alternative to crickets

[Trout hunter]

Hello,

I just wanted to follow up with a question that never got answered or I was able to find online but which are better : mealworms or superworms ( I would be removing the heads off super worms and tong feeding to prevent the bugs from biting the toads) and once the beetles transform into their beetles or into their pupae cocoon forms are they still edible by toads or leopard geckos

[KP]

Hello,

I just wanted to follow up with a question that never got answered or I was able to find online but which are better : mealworms or superworms ( I would be removing the heads off super worms and tong feeding to prevent the bugs from biting the toads) and once the beetles transform into their beetles or into their pupae cocoon forms are they still edible by toads or leopard geckos

Anaxyrus americanus Toads can eat any arthropod small enough for the specific individual but where superworms are concerned, they might be too large in most cases. Also, they bite as you know. They do have the good quality of having a softer exoskeleton than mealworms. The Beetle form of the insect is best when it's still light-colored and soft but as Beetles they make a chemical defense secretion. The other downside as adults is that they'll have significantly more chitin which is harder for the Toads to digest and pass. Generally speaking, my opinion is that domesticated Toads should be fed a good variety of food arthropods but not those that can be hard to digest and pass. I see my wild Toads eating everything that crosses their path if it's the right size but they're wild and have to do what they have to do to survive.

I have no experience with Leopard Geckos but from what I've read they'll have a harder time with superworms than the Toads would.