Mealworms deadly for FBT fact of fiction?

[danielhenriques]

im new to FBT have mine for about 4 days and wont be able to get crickets till next week im feeding them mealworms now but i keep reading that some people say its ok to feed them mealworms and others that its not good cause of they hard shell and that they might even be deadly and eat their way out a toad!?

which one is right?! would love some help, thank you,

Daniel

[tearsmith]

Okay, here is what I know....by experience. I had 4 FBT for almost 4 years. I had them at work in a cubicle at an insurance company, so needless to say I could not bring crickets in every other day. I could keep the mealworms in the desk drawer without any problem, though. So, I would give them each one worm on Monday's and one on Wednesday's and then go to Petsmart at lunch on Friday and get about 2 dozen crickets. This gave them roughly 6 each. It would take Friday and Saturday for them to catch and eat most of them.

Here's the key to healthy use for mealworms..... buy only the small size. That's an inch or smaller. They are big around as a piece of spaghetti. Also, only one feed at a time. It does take a little while for the frogs to digest one so they can overeat by just eating two. Also, mealworms are high in fat. That's the biggest danger. The fat content keeps them from being a healthy food for all the time. It does keep the frogs full longer than crickets but the nutrition content is not good enough for exclusive use.

My FBTs I have now will eat feeder guppies from the pet store also. Ask for the smallest ones, like half inch. I usually buy ten at a time and put in and my two toads eat them in about 3 days. This helps when I need to supplement the crickets. Once you buy the crickets you will want 24 more hours to gut load them also, so the guppies keep them occupied in the meantime. They will eat them as they are hungry too. Just a suggestion.

Good luck with your toads.

[danielhenriques]

thank you, i appreciate the info i tried looking it up online but always got mixed answers, and i guess i was overfeeding mine :/ i was giving them one every day and sometimes 2, and i finally managed to buy some crickets today