant relative, yes.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

This was a very interesting thread glad to read it

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Ever seen a Magic 8-Ball? Let's just say my answer would most likely be from the yellow or red columns, but I wouldn't rule it out under any/all circumstances.


Distant relative, yes.

Not going to make this easy, are you? (Kidding)
Would easy be any fun?

Not by a long shot.

No, just a reference to a very old "kid joke". Much of the useless information (trivia) tucked away in my gray matter is in the form of movie & TV clips, old jokes, & running gags I can't even remember the origins of. Result of my misspent youth in the age of TV babysitter/nannies.
How about this one...it was good...



Often—maybe even usually—but not always.
So you'll try new foods but not insects?

...And BACON! Home-cured, and has to be individually hand-cut/sliced off the slab.
My award for that goes to a third cousin in rural PA.
So you have a pig farmer in your family too!?

To add to your guys convo my least fav food is eggs and bacon
And I’ve had the good stuff to just not good to me lol

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

To add to your guys convo my least fav food is eggs and bacon
And I’ve had the good stuff to just not good to me lol

It's all relative. Given a choice between that and a nice big bowl of live wriggling bugs, egs and bacon might not seem so bad.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

It's all relative. Given a choice between that and a nice big bowl of live wriggling bugs, egs and bacon might not seem so bad.

Very very true although a nice hornworm doesn’t sound too bad

 

[DocZ]

Very very true although a nice hornworm doesn’t sound too bad

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Very very true although a nice hornworm doesn’t sound too bad

Be my guest!

 

[JacksJill]

@kinyonga didn't you have an article about hornworms tasting like peanut butter or was that something else?

 

[kinyonga]

I had posted this...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/what-do-insects-taste-like.183149/

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I had posted this...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/what-do-insects-taste-like.183149/

... And the only thing that tasted like chicken was greasy roaches? No, wait... it said roaches taste like greasy chicken.
Greasy chicken? I thought roaches were supposed to be relatively LOW in fat(?)

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Cross-Reference with:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/thoughts-on-another-source-of-d3.185977/

 

[insectovore]

Occasionally in salamander stool I have found partially digested bits of BSFL. Also there is a paper about mountain chicken frogs and BFSL digestability. I think I would be more concerned about feeding enormous numbers of those than mealworms but in any event, I have never seen an impaction caused by either. I sent a personal message to Douglas Mader once to ask if he had ever seen a impaction involving mealworms. He told me he had but it was unclear if the mealworms caused the impaction or were a sign of it. Suffice to say it must be quite rare. Onto the next concern, the nutritional aspect, this can be largely solved by changing the diet of the mealworms 72 hours before feeding. Superstitions are hard to undo. There was a time when mealworms were truly awful, grown in bran and pulled out of the fridge just before use, tossed into the cage, and fed more or less exclusively. There is more than enough information now that anyone willing to do their homework can responsibility use them to good effect as part of a varied diet.

 

[corynnonthecob]

I think the key to feeding off insects is variety.

I know though, some newbies like to over do one specific feeder as they call it a "staple", and I dont think mealworms would be a good staple like that.

I think of staples as the most common insects you feed off. The ones you usually have into rotation.
Then there are treats. Supers, waxworms....the occassional mealworm..

when my chameleon was small, he couldn't quite eat crickets or super worms, but was getting too big to only eat flies, so I fed him mealworms for a couple of days until I could find some crickets, when I slowly transitioned into crickets. I'm convinced they helped him recognize food that's bigger as edible and not dangerous. I felt bad for just feeding mealworms but I couldn't get my hands on bsfl yet and I had access to nothing else without expensive shipping. he's doing great now, but I agree, no staple feeder should be mealworms for longer than a week or so, I don't know why but all pet stores suggest mealworms and it just kills me, cause I know the new cham parents won't feed the mealworms correctly.