# Nutritional Value of Mealworms



## Bruce (Oct 31, 2004)

Hi guys,

I've recently purchased a batch of Mealworms and found them to be much cleaner and easier to maintain compared to crickets. Most of my T's seem to like them. I was thinking of switching my smaller T's and slings to mealworms. 

Has anyone tried raising T's on a diet mostly of mealworms? How does it compare to crixs in terms of nutrition? I would still give them crix and other things in rotation but was wondering if their staple diet consisted mostly of mealworms. would that be a problem?

Many thanks,
Bruce


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## RaZeDaHeLL666 (Oct 31, 2004)

I dont know, but I know one thing for sure!! They are ALL PROTIEN!! I always noticed like 2 mealworms will make your t FAT compared to 3 or 4 crickets!


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## GoTerps (Oct 31, 2004)

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They are ALL PROTIEN
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Actually it's closer to all fat.


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## Washout (Oct 31, 2004)

Lots of people raise slings on mostly mealworms. And many people raise geckos or other insect eating lizards on exclusivly mealworms.

Edit: Apparently mealworms are a great source of protein. If you google for nutritional info on them you get back that they provide somewhere between 30% to 50% of their calories from protein, and the rest from fat.


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## Mike H. (Oct 31, 2004)

A varied diet is usually best IMO... :drool: I try to feed a little of everything...meal worms, silk worms, crix, pinkies and anoles and when they have them super worms...I am also thinking of starting a roach colony....


Regards, Mike  :worship:


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## Immortal_sin (Oct 31, 2004)

I don't see that it's any worse than a diet of all crickets.
We don't really know what tarantulas NEED in their diets, but it seems mealworms provide good nutrition as well.
I feed mealworms, superworms, and lobster roaches, with waxworms and crickets occasionally thrown in.


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## Joanie (Oct 31, 2004)

I feed mostly mealworms to my smaller tarantulas, with crickets and waxworms rotated into their diets once or twice a month.  It's easier and cheaper for me to get mealworms, and I haven't noticed any problems with the tarantulas.  My larger t's get crickets more often and occasionally mice, since they don't seem as interested in eating something as small as a mealworm! 
I think a varied diet probably is the safest way to go, though, so I wouldn't switch totally over to just one prey species.
Joanie


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## jw73 (Oct 31, 2004)

I feed my spiders mealworms and all like them but P.regalis.


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## JohnxII (Oct 31, 2004)

I think Chip(Code Monkey) also doubted if protein is really the key nutrition a T needs. But I can tell you this: in the past many T keepers have raised slings to a healthy adulthood with just a strict diet of crickets/mealworms, sometimes straight from pet stores without gutloading etc.

FYI, here are a couple of interesting nutritional charts for comparison that I found:
http://www.grubco.com/Nutritional_Information.cfm
http://home.comcast.net/~holachapulin/Nutrition.html


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## shogun804 (Nov 1, 2004)

i feed crickets thats all i have access to right now...they seem to like them.


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## Bark (Nov 1, 2004)

For the little slings I use chopped up meal worms rather than pinheads (which aren't easy to get here for some reason).  Once the T is big enough to take on a small cricket, I stop feeding meal worms.  If you do feed meal worms, you pretty much have to kill them first to prevent burrowing.  Some T's are smart enough to dig them up, but most don't/won't.  Meal worms do last a heck of a lot longer though.


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