Hi all. So, I got some butterworms for my guy & he loves them so far! However, I kept finding conflicting info. online about the nutrition content so...thought I would share something here for others who may have the same issue.
TL;DR: High fat (29.4%), low Ca
ratio = 1:18 - What I took away from this study is they would be better off as treats than as a staple feeder.
According to the article Complete Nutrient Content of Four Species of Feeder Insects by Mark D. Finke (June, 2012) in Zoo Biology, butterworm nutrition facts are as follows:
Moisture (g/kg): 602
Crude protein (g/kg): 155
Crude fat (g/kg): 294
Ash (g/kg): 8
Metabolizable energy (kcal/kg): 2,977
Metabolizable energy (cal/insect): 1,166
Calcium (mg/kg): 125
Phosphorous (mg/kg): 2,250
Ca: 1:18
Vitamin A (μg retinol/kg): <300
Vitamin D3 (IU/kg): 159
Beta carotene (mg/kg): 0.566
Low in chitin = Estimated chitin (g/kg): 11.1 - for reference phoenix worms/BSFL are nearly double that at 21.0 g/kg
"None of the insects contained detectable levels of vitamin A/retinol or vitamin D2, while all species but house flies contained low levels (20–48% of the requirement) of vitamin D3."
Of note: The butterworms used in this study were purchased from Mulberry Farms (where I happened to purchase mine from. However, it is from 2012 - distributor may have changed which I believe could potentially change some of the values based on the worms diet and such).
Hope this helps someone else who is struggling to find accurate info. Also, here is a link to the article if you'd like to check it out for yourself: https://doi-org.ezproxy.umsl.edu/10.1002/zoo.21012
TL;DR: High fat (29.4%), low Ca
ratio = 1:18 - What I took away from this study is they would be better off as treats than as a staple feeder.According to the article Complete Nutrient Content of Four Species of Feeder Insects by Mark D. Finke (June, 2012) in Zoo Biology, butterworm nutrition facts are as follows:
Moisture (g/kg): 602
Crude protein (g/kg): 155
Crude fat (g/kg): 294
Ash (g/kg): 8
Metabolizable energy (kcal/kg): 2,977
Metabolizable energy (cal/insect): 1,166
Calcium (mg/kg): 125
Phosphorous (mg/kg): 2,250
Ca
: 1:18Vitamin A (μg retinol/kg): <300
Vitamin D3 (IU/kg): 159
Beta carotene (mg/kg): 0.566
Low in chitin = Estimated chitin (g/kg): 11.1 - for reference phoenix worms/BSFL are nearly double that at 21.0 g/kg
"None of the insects contained detectable levels of vitamin A/retinol or vitamin D2, while all species but house flies contained low levels (20–48% of the requirement) of vitamin D3."
Of note: The butterworms used in this study were purchased from Mulberry Farms (where I happened to purchase mine from. However, it is from 2012 - distributor may have changed which I believe could potentially change some of the values based on the worms diet and such).
Hope this helps someone else who is struggling to find accurate info. Also, here is a link to the article if you'd like to check it out for yourself: https://doi-org.ezproxy.umsl.edu/10.1002/zoo.21012
