Are mealworms a good diet?:?

[natebugman]

...I'm always sure to make it abundantly clear when my posts are merely my opinions, or when they are based on some sort of evidence.

This is part of what I was trying to say with my post. I wasn't saying, "If you don't have scientific evidence for your answers, then don't post." I was saying that we should try to make it more clear when we don't know something for certain or have a solid source for an opinion, especially if we are dealing with newer hobbiests or others who have little to no knowledge of tarantulas, arachnids, or insects. If people only posted things that they had scientific references or experimental notes for, this board would be a whole lot smaller. LOL. I'm not trying to shut people up or become the "do you have a reference for that?" police. Plus, I was also trying to see if anyone had actual evidence.

 

[skar]

Hi guys,
i searched the site and didnt find any conclusive opinions or facts.

Is feeding mealworms as a main diet a bad idea?

some people said that their too fatty or are dangerous as a main diet. is this true? Are crickets really any better?

thanks for your time, Nick

So far it's inconclusive . However .... I feed ah bout 60% or so as mealworms without any noted harm as of yet .
I personally like them because they last forever (fridge) and they don't smell . They supposedly have more fat and ca but . . who knows what a ts diet should be ?
The most common response would be varied / roaches . Personally I go varied ___>)

 

[InvertFix]

Not even close to accurate in my experience. To slow them down, I routinely let my colony go to the low/mid sixties for months at a time. While it does slow them way down, they don't stop breeding entirely.
There was someone on another thread who claimed their thriving/expanding colony had never seen temps above the 70's...

Bill

I guess I should have clarified its in my experiences. Mine absolutely refuse to breed below 92. I wonder if it matters what part of the country or what state you're in? That's rather interesting. I have a few colonies and I can't get them to breed below that. Which is a hassle to keep it up so high here in Colorado.

 

[NickC4]

Thanks for all the great responses!
Would it be be ok to swap every week? Crickets one week mealworms the next and then back to crickets. Is that still too often?
Thanks,
Nick

 

[Introvertebrate]

A lot of the mealworm bias stems from the reptile hobby. Unless they're freshly molted, mealworms have relatively hard exoskeletons. If you give your lizard a steady diet of mealworms, there's a possibility that it can get an intestinal blockage. That's a moot point with Ts, since they punch through the mealworm's exoskeleton, and suck out the fluids inside.

 

[Spinster]

How about waxworms? Anyone had any experience feeding those? They were all I could get last night, and I fed them to my rosie and my red-knee with no problems so far (nobody's dead yet.) My slings wouldn't eat cut pieces of them, though. Personally I plan to stick to crickets as a staple food.