Crickets vs Mealworms

[rebeccaw14]

Charm is 9 months old. Since I had him I fed him only veggies and crickets, but this week introduced mealworms into his diet. I have found that ordering crickets in bulk is somewhat unreliable and I want to have a constant source of protein for him even if I get a bad shipment of crickets. However, I don't know how many mealworms to feed him each meal vs how many crickets. So far I have been giving him 10-20 mealworms 2x/day, in addition to veggies and crickets. He LOVES the mealworms and has significantly cut down his cricket consumption. Is that bad? Am I feeding too many mealworms? I have heard they are harder to digest than crickets - is that true?

Also, do you need to dust mealworms with calcium or gut-load them like the crickets? I don't want him to get fewer nutrients now that I've added mealworms to the mix.

Thanks!

 

[catUK]

hello

Yeah its true. Mealworms are not advised to feed beardies- mealworms have a hard outer shell that beardies find difficult to digest which can lead to serious impaction. If you want another source of food you could try phoenix / repti worms- they are a good staple, high in calcium and don't need dusted

 

[BeardieGrandma]

How big is your beardie? If >16" you should try superworms - these you can feed as a staple, although some recommending limiting somewhat in diet due to high fat content, but would be a good alternative to your crickets. Silkworms and hornworms are also a great alternative.

Superworms are super easy to keep, don't smell, and are reliable to have on hand if the crickets show up DOA or late...

Mealworms have low nutritional value, high chitin, I wouldn't feed them anymore.

You can also try dubia roaches (if you can stand to have them in your house) your lizard would love them! Those you can start your own colony, save $$$, also easy to keep, don't smell, and you can cut out the cricket shipment nightmare...

 

[rebeccaw14]

Thanks for your help. Charm is just under 16". The woman at Petco told me that superworms are higher chitin and harder to digest than mealworms... But then again, I have gotten a lot of bad information at Petco. I'd love to hear some more opinions on this.

I am hesitant to get Dubias... We are moving to NY and I really don't want to accidentally start a cockroach infestation in our new apartment (I have a habit of accidentally losing some of his insects). However, I would LOVE to be done dealing with crickets... So please send me some information about Dubias and maybe I will look into starting a colony.

 

[catUK]

Thanks for your help. Charm is just under 16". The woman at Petco told me that superworms are higher chitin and harder to digest than mealworms... But then again, I have gotten a lot of bad information at Petco. I'd love to hear some more opinions on this.
.

take what pet store workers say lightly...usually they give mis-information. Superworms are a lot softer than mealworms and as BeardieGrandma said, they can be fed to beardies over 16inches. Mealworms have the harder chitin which is why they shouldn't be fed. I feed mine morio worms [UK] (same as superworms) as part of her diet and she has no trouble digesting them and always chews them well.

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Hey Rebecca14 - do a search on the board here, there are so many threads on how to get started, and many dubia experts. Instructions include how to set them up, proper heating for optimum breeding, feeding, watering, etc., including pictures and all sorts of gory details.

I have dubias and superworms at the moment with a beardie on a hunger strike...she ate crickets like crazy when she was younger and then abruptly stopped at 8 mos. She likes the dubias mostly, and I have them going in a large plastic tub...they are super easy. They are a little creepy, you have to get used to them, i pick them up and drop them in her tank and she goes after them...they give me the willies still but hey, if the beardie likes them, they are ok by me.

 

[finnie]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me jumping in here, but I've had the same question for a while too about the mealworm/cricket, etc thing. Can you guys tell me how many superworms a beardie would eat - or is it kind of the same as the cricket thing - as many as they'll eat in 15 minutes? My beardie is eating about 30 crickets a day at 6 months old. I'll have to measure him again, but I think he's close to 16' long now - he's grown enormously in the past couple weeks (new uv light)!
Thanks!!

 

[BeardieGrandma]

well be careful with the superworms, introducing them into his diet...crickets properly gutloaded may be higher in protein...I'd mix it up with dubias before switching out crickets for supers, and offer all of them alternating frequently.

start with 1 or 2 supers, let him digest it, then increase daily...some recommend not to feed more than 10 in a sitting, as the beardies will gorge themselves on the supers and throw up. I let my girl eat 10 a day max, which she did quite easily at 16.5". Once they get a taste of supers, however, they may shun other feeders, so be prepared and keep the variety going so they don't fixate on their fav.

 

[Chair76]

hello

Yeah its true. Mealworms are not advised to feed beardies- mealworms have a hard outer shell that beardies find difficult to digest which can lead to serious impaction. If you want another source of food you could try phoenix / repti worms- they are a good staple, high in calcium and don't need dusted

do you know where i can get phoenix worms? and silk worms?

 

[catUK]

hello

Yeah its true. Mealworms are not advised to feed beardies- mealworms have a hard outer shell that beardies find difficult to digest which can lead to serious impaction. If you want another source of food you could try phoenix / repti worms- they are a good staple, high in calcium and don't need dusted

do you know where i can get phoenix worms? and silk worms?

I'm from the UK so not sure where is good to get them in NC- try searching for online stores, i get my live foods online and they always arrive alive.