Feeding mealworms

[Babidi]

What do you guys usually feed your mealworms for moisture food? I've got a little pile of gut load in the corner of the worms' setup and I've been giving them a new potato slice everyday, but I thought I'd switch things up a little and stick a small piece of lettuce in there.

Does it matter? Do they have any preference? Will one moisture food benefit my newts more when they eat the worms than another?

 

[Mark]

Mealworms aren't really fussy and will eat any organic matter (they'll eat each other given the chance). I tend to keep them in "readybrek" which is a fortified oat cereal and give them a few slices of carrot for moisture. They are not nutritionally complete as a food item and shouldn't be used as a staple. Use the freshly molted worms, which are white, as they'll be softer and more palatable to your newts.

 

[Otterwoman]

I have some mealworms in a small dish with finely chopped up cat food sprinkled with gecko vitamins in my lizard's tank. I put in more mealworms than they would eat, and after a while, they started to breed themselves in there! Absolutely no effort at all! "As easy as falling out of a chair." I occasionally pick out the black bugs (adults) when I'm tidying the tank.

 

[Babidi]

Hi again.

I picked up a little tub of cricket drink today, called water jell. It says it has polyacrylamide, copolymer, and water. These mealworms are given to my firebelly and paddletail as treats, so I figured there's no harm in making their treats a little more nutritious, between the cricket drink and the gut load they have with them.

Is this sort of cricket drink any good for them after all, and after fed, good for the newts? They (the worms) seem to really like it, but then again, they're mealworms and would probably eat/drink anything they were given.

 

[Kal El]

G'day,

Mealworms can generally be reared on dry wheat bran, oatmeal, or cornmeal. A little dry skim milk powder also helps to boost the reproduction rate.

Jay.

 

[benw]

Hi

I use a fair amount of mealworms for other mammals i keep, and i think the main thing is to keep them cool, as they then last for months. Also good food is some catfood, breakfast cereal, porridge, and for moisture friut such as apple,pear but make it non citrus.
Also pick out adult beetles as they release an inhibiting chemical to the other mealworms.

As Mark has stated, use the freshly moulted ones, as the chitinous body is quite thick. I found a ready mixed mealworm diet, which was good, but felt a variation in diet was better.

Hope this is of some use,

Ben

 

[beefsteak]

I feed mine dead gut loaded crickets! Just throw one in and listen you can actually hear the crunching. Ten of the larger mealworms, one large cricket gone in under ten minutes! It's also a good way to dispose of dead crickets.