Reptile & Amphibian Forums

k im new to feeding geckos mealworms. i just started last saturday. ive been keeping them in the exotera worm feeder dish(awesome bowl by the way) an ive been noticng that over time the mealworms turn into these fat little flat, widened, white things with legs. They look almost like a small coccoon but still have eyes and legs and can move but only when you touch them.

i looked it up and they're the pupa stage of the mealworm. The little worm is the larva and they eventually turn into pupas and then beetles

does anyone know if its ok for Leos to eat the pupa stage mealworms? does it have any bad affects or is it nothing to be worried about? What about the turning into beetles part, has anyone had a problem with mealworm beetles before? Can leos eat the mealworm beetles?

i know its alot of questions but i just dont want to make my leos sick

Your leos won't have any bad effects if they eat the mealworms in the pupae stage. Some leos will it them, some won't. When it comes to beatles, none of mine eat them. They're actually too tough to eat. I just throw them away.

What I do is I keep my mealworms in the fridge for the most part. A couple days before I feed them to my leos, I gutload them. Whatever I don't use, I put back in the fridge. This stalls the metamorphosis process.

You know I stopped using a lot of mealworms when I saw the beatles actually attacking a leo at a petstore. Freaked me out. I've never heard of or read about it before then. I'll offer them every one and I while and take away what ever she doesn't eat. Just safer overall.
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1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.1 Blizard Leopard Gecko
1.1.1 Corn Snakes (2 Blood Red, 1 Orange Amelanistic)
1.1 Ball Python

I'd think that if the cage is cleaned out regularly and the gecko is in reasonable health you wouldn't have much trouble with the beetles.

I figure the beetles are more valuable when placed in their own tupperware container along with some rolled oats, a dish with carrots in it and a bunch of larvae/pupae mealworms. They don't smell as much as crickets and they're reportedly easy to breed. You don't have to worry about getting them out of the fridge to gut load them every few days either because that's what they're doing all the time in a breeding colony at room temperature. I notice they're in much better condition than the ones from the store.

I put all of my pupae in a sweaterbox with some ground up chicken feed. 1-2 months later I have some mealworms. When I get mealworms I breed it means that I don't need to order them for the week. It saves me a little bit of money and takes no time. I don't give them a source of water or anything. But I don't care if they breed, they just do.

The carrots I provide apparently work quite well as the only water source. By putting them in a very shallow-edged dish it keeps the rolled oats (Quaker ordinary oatmeal) from molding. I usually find between 20-30 mealworms squirming around on the carrots at a given time and they're pretty plump.

I figure it helps the gecko get it's water as well when the mealworms contain a good amount.

It really is easy!