# Food value of mealworms vs darkling beetles?



## Snipes (Jan 9, 2007)

Do they have very different nutrition values and which is better?


----------



## billopelma (Jan 9, 2007)

Can't answer your question but for me it doesn't matter because nothing I have will eat the beetles. I have to wonder if they develop a defensive odor at that stage, as many beetles do.

Bill


----------



## Wade (Jan 9, 2007)

The adult darkling beetles of many species do indeed relese defensive chemicals and are therefore distateful to many predators. Also, the larvae have a greater ratio of soft to hard parts and therefore probably offer more in the way of nutrition.

Wade


----------



## roach dude (Jan 9, 2007)

yea, i cant get anything to eat the darkling beetle, i think they must realese a chmical odour, even my firebellied toads wont eat them, and they munch anything!


----------



## Digby Rigby (Jan 9, 2007)

*Tenebrionids*

Beetles of the Tenebrionids are darkling beetles.  Mealworms are tenebrionids thus darkling beetles.  Most animals will eat the beetles provided they are still white fresh from the pupa after that too late.  There are many specie and genera of darkling beetles.

Digby Rigby balboa28279@mypacks.net

My feeders are cooler than your pets!


----------



## edventurous77 (Jan 9, 2007)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. my cane toad eat both normal mealie beetles and  morio beetles. tasty


----------



## cacoseraph (Jan 9, 2007)

i would guess the beetles have a larger variety of nutrients in them due to a larger number of specialized organs (i.e. antenna etc) but... i've only ever seen one beetle eaten and that was by my crazy and gravid G. rosea


----------



## cliff (Jan 9, 2007)

My Ts will eat them before they get black and hard.

cliff


----------



## Ephebopus.M (Jan 10, 2007)

are these beetles the ones that metamorphos from the meal worms?


----------



## cliff (Jan 10, 2007)

Ephebopus.M said:


> are these beetles the ones that metamorphos from the meal worms?


Yes.

Cliff


----------



## Ephebopus.M (Jan 10, 2007)

ive tried feeding those to some of my old collection in colorado, they dont want anything to do with them...


----------



## John Apple (Jan 11, 2007)

I have noticed a lot of my juvie tarantulas will eat the beatles, Chromatopelma seem to love them and my beardeds enjoy them a lot.


----------



## Wade (Jan 11, 2007)

edventurous77 said:


> mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. my cane toad eat both normal mealie beetles and  morio beetles. tasty



Not much turns off toads. I had a recently collected colorodo river toad (Bufo alavarius) defecate in temporary holding containers, and the feces was full of the elytra of Eleodes sp. darkling beetles. These beeles are sometimes known as "desert skunk beetles" due to the powerful odor of the defensive chemicals, but the toads are apparently not bothered.

Wade


----------



## roach dude (Jan 12, 2007)

Wade said:


> Not much turns off toads. I had a recently collected colorodo river toad (Bufo alavarius) defecate in temporary holding containers, and the feces was full of the elytra of Eleodes sp. darkling beetles. These beeles are sometimes known as "desert skunk beetles" due to the powerful odor of the defensive chemicals, but the toads are apparently not bothered.
> 
> Wade


my Fire bellied toads never eat the darkling beetle, though they are a different sp and i would think alot smaller then the colorado river toad...


----------



## Wade (Jan 14, 2007)

Colorodo river toads are indeed, very large, larger than the average person's hand.  Although firebellies ar in the same family, I was thinking specifically of the genus Bufo. The Eleodes sp. darklings are themselves quite large, almost as long as a firebelly toad!

Wade


----------



## arachnocat (Jan 16, 2007)

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about this too. My vinegaroon used to eat the beetles. I loved feeding that thing.


----------



## guitarlust (Feb 12, 2007)

before going off food my g. rosea used to eat them up all the time whether they were brown or completely black.


----------



## guitarlust (Feb 21, 2007)

is somebody able to tell me about the fat content of mealworms? i read a thread talking about that mealworms had a high fat content and that it was unhealthy for tarantulas on a consistent basis. i feed mealworms to all of my Ts and am in the process starting a roach colony. some help will be greatly appreciated.


----------



## cacoseraph (Feb 21, 2007)

guitarlust said:


> is somebody able to tell me about the fat content of mealworms? i read a thread talking about that mealworms had a high fat content and that it was unhealthy for tarantulas on a consistent basis. i feed mealworms to all of my Ts and am in the process starting a roach colony. some help will be greatly appreciated.


something fairly critical to bear in mind is that we do not actually know the dietary requirements of tarantulas... so everything you hear about high this is good or low that is bad or whatever is most likely speculation

something we do know, though, is that tarantulas can be raised from egg to grave, fertile, on a diet of petstore crickets

even people's anecdotes don't really tell us anything, as there is such a hideous number of variables when it comes to nutrition and metabolic processes and stuff.

another tactic would be to track down scientific accounts of what tarantulas eat in the wild. this would probably involve examining the debris in burrows as you can't exactly look for parts of bugs in a tara stomach, as you can do with other animals. i don't believe i have ever read about a tarantula in nature that eats just one bug to the exclusion of anything else


----------

