Meal Worms?

[usafaux2004]

Are these any good for axies/larvae? If not, can I feed these to my fish?

 

[SkollSunChaser]

From what I understand, meal worms aren't great for your axies because of their hard exoskeletons being hard for them to digest properly. As for the fish, I've heard some stories about the heads on the worms continuing to bite after they're eaten, but I don't even know for sure which fish can even digest the tough exoskeletons.

I'd do a quick search on the specific fish you were thinking of giving them to and see what the internet says. For axies though, not really a good mix.

 

[auntiejude]

Live mealworms are ok in small quantity, but poop ends up messy with the exoskeleton. A fully grown axie shouldn't have any trouble passing undigested chtin, smaller axies might.

If you're talking about dried mealworms then no, they are not very nutritious.

Mealworms can be fed to larger carnivorous fish, but you'd do better putting them out as bird food.

 

[usafaux2004]

Cool. Only reason I asked is that besides ground worms this was the only type of live feed at the local pet store.

 

[Jennewt]

Earthworms are much better! (Is that what you meant by groundworms?)

 

[EmbryH]

If you're talking about dried mealworms then no, they are not very nutritious.

Aren't dried foods also sometimes problematic because they can expand in the stomach? I'm not sure where I heard that, but it's sticking out in my brain at the moment...

 

[usafaux2004]

Yea. There's the red skinny worms that come in packs of 30, nightcrawlers in packs of 30, etc. Ground/earth worms. I was thinking something small and live for my baby axies when the time comes for BBS switch, but theres nothing loving in my area besides the earthworms and mealworms.

 

[Angi]

The red skinny worms are likely red wigglers and a good food source altho some axies are not enjoying their taste, from what I've read, along with my own experiences. Canadian nightcrawlers seem to be accepted by all my axies and for my really young ones (2") I cut tiny segments off the tail (with a sharp pair of salon scissors) of the worm and they really seem to like that. After the BBS you should be switching them to thawed (frozen) blood worms, you can order these from lots of places a quick google search will find you a source. Black worms are also a great 2nd food, but I understand them being hard to find, I travel over an hour to get mine.
I also feed mine with a tweezer right in front of their face rather than just dropping it in, this way I know they found it and it also gives some axie time to check on everyone. I feed the same way with bloodworms, making sure it's right in front of their face.
HTH!

 

[auntiejude]

Aren't dried foods also sometimes problematic because they can expand in the stomach? I'm not sure where I heard that, but it's sticking out in my brain at the moment...

Yes - if you're going to use dried you have to soak the food first, other wise the food expands and axies can get constipated.