Mealworms or Crickets?

[prettyinpink]

SUPERS!

 

[Heather]

Mealies, supers and dubias. My entire first collection I had all died from crap crickets. I will never feed crickets again.

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[ultimatepetz]

Mealworms all the way.

 

[wgparks]

i use crickets and phoenix worms

 

[LeoGeckoDude]

I've only had my Leopard Gecko for about a week now. I have fed him both mealies and crickets. It was hard to get him to eat the crickets, he would just let them walk past without even trying, and when he missed he would give up and walk away.

Tonight I tried him on mealworms. He seemed to like the fact that they couldn't get away as easily, and he ate 10 in just a couple of minutes.

So, I guess i'm going to try mealies as the main food, with the occasional cricket as a treat or compliment.

 

[metal-otaku]

i only do meal worms on occasion and i crush their heads first. a friend of mine had a bearded dragon, and it died from meal worms eating there way out of his stomach. so i try not to do that to much. i know most people on here leave a dish of worms for their leos. but mine can't find them if they are in a dish it seems. and 2 when i tried putting them on a plastic lid i use to feed him, he'd gorge himself till he puked. so no mealies here on a regular basis.

 

[katie_]

i only do meal worms on occasion and i crush their heads first. a friend of mine had a bearded dragon, and it died from meal worms eating there way out of his stomach. so i try not to do that to much. i know most people on here leave a dish of worms for their leos. but mine can't find them if they are in a dish it seems. and 2 when i tried putting them on a plastic lid i use to feed him, he'd gorge himself till he puked. so no mealies here on a regular basis.

Your friend was dead wrong.

 

[metal-otaku]

Your friend was dead wrong.

i don't find her to be a liar nor her vet. since she worked for her vet for a long time. the worms had chewed holes in the poor things tummy and did damage to internal tissues.

 

[katie_]

i don't find her to be a liar nor her vet. since she worked for her vet for a long time. the worms had chewed holes in the poor things tummy and did damage to internal tissues.

I work at a vet, and have been for a long time too.
Thats a myth and cannot happen.

 

[metal-otaku]

I work at a vet, and have been for a long time too.
Thats a myth and cannot happen.

i'll take that as your opinion.

but i'm still going to listen to the advice and opinion of the vet that my friend uses for all her animals.

 

[katie_]

Do some research.
Its not an opinion! Google 'mealworm myth' and you'll get pages.

 

[glad2bmomy]

Mealworm issues

i'll take that as your opinion.

but i'm still going to listen to the advice and opinion of the vet that my friend uses for all her animals.

I have been told by my vet who is a herp specialist to cut off their heads, and I also had a repituable pet store tell me they can bit the animal from the inside if they are too large for the gecko to kill when eaten. I believe it!

 

[katie_]

*rolls eyes*

 

[grboxa]

Crickets because there way more nutritional then mealworms. And about this mealworm eating out the stomach, don't the worms die almost instantly due to the acid inside the geckos stomachs?.

 

[katie_]

There was probably one case, ONE case of someones reptile/amphibian who died in a tank with some mealworms left in it. They probably tried to eat the dead animal, and LOOKED like they had crawled from inside the animal.
It would be very easy to educate yourself on this long ago debunked myth.

 

[vinnie-gecko]

well my leo eats crickets, locusts and dubia roaches. i will eventually make the roaches as a staple as the crickets stink and they die really easily

 

[Visionist]

i don't find her to be a liar nor her vet. since she worked for her vet for a long time. the worms had chewed holes in the poor things tummy and did damage to internal tissues.

What actually happened was her Leo got impacted and died from a blockage in the intestinal tract. That is something that COULD logically happen.
If you want to keep believing that mealworms can chew through stomach acid, stomach lining and a good amount of skin then be my guest. Ever been bit by a mealworm? You have to be paying good attention just to realize that it even tried to.

 

[ceduke]

I was a tech in a hospital that saw exotics for awhile, and we did see the occasional mealworm impaction. These were very dramatic looking, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was where this ridiculous myth came from.

I feed mealworms and crickets, and when I have access to them I add phoenix worms, dubias, and silkworms. Since I only have one gecko that's a challenge...the nearest place that sells dubias sells them in sets of 100 and doesn't like to split up the sets. Luckily, two new reptile shops are opening in my area this summer and I'm hoping to have access to a more varied diet for her.

 

[That_DL_Kid]

superworms are said to have a softer carapace so they are easier to digest

also as a trained Veterinary Technician that has gone to countless exotic CE's and conventions I agree that the mealworm eating out of the stomach is a preposterous idea

 

[metal-otaku]

What actually happened was her Leo got impacted and died from a blockage in the intestinal tract. That is something that COULD logically happen.
If you want to keep believing that mealworms can chew through stomach acid, stomach lining and a good amount of skin then be my guest. Ever been bit by a mealworm? You have to be paying good attention just to realize that it even tried to.

well shows you didn't pay attention to the post i made. my friend had a bearded dragon not a leo. and agian, i feel my risks of anything bad happening to my pets is reduced if i listen to the sound advice of my local and trusted vet. over the opinions those on the internet.