Feeding Question

[tcruz]

Hi guy's,
I just introduced mealworms to my Reggie's diet. I know they aren't the best, I give them in moderation in addition to his crickets and salad. I plan to start on the Phoenix worms instead, but in the meantime the mealworms are all I have access to at my local pet store. My question is how many should I be feeding him at a time? I've been dropping in about 4-5 in between both main meals of the day and he's been devouring them. Also, do I coat everything with the calcium supplement, or can I just do the crickets and the salad in the morning and not the afternoon food? So confusing. I'm taking him to the reptile Expo in my area on Saturday with pics of his setup and lots of questions for breeders. But I hops you guy's can give me some pointers before then. Thanks so much!

 

[PatsyB]

Meal worms don't offer much nutrition wise but if you are using them just make sure that he is well hydrated and impaction shouldn't be an issue. If you are dusting his main meals you don't have to really dust in between.

 

[tcruz]

Oh, okay... That's just what I thought about the mealworms. I'm going to stop feeding those to him. And the Phoenix worms? Would I feed those with the crickets or as a separate meal? Same day, or alternate days? I appreciate the feedback Patsy.

 

[PatsyB]

You can feed them however you want. You can do one meal worms the next crickets. Or do half and half at each meal. You can even do one day worms, one day cickets. It's okay to keep them guessing. Mine like hornworms, supers and crickets, I will usually do a few of of both worms at each meal. Sometimes they want both and sometimes they only want the one kind. I try crickets a few times each, they've become a pain to try to clear out the uneaten ones.

 

[tcruz]

Gotcha!

 

[jarich]

Just a bit of fine tuning with the supplements and powders. You shouldnt have to dust the veggies/greens ever. The thing with the powders/supplements is that you are looking to counteract the shortcomings of that particular food as it is in the gut. So if you are feeding a good mix of healthy greens, there is no need to dust them. However, with both the crickets and the mealworms (and many other insects), you are trying to counteract the poor Ca : P ratio that happens in the gut. These foods dont deplete the bodies calcium levels, but rather because of the way that calcium and phosphorous interact, the poor ratio means that very little, if any, of the calcium will be absorbed. Thats why the supplement is needed as the food is being digested. By increasing the Ca : P ratio in the gut during digestion, you insure that more of that calcium will actually be absorbed instead of simply being excreted with the wastes. So feed good calcium rich greens on their own and save the powders/supplements for the poor ratio insects like crickets, roaches, mealworms, etc. Incidentally, the phoenix worms are about the only one you dont have to dust, due to their high Ca : P ratio.

 

[tcruz]

Excellent advice, jarich. Thanks!

 

[SideShowMom]

I try crickets a few times each, they've become a pain to try to clear out the uneaten ones.

Do you have any advice for doing that? I had to take everything out of the viv last time I tried. I just went ahead and did a full clean while I had it empty.

 

[PatsyB]

It's a pain but I put in a few at a time and try to pay attention to how many didn't get eaten. Whatever don't get eaten I either scoop out with a cup or just grab them with my hand. Last time I fed crickets, I didn't have a lot of time and I dumped like 8 in and left. I thought I got all of them out at the end of the day and 3 days later there was a cricket in the front room. 2 days after that there was one walking around the tank!

 

[jarich]

If you keep the greens/veggies in the enclosure over night each night, then there's no reason to take the uneaten crickets out.