Meal worms and phoenix worms

[BocaJan]

I am thinking about adding these feeders to my "stash" to give my chams some variety. Does anyone have any comments on these? Are they as nutritious as supers?

 

[beeze]

I use Phoenix worms sometimes. My female loves them and there are very high in calcium, they are just small.

 

[jannb]

I use Phoenix worms sometimes. My guys like them they are small but they wiggle allot. This chart below shows the nutrition.

Post #7 https://www.chameleonforums.com/nutrition-chart-30743/

 

[vivaciousveil2010]

our 7 month old veil loves the 'giant' mealworms. we r still skeptical on the supers. he will not eat anything other than crickets and mealworms. have tried veggies, flowers, fruit... no interest.

 

[Clifford]

I offer mealworms about once a week. They are easily gutloaded. They have a fair amount of chinton as compared to easily digestible "meat" and like all larva are a bit fatty. However they can still be a perfectly acceptable addition to a varied diet.

My adult panther doesnt seem to notice tiny phoenix maggots.

 

[nobbyT]

I use Phoenix worms sometimes. My female loves them and there are very high in calcium, they are just small.

Hi beeze

Your wife loves that?

Very much interesting….

 

[sandrachameleon]

I am thinking about adding these feeders to my "stash" to give my chams some variety. Does anyone have any comments on these? Are they as nutritious as supers?

mealworms are okay for added variety - you do want to gutload them, afterwhich they are similar to superworms
http://chameleonnews.com/03OctWells.html

Soldier fly maggots are small (some of my chameleons dont even notice them), and often come packed in sawdust so its a pain in the butt to pick them out and clean them off prior to feeding.

Nutrition charts:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/nutritional-analysis-2522/
http://chamownersweb.net/insects/nutritional_values.htm
http://www.phish3r.com/feederinfo2.htm
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/Misc/insectnutrition.html
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html (scroll down the page a ways)

 

[mlw50]

I was under the impression from previous posts that mealworms, if fed often enough, can lead to impaction and should thus be fed sparingly.

 

[Elizadolots]

I think mealworms com under the heading of an "every so often" feeder because of the impaction risk.

I've found that phoenix worms (Soldier fly maggots) will clean themselves off. I drop them on a paper towel and let them crawl a bit... they clean up very quickly. They can be fed straight off or gutloaded.

I suspect smaller chameleons will like them more because they are tiny...

 

[pssh]

I like mealworms as a once every week or two treat. I haven't tried Phoenix worms yet, but I've heard you should poke a hole in them or they may come back out whole! eww.

 

[dom1959]

I like mealworms as a once every week or two treat. I haven't tried Phoenix worms yet, but I've heard you should poke a hole in them or they may come back out whole! eww.

sometimes i think we underestimate what our chameleons bite does to it's food, i thought my veiled just "dropped" a mealworm. nope, his bite cut it straight in half. i also have fed a lot of phoenix worms and never have seen one on the other end.

 

[phylicia]

My cham eats the pheonix worms but they are so small..mealworms and small crickets is all hell eat and he is 8 months old but Im not complaining because he went on a starvation diet in August for 3 weeks , I was so worried about him but everything turned out well..he will only eat small insects he freaks when I put a hornworm or large crickets or superworm in. His diet is giant mealworms which are small and tiny crickets and Pheonix whic if you blink your eye you wont see them..ha ha

 

[nick barta]

Meal worms and super worms can be gut loaded with the same gut load, and nutritionally, are very close. The advantage to meal worms is that you can get them in all sizes locally, and in small quantities. The advantage to super worms is they are a softer bodied worm, so impaction risks are minimized if not removed. Supers also climb the screen walls with more "gusto", activating chams to feed better. Both meal worms and super worms will last for weeks in an oatmeal bedding, I would add Cricket Crack or Super worm gut load (at Tiki Tiki Reptiles-sponsor). Meal worms can be kept in the refrigerator, Supers are kept at room temperature.

Phoenix worms are a Calcium pill, not a feeder. By far the best feeder for a calcium source for reptiles, Phoenix worms are a must. Buy the medium size as they last longer than the large, store at 55-60 degrees, and if you received fresh Phoenix worms, they should last about 4 weeks. Once they go black, let them pupate into the soldier flies and feed them off. I think the adults have value as a calcium source, although I have not seen a study on this. I would buy from Phoenixworms.com to get the freshest Phoenix Worms, unless you have a seller who can guarantee they are fresh, and stored at the right temperature.

For some further variety, butters, silks, roaches, and blue bottle flies should keep your herd of chams happy.

Nick Barta