difficulty with meal worms

[Tequila Sunrise]

Today I got my axie some meal worms, she seems to like them but has a lot of trouble eating them. It takes her about 10 minutes, it keeps popping in and out of her mouth. Is this because they are new to her or should she be able to eat them quicker?

 

[Kaysie]

Mealworms are usually not acceptable as amphibian food. They have strong jaws, are not easily killed when swallowed, and hard exoskeletons which are not easily digested.

She's probably spitting them out because of the texture. Mine do that with all new foods. However, I don't advise feeding mealworms unless they're freshly shed, and they've been decapitated.

 

[Jennewt]

I have quite a few caudates that reject mealworms. I recommend using earthworms instead. They are easier to eat, and better nutritionally.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

ok, thanks

 

[Cizza]

Hi i tryed mealworms at first with my newts but only one of them would eat them and that was if they had just shedded and there was no point in buying mealworms for just the one so i tryed waxworms, a much softer worm and all my newts went mental for them and snapped them up.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Even though my axie loves the mealworms, should I stop feeding her them? It seems like most axies don't like mealworms, but mine does, so should I keep feeding her them or opt for a different worm anyway (waxworm or earthworm or something )?

 

[peterj]

I feed red wrigglers (an earthworm) from my worm farm as a staple and give the mealworms as a treat. I squish the heads of the mealiesfirst (yeah I know, gross) to ensure they can't hurt my axies (who love them) on the way down.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

ok, cool. I never thought just to squash the heads... i just completely chop them off lol.

 

[peterj]

I'm pretty sure I read about doing that in a thread on here somewhere... I can't take the credit for the idea anyways .

 

[lazylilsnoop]

lol, my axies love mealworm... at first they didn't manage to swallow it, but after a few attempts the whole mealworm just went in =)