Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question about which mealworm are better. I have learned that the giants are given hormones to get to the size that they get to. On the other hand the yare alot easier to feed then the small ones. Just picking up the small ones are a chore if you have big hands and fingers LOL
thanksfor the info
bill
-----
Leos
1.0 Blizzard "Mr.Freeze"
1.0 SHCT Baldy "Thor"
0.1 Bell Albino "Pinky"
0.1 Tremper Albino "Betty"
0.1 SHCT Baldy "Lemon"
0.1 Hypo Tang "Sherbert"
0.1 Hypo Golden "Dott"
0.2 juveniles " Spot & White Stripe"
Domestic Livestock

0.1 WIFE "PAM"
0.2 Daughters "Haleigh & Chloe"

Canines
1.0 Beagle "Chance"
0.1 Pit rodesian ridgeback mix "Missy"

This is a coin toss. I personally prefer the regular mealies, the supers are a bit too aggressive for my tastes. I also think it is easier to house a large number of regulars than a large number of supers because of space issues. I use small sterilite shirtboxes for my mealies. I had a colony of supers and they got pretty nasty quickly, had a mojor issue with some fruitflies too!
-----
www.hullabalooherps.com

I know that many breeders opt to go with the supers (or Giant) mealies. I personally am afraid to. A friend of mine owns a pet store - she has told me horror stories from customers. Cases where their leo (or other reptile) did not chew the mealie up all the way and the still living mealie burrowed itself out of the stomach - thus killing the leo. It's not so much about giants though, it is the size of the gecko v/s the size of the mealworm being fed. (can they chew them up or not?) - you just want to keep an eye on the leo's.. some swallow them whole, others chomp them up. I have read that the stomach acid of reptiles kills living animals almost immediately, but apparently this is not 100% effective if the prey is too strong?? Like I said, a great number of breeders use the giants - It is my own personal preference not to. I may try it someday, but for now I am sticking to regulars for my sub adult and adult leos.

Regular mealworms are fine and so are Superworms (size appropriate) with my practice of using pliers to cruch the heads. This allows the Superworm mandibles (chewing parts) to be crushed so they will not effect digestion in the Leopard gecko. Due to the hard exoskeleton I use fresh molted Superworms. Crickets are always added in diet. Repcal Calcium is always available in a separate dish for convience. Even though the market price has considerably dropped they always sell and are excellent pets for the interactive petkeeper.

I have never had any problems with the giant mealworms. I had heard all the story's about the giants but we started use them with our large water dragons and plated lizards, so I gave my adult pair of leos some and they love them. They chomp them up, so I am not worried about it. I think that you need to just watch out for size issues. I don't think I would even use them until the leos reached full adulthood. But thats only my 2cents.