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Well because of what the pet store told me I have been very nervous feeding my Leo meal worms but I have been doing so since my last post and he is taking 2 “Supper meal worms” every other day and growing well and so far everything looks ok. When I first started this diet the first feeding went great but on the 2nd feeding he took 4 of the large worms and the next day there were 2 in his bathroom corner that had been regurgitated but so far that was the only problem. I have been dusting the with the same supplements I used with the crickets.

My reptile research and collection

well my leo loved mealworms and ate them all the time the only problem was their hard outer shells and it showed in the poop of the shell then she got used 2 the worms but maybe the superworms are too big for your leo or try smaller mealies or try crickets

as crickets are generally much more nutritious and are immensely easier for animals to digest. Not to mention, sprinkling mealies with calcium/vitamin can be a pain in the ass as little of the calcium/vitamin powder sticks to meal worms. Good Luck.
Sam.

Actually ALOT of breeders use mealworms as a staple diet without any problems including me. If they are properly gutloaded they are one of the easiest and best things you can feed to your leos. Crix are very frustrating and they die so fast...mealworms are extremely easy to breed too. I would def recommend using them as a staple....I've heard alot of great things about roaches but I've never tried them ..my parents would absolutely freak out if I kept roaches..lol.
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Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

actually Ive been feedin mealis for a long time now (and breeding them). It works great.
Lobster Roaches are good staples as well....IMO
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. . . I've raised hundreds of leos from babies on mealworms alone - and I know a lot of HUGE breeders that feed nothing but mealies all the time.

Crickets are indeed fine food - but your opinions on mealwoms couldn't be more wrong.

Oh and yeah - they DON'T eat a hole through the leos stomach . . .
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

Altered mind has the right info. You can turn a blind eye just because you CAN feed your leos meal worms and not notice a visible difference. Point is, chitin is harder for them to digest and harder on their tiny systems in the long run. I know crickets are loud, stinky, and inconvienient to house, but if your priorities are straight, it is in your leos best interest to have them be the staple of their diet. Go ahead, feed your leos nothing but meal worms and you'll never really notice much of anything. You might have perfectly fine leos, but if a cricket based diet means even just a slight difference in the comfort and long term health of an animal why not do it? Your attitude is also uncalled for. That "Oh and yeah - they DON'T eat a hole through the leos stomach" comment was totally unecessary. If your education and knowledge as to your animals' health is really your interest why waste time making sarcastic comments like that?

I don't know what was so sarcastic - just making sure i answered all the questions that pop up about mealies.

You're just plain wrong about crix vs. leo. There is no evidence that it lengthens life or improves life that I know about. Correct me if I'm wrong. With all the premium gut load info and supplementation - you won't notice any difference - and neither will Mr. Leo.

Like I said before - if there is evidence otherwise - bring it out. I would gladly admit I'm wrong.

Just trying to squash some bad info - if I offended you - sorry about that.
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

But it's not 'bad info'. Numerous authorities/breeders have stated this. By the way, do you have any info/sources say that MEALWORMS ARE FAR MORE NUTRITIONAL??? I'll be looking more into this and siting the sources soon.

Be my guest. I'm not that much into debating - just trying to clear up misconceptions - like this mealie/crix deal.
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

I totally agree with Monte and anyone else who feeds meallies instead of crix. I've done some experimenting with dif foods and how they affect the weight gain of a leo. I got a gecko that had only been fed crix and started feeding it mealworms, it gained about 1/4 of it's weight. It just seemed kinda unneccisary to start blaming us about not feeding the right food and not caring about our geckos welfare. I care plenty about my geckos and if crix were actually better for them I would feed them but so far I don't think there is enough proof.
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Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

I had always heard that mealies were definately not very nutritionally complete. I had heard that there Ca ratio was even more off than other feeder insects. I also thought that the huge amount of chitin (sp?) was bad for the leo's as well. If the professionals agree otherwise then by all means listen to them, i am just puzzled because i had been getting information contrary to that. Has the public opinion of mealies changed? Or are all those other things i heard about mealies just a lie?

TIA
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Here is a link to some nutritional info. http://www.grubco.com/Nutritional_Information.cfm

Personally, I don't use crickets anymore...they stink, die off, aren't that great as far as nutrition and can carry parasites that can infect your leos. I use roaches (lobsters)and supplement with waxies and mealies.
Also the super mealworms may be a lot harder for your leos to deal with, they can be rather aggressive.
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www.hullabalooherps.com

I find that there are split opinions on this subject! I personally feed mealies as a staple and TREAT my leo's to crix, waxworms and superworms occasionally. Obviously an all round diet of all the foods you can give your Leo is probably the most beneficial in my eyes. You see these charts about the contents of our feeders and go by them, but Leo's in the wild mostly live on what??? Crickets? Mealworms? I think it would all depend on where they came from. What im getting at is i don't think no staple is a good staple. People feed there Leo's what suits them through breeding the feeder. Example crix are fairly hard to breed providing you have the space and time, where as mealies are bred alot easier, they hardly smell and also make a great feeder. Just my 2 Cents

>>I find that there are split opinions on this subject! I personally feed mealies as a staple and TREAT my leo's to crix, waxworms and superworms occasionally. Obviously an all round diet of all the foods you can give your Leo is probably the most beneficial in my eyes. You see these charts about the contents of our feeders and go by them, but Leo's in the wild mostly live on what??? Crickets? Mealworms? I think it would all depend on where they came from. What im getting at is i don't think no staple is a good staple. People feed there Leo's what suits them through breeding the feeder. Example crix are fairly hard to breed providing you have the space and time, where as mealies are bred alot easier, they hardly smell and also make a great feeder. Just my 2 Cents
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Katie F.
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

Are you really fighting about bugs?
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Just a debate, put information out there and let everyone decide what they think is best. That is what this forum is all about.
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www.hullabalooherps.com