Eating Darkling beetles

[maggie2311]

My beardie is about 3-4 months old and right now she's shedding and she doesn't eat a lot. She didn't show any interest in eating her mealworms, which is normal. But she did show interest in the box they were in so i picked her up and let her jump in it. She ate a darkling beetle. I poked around a little in the internet and I read that they are good for beardies so I gave her some more, since she was finally eating more than 2 mealworms. Did I make a mistake or was it okay that I gave them to her ?

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, that's perfectly fine.

 

[maggie2311]

So if I see that she's not eating tomorrow either can I give her more? Also are they actually healthy ? or at least healthier than mealworms ?

 

[AHBD]

There isn't a lot of nutritional info on them but they aren't going to be one of the best things you can feed her but it's not like they are UN-healthy. Have you tried other feeder insects like crickets, dubias, silkworms ? When feeding her mealworms be sure to dust them all with calcium powder since the mealworms are not high in calcium.

 

[maggie2311]

I feed her crickets whenever I have them. But there aren't many prestigious pet shops in my area that sell stuff for exotic pets, so most people shop from the same one I do and whenever they bring crickets they get sold out within a week or two. They don't sell any other feeder insects other than mealworms and crickets, these are the only feeder insects I have access to.

 

[Taterbug]

Mealworms are a pretty well studied insect so there is actually a fair bit of data out there for both life stages. As with most insects the larvae (mealworm) is higher in fat and lower in protein and fiber (shell). The adults are higher in protein and fiber, and much lower in fat. They aren’t super common as a feeder since they produce an alarm scent that can be unpalatable.

Gutload and dust them as you would crickets.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.923.9133&rep=rep1&type=pdf