Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are these the ones with the horomones? Are they good to feed to your leos?

horomones? man I hope not I've been giving them to mine uper meal worms get bigger

Im not sure if im correct but i think i do remember people talking about giant mealworms and horomones(not superworms)

There are Giant mealworms and they're given a hormone which induces growth and and reduces chance of pupation. These are to be differentiated from Superworms (Zoophoba's)... They're a totally different species.

Are they safe to feed to leos? Do they harm them?

Giant mealworms aka king mealworms are the ones that have been given hormones to make them grow to that large size. Superworms are totally different, they get large naturally and much better for your leos than giant mealworms. I wouldn't say giant mealworms are harmful to your leos but personally I would stay away from it.

the truth about giant mealworms is that they ARE feed a hormone, but it's not a growth hormone. all it does it stop them from pupating (sp?) so they grow longer and therefore get bigger. it is perfectly safe to feed to your gecko.
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I wouldn't worry about it. The hormone that's fed to the mealworms is already naturally present in the mealworms. It's called JH (juvenile hormone). When the JH runs out, that's when the insect knows its next molt will be into the adult stage. What breeders do is continue supplying the JH, so that the insect is unable to complete its metamorphosis, so it just molts into an extra, bigger larval stage. Some plants even release JH or a JH mimic as a chemical defense agains bugs. I've studied entomology before, so this is right up my alley.