Can Chams eat mealworms?

[CDCherpetological]

Hi guys, I'm a distributor of mealworms out in Southern California, do any of you know if Chameleons eat mealworms? Thanks!
-Johnny

 

[carol5208]

yes, they do! but.....alot of people on the forum here say they are poor feeders for chams because they are hard to digest.

 

[Thompson]

They are usually only offered as treats. I only give mine about 2 a month.

 

[Chamero]

Superworms (meal worm cousin) are usually preferred over meal worms by reptile keepers.

Softer body shell, easier for digestion. Less impaction problems.

You should switch operation to supers

 

[sandrachameleon]

Hi guys, I'm a distributor of mealworms out in Southern California, do any of you know if Chameleons eat mealworms? Thanks!
-Johnny

Yes mealworms can form part of a varied diet, especially if other prey is low in chinton (softbodied). Mealworms must be gutloaded and dusted with calcium to be even somewhat nutritious, this and because of the high amount of chinton vs easily digestable "meat" they are not considered a good choice for frequently use.

My chameleons, young and old, get mealworms about twice a month.

 

[Miss Lily]

My female loves newly moulted (white) mealies but she only gets them occasionally as treats. She also loves the newly moulted supers too!

 

[ladysilkworm]

I am a silkworm breeder and I know chams love these guys!

But two mealies in a month? that is nothing!! The mysterious mammal (yes mammal) I had ate them like potato chips!

Btw, if you want to sell mealies, email me. I know where there is a high demand for mealies that you MAY not have known or heard about..

I used to buy thousands of them online.. too bad I didnt know faunaclassified existed.. mealies are so cheap but I pay full prices

You think 1000 was a lot. But no.. it came in a cup and can get used up in 5 days!

 

[CDCherpetological]

Thank you guys!
@LadySilk worm, I hear ya..I sell mealworms myself on fauna and other sites alike. I think they've gotten so cheap now kinda sucks but I guess that's how it is. I might have to email you soon haha. Take care!
-Johnny

 

[Siteofthor]

Yes this is my question too. I DO NOT want to deal with crickets. If I am only feeding with live plants and some kind of protein that is dusted. Can I only feed them Superworms or Silkworms since you guys are saying no to mealworms on a daily or weekly basis? Any one have a recommendation on where to get them online?

Thanks

Site

 

[fluxlizard]

I feed them to my chams once or twice a week (usually once). And not a couple of worms but a full meal.

They are only hard to digest for a lizard if the lizard is sick or kept too cool or has not been fed in too long and so digestive system isn't functioning properly. Most insects are poor nutritionally if not fed a good diet, and mealworms are no exception to the rule, that's for sure.

Johnny-
If you want to sell a lot of mealworms, work out an excellent feeding program for the worms and feed them that way from the time they hatch until the time they are sold to be fed. Learn how the best cricket food is made for feeder crickets, and start with that- mealworms can live on any dry food source that crickets can- bran or oats is not a requirement for growth and reproduction. Being fed a high quality feed throughout life makes a big difference in how nutritious they are compared to being fed something cheap and then simply gutloaded. Then get an in-depth (not simply cal : phos and fat and protein, but vitamins and minerals and amino acids too) nutritional analysis done on the well fed worms. Just a guess but I think many will be surprised at the analysis. Then market them as nutriworms or something. Vitabugs is already taken by someone who is doing the same for crickets. You can then charge more for your worms and have a better market.

That's what I would do if I were trying to open a market up for mealworms. If I had the resources, I'd do the analysis and feed trials myself just for personal interest...

 

[Siteofthor]

So you are saying you don't have to feed them crickets and you can just feed them Mealworms everyday?

Site

 

[Kath44]

All need a varied diet. I know mine gets bored of the same feeder after a few days of eating one kind. If you really can't cope with crickets there's dubias or locust or various worms aswell as blue bottle flies.
A good gut load aswell.
Kath.

 

[fluxlizard]

So you are saying you don't have to feed them crickets and you can just feed them Mealworms everyday?

Good night, where did you get that idea from?

I'm saying a couple of things but not that!

I feed mealworms rather than other insects generally 1 day per week. You want as much variety as possible in the diet, and if you have something more than other things, you need to choose something like crickets, roaches, or silkworms (I guess- not having used them myself) as your staple with other things for variety.

It's really better if no single food item makes up more more than 20-30% of the total diet.

I'm also saying that properly fed, mealworms are probably more nutritious than most here seem to believe. Sure, if you feed them bran or oatmeal primarily they aren't going to be so great. But if you feed them the same great dry food recipes people are feeding their crickets and roaches, they are going to be better nutritionally than the bran fed, and while I don't know of a complete nutritional analysis done up on excellently fed mealworms like this, I do know that there are significant differences in other insects fed an excellent diet during their growth- such as crickets and even soldier fly larvae. Also, mealworms were found by one researcher to gutload calcium more effectively than crickets when fed the same diet. These specially fed mealworms were used with crickets as the sole food items by that researcher to breed panther chameleons over multiple generations in his lab at the University of Texas. (The researcher was Ferguson- read about it in the book "The Panther Chameleon: Color Variation, Natural History, Conservation, and Captive Management"). I'm sure they are higher in certain amino acids, certain other minerals in addition to calcium and certain vitamins than crickets, when fed the same diet, and that crickets similarly would remain higher in other certain amino acids, minerals and vitamins.

That's why you want variety and not rely on a single food source.

I feed them the same as my crickets and roaches and superworms. I even feed fresh fruit and veggies every 1-2 days in addition to the dry food I make up for everything. But I can't get so much of the veggies and fruit into the worms as I can the other insects- too much moisture in mealworm bins invites mites (been there done that years gone by). But they will rapidly consume a modest amount of fruits and veggies every 1-2 days - they swarm the veggies and chow down.

But there may be other problems- for example, the fat content will quite possibly remain higher than crickets even when the diet is improved.

So no, you don't want to feed them to your lizard every day instead of crickets.

But after many years of a feeding 1 day per week instead of some other insect, they've done well for my lizards. They are a useful and easily cultured insect to use as ONE PART of a VARIED diet...

 

[Psychedelic Chams]

I suggest using silk worms, butter worms and properly gut loaded crickets and you should have an amazing cham