Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Mealworms are a good food source. However, with the possible exception of leopard geckos, I would not feed any reptile exclusively on them. They are lower in nutrition and higher in fiber than crickets which can lead to intestinal bockage. Always refrigerate mealworms unless you want them to metamorphis into those obnoxious little beetles that are too hard to feed to herps. They are easy to breed if you care to pursue that route. Even the pupae are spiny and difficult to eat. There is a line of thought that the grubs have less roughage and are more nutritional if you feed them after they have just molted (they will be white instead of tan colored), but you need a zillion of them to hand pick and have enough white ones to use them consistantly that way. To gut load them means to just give them something nutritious to eat so there is extra vitamin value in thir stomachs when you feed them to your lizard. Since mealworms don't eat when you refrigerate them, the best way to handle it is to take the grubs out of the refrigerator once every 2 weeks and put in a fresh piece of carrot. It takes a few days because the grubs have to come out of hibernation and get their appetites back. Open the container and if the carrot is all chewed up, throw it away and place the mealworms back in the fridge. This puts them back to sleep. You can feed them right out of the fridge because they come to room temperature very rapidly and their tummies will still have carrot in it. Be sure to dust them with a vitatmin/calcium supplement just like you do crickets before offering them. I avoid canned insects because I have seen reptiles become canned food junkies and refuse all other food but that kind. It's your budget and availability of canned insects that should determine if you want to go that way. I believe live food (animal or vegetable) has delicate protiens and molecular compunds that are far more beneficial to your lizard's health than any other alternative food source. Use dead stuff sparingly and as a back-up only. As far as cat food goes, think about the lizard as it lives in the wild. It is an opportunistic feeder eating virtually any food matter it comes across, living or dead. Chances are, it will eat something freshly killed before one that is in the advanced stages of decay. Thinking in that way, what kind of catfood comes closest to simulating those feeding habits? I doubt that if your lizard is accepting dry kitty food that it is going to experience any negative affects as long as there is plenty of water available and the temps are warm enough to make sure his digestion is working at it's best. Wet food removes this "difficult to digest" concern.