Feeding and Nutrition :: Right and wrong type of mealworm?

[genegene]

I went out today to get some crickets and decided to get some meal worms as well as a treat for my turts as well. I grabbed the 50 count as they didn't have anything smaller at the time.

When I got home I did some Internet searching to make sure that my worms would have a good life before I fed them to the turtles. I want to make sure they eat good as well.

I found this site http://www.fishpondinfo.com/worm.htm#feed and found out that I might have gotten the wrong ones. What I ended up getting is the small superworms / mealworms.

Apparently the super worms are known to bite although once they are in the stomach its highly unlikely that they could eat there way out, but they could bite on there way down if not properly chomped or eaten.

My turtles are only 2 1/2 inches long (shell length) and am concerned that they could be hurt by there treat. Am I being to worried about them?

Gene G.

[rsour24]

you actually should give mealworms to turtles. they give liek no nutritional value and are not a good idea. u can feed earthworms though

[marisa]

I'm assuming resour24 meant that you shouldn't feed mealworms. It's true they have little, if any nutritional value and perhaps more importantly, they have a really bad calcium to phosphorus ratio (and they are very difficult to digest). A steady diet of them is bad, one or two very occasionally won't hurt, but why spend the money when there are better foods to give?

I've never fed superworms, so I can't comment about them. Earthworms are nutritious, though, and just about every turtle I've seen likes them.

[worldpeace]

I agree with both of you about earthworms. I've been breeding them for quite a while now and the turtles absolutely love them. I also give them away to all of my friends who have turtles and they're a great success.

[BiteyBits]

Ooooo, how do you breed earthworms?
I had a sudden idea for a compost/turtle snack breeder project, but don't know how that would work apartment sized.

On the original topic: If you are worried about the worms biting, you could always behead them before feeding.

[worldpeace]

I have a cellar in the basement where I keep my worm bins. They need a constant temperature and humidity and I found that it was easiest to control there. Plus there are no windows in the cellar so it's perfect for the worms, since I don't need a lid for bins and the soil has plenty of oxygen. When I bought my first batch of worms and I started up a bin I thought it was going to be easy, but it wasn't. I lost a lot of worms until I finally figured out the perfect conditions: temperature, humidity, food. Now all the table scraps and food that you would normally throw out go into my worm bins.

[BiteyBits]

That's awesome. I don't have the space for that, but they do sell apartment sized compost/worm bins. Expensive, but, available.

[worldpeace]

I saw those too. But I think that if you really wanted to you could could make your own. As long as you have a dark place in your apartment where you can place the bin, then you should be fine.