Are Mealworms a Good Feeder for Leopard Geckos and Bearded Dragons?
Are Mealworms a Good Feeder for Leopard Geckos and Bearded Dragons?
One of the first decisions you need to make when you get a lizard is what kind of feeder insect to choose. This bug is going to be your pet’s staple diet, and you’re going to be interacting with them a lot (especially if you keep a colony of them). You want something that meets your pets nutritional needs and will be enough to fill them up as they grow.
Mealworms have a lot of benefits as a feeder, but should be used with caution. They’re very easy to get and can be kept easily, which makes them a great backup feeder, or a good choice as one part of your pet’s diet. They have good nutrition and don’t stink like crickets do, which is a big bonus. They work well in combination with lean protein feeders like crickets and dubia roaches.
So the answer is yes; mealworms are a good feeder. But you should know a few things before you start including them in your pet’s diet. Here are all the details you need to know to plan a stable diet for your reptile friend.
Insectivore Dietary Needs
Bearded dragons and leopard geckos are the two most popular reptile pets by far. And they have similar needs: both species need a high ratio of protein to fat, and lots of calcium.
But their diets also differ. Bearded dragons are omnivores, and their diets change as they age. As juveniles, they mostly eat insects, and as adults, they mostly eat veggies. Juveniles need a higher fat content than adults.
Leopard geckos are strict carnivores that live entirely on insects. They need lean protein for the most part, but a mix of lean and fatty insects is a good way to meet their needs.
The most common feeder insects people choose for beardies and leopard geckos are dubia roaches, crickets, and black soldier flies. Depending on how you plan to meet all their needs, mealworms can be a solid staple in combination with other things.
Mealworm Biology and Nutrition
The darkling beetle (Tenebrio molitor) larva, or mealworm, is a slow-moving feeder that’s easy to find in pet stores and ships well. This makes it a great choice if you don’t want to keep a colony of feeder insects.
Here are the basic nutrition facts for mealworms:
Protein: 20%
Fat: 13%
Moisture: 62%
Ash: 1.5%
Calcium to phosphorus ratio: 1:8-1:17
Compared to other feeders, this is a lower ratio of protein to fat, which isn’t ideal. It’s also a low ratio of calcium to phosphorus. So if you’re going to use mealworms, you should dust them with calcium powder and gut load them to maximize their protein content.
You should also be aware that mealworms have a hard exoskeleton that can be hard for juveniles to digest. This can cause impaction in baby bearded dragons, so it’s best to only give mealworms to adults. Juveniles do better with other feeders like dubia roaches
An adult bearded dragon’s diet should be mostly vegetables, but mealworms make a great snack. Give them half a dozen per day to give them a little extra protein and fat. They also have fun hunting.
Leopard geckos demand a lot of protein, meaning more protein than a mealworm has to offer. But they can still be part of a balanced diet if you gut load and dust them, and supplement with other feeders. A good diet plan for a leopard gecko could include 50% lean feeders like crickets or dubia roaches and 50% dusted, gut loaded mealworms. On top of this, you could throw in the occasional superworm as a fatty snack.
Picking the Right Size Mealworms
When picking a mealworm to feed to your pet, make sure it’s the right size. Feeder insects should be as long as the distance between your lizard’s eyes. Too large, and they can cause digestion problems. Mealworms grow from around ¼” to about 1”, which is a good range of sizes for leopard geckos and beardies.
Dusting and Gut Loading
If you’re not familiar, dusting and gut loading are both common ways to boost the nutrition of your insects. Gut loading basically involves giving your feeders a meal of nutrient-rich food right before you give them to your reptile. As the bugs digest the extra protein, it gets broken down in their gut and passed on to your lizard.
Dusting is very important for a lot of different feeder insects, because most don’t have enough calcium content alone to keep your pet healthy. Calcium dust is essentially just calcium concentrate- you set it out in a dish and cover your feeder insects in it before you give them to your pet. This ensures that your reptile gets enough calcium, which is a crucial nutrient.
Monitoring Your Lizard’s Health
Leopard geckos and bearded dragons are both prone to obesity when kept in captivity, which can be a big problem. You need to keep an eye on their health, so you can make changes to their diet if they become unhealthy.
Bearded Dragon Health
The key to keeping beardies healthy is lots of variety in their diet. They need plenty of leafy greens like bok choy, collard greens, mustard greens, and kale. They also love fruits like apple, banana, mango, and papaya. Be sure to keep a water dish in their enclosure too.
Signs of poor health in bearded dragons are: cloudy eyes, lethargy, bad shedding, and an excess of fat around their belly, thighs, and the base of their tails.
Leopard Gecko Health
In leopard geckos, health problems will usually present as cloudy eyes, nasal discharge, lethargy, bad sheds, and irregular (meaning not solid) feces. A leopard gecko’s belly shouldn’t touch the ground when standing.
Leopard geckos normally store fat in their tails, so watch for obesity in the thickness of their tail. They may also get bumps of fat around their arms if their weight is getting out of control.