Sorry it took a while to respond. The sick lasted all week.

No "prolonging the dead horse" taken. We need to talk about these things and I've never gone in depth into my prejudice on waxworms.

Maybe I haven't seen enough of them; but I've never seen any that looked small enough for my liking with HL's. The one's I see sold are anywhere from 3/4"-1", and I think thats just too big to be safe in a HL. A turtle, an older beardie or iggy...ok, no problem. But not in a HL. If you can get them smaller, say about the size of an adult mini mealworm, I think then it's ok as a treat every now and then.

The other reason I have is that waxworms aren't really nutritious either. They're worse than mealworms in fact nutritionally. The only thing better about them is their chitin isn't hard and scaly like a mealworm. Silkworms and earthworms would be far better nutrition wise if you can get small ones. I have also seen "Butterworms" that seem to have good numbers, but I think that was after gut loading. I've been trying for a while to see if I can get a HL to take a small earthworm, or part of one as you can cut them up into pieces and they still resemble just a smaller worm.

Silkworm (Bombyx mon)
Cal.=1.0-4.2/gm
Cal. from protein=54%
Cal. from fat=43%

Waxworm (Galleria mellonella)
Cal.=2.1-5.7/gm
protein=27%
fat=73%

Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor)
Cal.=2.1-5.0/gm
protein=37%
fat=60%

Earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris)
Cal.=0.5-3.1
protein=73%
fat=13%

Protein is more important for regular intake than fat for amino acid requirements. So the feeder with so much fat is not a good one to use regularly. Holding with that logic is one reason, among many, why I use ants instead of crickets as everyday food.

Moisture content cannot be assumed to be proportional by looking at how fat a prey item is. Actually crickets and both species of fruitfly contain more moisture and more protein that the waxworm by percentage. 5-10% less in waxworms by volume. The reason for this, is precisely because the waxworm is so fat. Why exactly you ask? Because saturated triglyceride fat is stored in the tissues anyhydrously. That means in a water-less state. So the fattest insect is usually the one with the worst moisture content because that water storage space is being used by fat tissue instead.

The fat content % of waxworms is 3 times as much as for crickets and fruitflies.

www.doylesdartden.com/food.html

However...if we're talking about moisture potential: fat produces more metabolic water per gram when burned than carbs or protein. Fat produces 107gm water per 100gm fat burned. carbs=55/100gm, and protein=40/100gm. But that doesn't make fat superior necessarily as a water source. That fat has to be burned first, which may be a while. In the meantime, that excess fat is tying up normal water storage that is more readily put to use. And fat has a higher energy cost to use as well. Though it also yields more calories when metabolized vs. carbs or protein ( 8.5kcal/gm vs. 3.5kcal/gm ); those are excess calories not really needed by the low metabolism reptile during normal "non-dormant" activity, and wouldn't be needed if it didn't cost so many calories to metabolise anyway. I kinda view this as strapping more batteries onto an electric car to get more mileage; which makes heavier and uses more electricity to propel.

Some fat is important during the summer months though, for absorption of fat soluble vitamins, such as D. I'm not argueing for zero fat. But most people way, way overuse crickets, mealworms, waxworms, and the like in HL's. It is far more common for people to overfeed a reptile than underfeed.

Another consideration is that after talking in depth with one of my biology consultants on this a month or so ago, she told me that ANY type of insect larvae is really not the best thing nutritionally to use as food. Reason being that the larvae is in a growing stage and is converting everthing it takes in very rapidly to growth for metamorphisis. It is not attempting to maintain a homeostasis of nutrition such as a mature insect would be. I think that explains why the listed larval stage insect feeders have such poor numbers where it counts, compared to the fruitfly, cricket, and earthworm; which are not larvae.

There is a biological theory going around that I've heard, that basically holds that the lifespan is shortened the more calories a body has to metabolize in a lifetime. It ages the organs more rapidly through "oxidation", which is another word for what happens during "metabolism".

In my experience with regurgitating reptiles, it's usually one of a couple things: either the prey is just too large; or it has some type of toxin or chemical release that is making the animal sick or is not palateable. I personally have never witnessed a regurgitation in any of my HL's. A few in some others, like a snake...but not a HL. But I have never used waxworms either.

I think a big clue as to whether you are getting too large on prey is whether the lizard has to grab the prey and drive it into the sand to make it submit, if it has to shake the prey, to make multiple gulps to get it down like a croc eating a gazelle, or whether it does the dry heave "Blah" thing with the tongue sticking out after gobbling down the prey. Those are big clues the prey it too big. Prey should be taken down the throat in a swift fluid motion after the simple flick of a tongue, in my opinion.

Not sure if it is valid, but another item that is kinda off the wall is the concern I've heard from a few people in relation to geckos; that the waxworm as swallowed whole, may pose a risk from it's relatively large mandibles that might still be in motion inside the stomach. This has me pondering whether a HL can sufficiently cover with saliva such a large feeder and prevent such internal damage.

Hope that answers the question.
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"A man that should call everything by it's right name, would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy." The Complete Works of George Savile, First Marquess of Halifax 1912,246

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