Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My tokays are getting relatively big and I was wondering if it would be ok to feed them king mealworms (some call them superworms I believe). The reason I ask is because from what I hear, the worms are very resiliant and are able to live even after they are chewed. I have heard cases of where they eat out of the lizards stomach (schnieder skink). From what I understand, if they dont crunch the head then the worm can still live. Any input on this?

ok hears the deal on the shnieder skink.If the worms were realeased on the ground to be eaten they probably burrowed into the substrate and while the skink was under or on top of it the hungry mealworm probably took a few big bytes out of him or if they were put in a feed ing dish it was to shallow and a few escaped and the same thing happened.As far as I know and have heard"the meal worm eating out of the stomach thing"is a myth.As long as you keep them in a dish that they cant get out of your tokay will be safe.hope this helps.
nick

Hmmmm...good to know. From the person's testimonial the worm literally ate a hole out but they might have been mistaken...

First there is a difference between king mealworms and superwomrs. King mealworms are regular mealworms which are fed an ecdyson antagonist and hence grow big, superworms are a differend species, Zophobas morio.
Both can be fed, Superworms are a healthier food than giant mealworms. I feed approx 12 kg of superworms per year to my herps. I never crush any head or have any negative experience. The chewing out hting is an old myth based on the fact that mealworms and superworms love to eat from DEAD lizards and are hence found often close to a fresh carcass eating holes into its stomach.

Ci@o

Ingo

Thanks for the input ingo, good to know.

SUPERworms have less chitin than mealworms, so is a little better than mealworms. Both are high in protein but also in fat. My tokay adores superworms, when she's not in the mood to eat crickets. Tokays chew very well, so no worries!

However, I do cut off the heads--but ONLY because she will *not* eat unless being handfed, and they have to be prepared just right, that is, for some reason she does not like bug heads. She sometiems will not even eat cricket legs (which means feeding her a headless body without hoppers). Daily I have to deal with bug guts getting on my hands because I have to prepare them or she will refuse to eat.

When I first got her she ate like regular tokays, that is, on her own with superworm heads intact. It is absolutely safe to keep the heads on.

Madame JadeFox with a very spoiled rotten tokay