# Baby Mealworms?



## TheDoc (Aug 8, 2007)

I was just wondering if anyone has tryed feeding out the tiny tiny baby mealys?

I have 3 huge rubermaid tubs that i culture mealys in, and even though i give away a TON of mealys to other herpers, Im still left with way to many, I was just wondering if anyone has tryed feeding out babys to there darts,

I wouldnt use them as a staple but i was thinking they may make a nice treat every now and again.


----------



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i personally woudl not as they do have a hard exoskeleton and can be hard to digest for the frogs.


----------



## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Personally, I find the 'hard to digest' argument to be overrated. I have fed hundreds of mealworms to various herps over the years and not once have I had any issues with impaction. Darts eat ants in the wild, which are even more chitinous than mealworms. 

Feed away.


----------



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Arklier said:


> Personally, I find the 'hard to digest' argument to be overrated. I have fed hundreds of mealworms to various herps over the years and not once have I had any issues with impaction. Darts eat ants in the wild, which are even more chitinous than mealworms.
> 
> Feed away.


do you feed mealworms??


----------



## SusannahJoy (Jul 3, 2006)

i haven't fed mealworms to my darts because I could never find any small enough, but I've fed them to my mantellas, and they love them. I've never noticed any digestive problems. I don't know if I would use them as their main food, but as treats I think they're great! The more variety the better!


----------



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

top hat cricket farm sells them by the thoudsands.


----------



## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Julio said:


> Arklier said:
> 
> 
> > Personally, I find the 'hard to digest' argument to be overrated. I have fed hundreds of mealworms to various herps over the years and not once have I had any issues with impaction. Darts eat ants in the wild, which are even more chitinous than mealworms.
> ...


I have fed my terribilis mini mealworms (aka Tenebrio obscurus) and they seemed to enjoy them. Mini mealworms are a different species than the standard mealworm, which is Tenebrio molitor. They stay smaller, are darker in color, and are much more active.


----------



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

I used to use baby mealworms to feed to frogs. Tincs love them. The argument "they are hard to digest" is way overrated. Crickets pose more of a danger because they have the potential to evade the frogs, grow to a large size, and stress the frogs.

Just to warn you, they are difficult to sift out of the medium and slow producing. While a good food, they're not as practical as rice flour larvae. However, I have noticed breeding around the times when I fed them out.

The best way is to sift over a paper towel. Leave it alone for a few minutes, then tip the paper towel to remove medium. They will cling to the paper towel and you can serve it to the frogs.

http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewt ... io+molitor


----------



## TheDoc (Aug 8, 2007)

In my cultures i have a ton of mealys in varius sizes, My full grown mealys get huge, Generaly about twice the size of store bought mealys,

But i can easily find mealys not much bigger then Malanos if i search. Im not really woried about the chitin, i have never seen affect any herp, and i have fed them to alot of differant herps, like i sayed i also give them away to other herpers who usually come to me in my area because mine get HUGE!

I was just wondering really if anyone had successfully fed them out to darts, Like i sayed it wouldnt be a staple, But im a firm beleiver in variety for herps. Thats mainly why i was asking.


----------



## lacerta (Aug 27, 2004)

I raise both _Tenebrio_ and the larger _Zophobas_ for my other herps. I have tried feeding baby larvae to both my tincs and terribilis. I placed them in a watch glass to prevent them from burrowing out of sight into the sphagnum substrate. My impression is that the darts are not interested in them. I have had better luck feeding the small dermestid beetle larvae that often invades cricket cultures. These little hairy guys are more active and the darts will readily take them.

George


----------



## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Yeah, that's the one thing about T. molitor that limits their usefulness for darts. They don't move very much. The vision of frogs is movement based, kind of like the T. rex in Jurassic Park. In order for them to see something as food, it has to be moving. That's why if they're looking at a fly and it stops moving, they freeze and fixate on it until it moves again. 

T. molitor just doesn't move enough to trigger the feeding response sometime. I think that T. obscurus makes a better feeder for darts for this reason. They are REALLY active. Like mealworms on speed. You can buy them at http://www.minimealworms.com, and there's a couple of videos on the page that show how active they are.


----------



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

I have used T. molitor with much success, but my tincs are trained to come to the front to eat out of a dish.


----------



## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

"Mini Mealworms" vary by species by who you get them from... they can either be tiny standard mealies, or the other species. The name is used interchangably even tho they are relatively different in behavior.

Bowl fed frogs that know to go to the bowl for food have no issue taking slower moving species like RFB larvae and T. molitor larvae because they will go after anything that so much as vaguely twitches.

I'm not convinced (and neither are some others that I've talked to) that the "mini mealworms" are truely T. obscurus, but more likely to be the "lesser mealworm"/buffalo worm (Alphitobius diaperinus). Either way, they maintain a smaller size beetle, are much more active, but harder to culture.

If you have large amounts of mealies, bowl feed your frog and feed the smallest instars. Not the best full diet, but a great treat.

A lot of the issues with "chitin" comes from a combo of the hard shell making them harder to digest (and sometimes pass undigested) and they aren't the best food for herps/fish used to taking more soft bodied prey (of which PDFs aren't included).


----------



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

the main reason why mealworms have gotten a bad rap is because they have a bad phosphorus to calcium ratio. 

Their phosphorus content is twice as much as calcium.


----------

