The facts about mealworms?

[lostapiarist]

I have read all over this site about mealworms not being a good staple. The reasons for this are not good calcium value and the overly chitinous shell. My well respected exotic pet vet recommends Mealworms or Cockroaches over Crickets (http://www.avianexoticanimalhospital.com/documents/BeardedDragonFeedingInfo.pdf), since my wife has a hang up with large beetle like creatures I am looking into the Mealworms. I am getting conflicting information all over the place. If one dusts or suplements a mealworm with calcium does this make them an acceptable staple for an adolescent beardie?

Well I seem to have answered my own question sufficiently. I am thinking of using as a supplemental food source, so I can cut down on the crickets. I have tried silk worms and phoenix worms and our beardie wasnt very impressed with them, he loves his crickets. Changing his diet to the worms also predictably made his stools very loose.

Pro

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/facehugger/insect.html
http://listserv.uoguelph.ca/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0708c&L=waterdragon&P=598
http://www.feederinsects.co.za/feederinsects_mealworms.htm
Con

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

As a Supplement

http://www.dachiu.com/care/abeard.html

 

[Catalyst]

It's true that there is less of a parasite problem if you use a feeder other than crickets. Roaches are a great option if you can stand them, and there are many worms that work great as well (silkworms, pheonix worms, butter worms, horn worms). Superworms make a good staple as long as your dragon is 16 inches or longer - their shell poses an impaction risk to smaller dragons, thus the size restriction.

As long as your dragon is large enough, there shouldn't be a problem with using meal worms as a treat or a supplement to his diet, although I wouldn't use them as a staple.

 

[jbodkin]

It's true that there is less of a parasite problem if you use a feeder other than crickets. Roaches are a great option if you can stand them, and there are many worms that work great as well (silkworms, pheonix worms, butter worms, horn worms). Superworms make a good staple as long as your dragon is 16 inches or longer - their shell poses an impaction risk to smaller dragons, thus the size restriction.

As long as your dragon is large enough, there shouldn't be a problem with using meal worms as a treat or a supplement to his diet, although I wouldn't use them as a staple.

What is large enough? 12-13 inches? My BD is about 12.5 inches and gets a few meals when I am in between feeders ... He seems to be ok with them.

 

[nesta's mommy]

it also says that supers aren't a good staple and i know tons of people on this site who use those as a permanent staple. i use the supers and the dubias and switch it up with silkies, phoenix, and hornworms and the OCCASIONAL MEALWORM OR WAXWORM. someone here has the nutrition data sheet and you'll clearly see that mealworms really aren't recommended as they are low in nutrition.

hope this helps