Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wondering how many of you actually feed mealworms to your reptiles. I've heard so many bad things about them, that I've always been afraid to take a chance with them. I realize that some people are firm believers in feeding them, while others have had horrible experiences. Please share your experiences only, not opinions.
Thanks to all who respond,
Cricket

I have always fed them. Not as a staple or anything, but i have always used them and never had a problem with them. I don't feed them to hatchling leos or very small hatchling beardies. I have actually seen a hatchling leo choke on a mealie, we had to remove it from his throat, it was almost as long he he was! The beardies seem pretty good at crunching them up, so choking isnt a problem.

The other problem i have heard with Mealies is that they contain to much Chitin (spelling?) which is hard to digest, especically for babies. The freshly molted mealies, the white and squishy ones contain less of less, so feed those when you can.

But as I was saying, mealworms have always been a small part of my feeding routine on all of my lizards without any problems
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

Hey, there!

I had a bad experience using them when Puff Daddy and Jenny were around 10". I had never heard that mealwprms were bad and fed some medium sized ones to them. I am assuming that Puffy ate most of them because the next day he had a knot in his stomach just below the rib cage on the left side. It took me three days to get him lined out and pooping again. I actually had set an appointment with the vet for the next morning when he fianlly had a BM......

I just found these new type of mealworms online though and they are also in reptiles magazine. You can find them at minimealworms.com I just ordered a thousand and am going to try them out so I'll let you know how that goes!

Later,
Robert
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson