# Mealworm beetles - OK to eat??



## scoop6

_A few of our meal worms have turned to beetles (yuck!!) & my little lad desperatley wants to feed them to our leo, are they OK for her to eat?
I have no interest in eating them myself, what else do I do with them?:lol2:
_


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## Rptle

Feeding the beetles will result it certain death.


nah lol they're fine to feed :2thumb:


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## sweetikklemunchkin

beetles are no good , and just to let u know if u keep mealies in fridge u wont have that problem agn, just take them out and gut load some 24 hrs b4 feeding


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## POAGeckos

I don't believe it would be a good idea to feed the beetles as the shell would be quite difficult to digest. Also I have found that leopard geckos are not to fond of beetles, the beetles give off this scent when frightened and probibly would taste quite horrid. You can kill the beetles if you would like, or you can start a small colony. As said above, the meal worms, if kept in the fridge, will slow the growth, keeping them mealworms for longer.


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## Smit80

I know it may sounds almost cruel but, I throw the mealworms out (drown) as soon as they pupate(?) into the alien immobile stage. 

Afterall they fly and have a significant greater, hard to digest, shell density than most other foods.


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## connor 1213

if u keep them they might breed and supply you with a few millies


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## gazz

Mealworm beetles are safe to feed to rep's/amp's but they taste fowl.So meny rep's/amp's refuse to eat them and deffo wouldn't eat them on a large scale.


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## POAGeckos

Smit80 said:


> I know it may sounds almost cruel but, I throw the mealworms out (drown) as soon as they pupate(?) into the alien immobile stage.
> 
> *Afterall they fly* and have a significant greater, hard to digest, shell density than most other foods.


 No, sorry but mealworm beetles do not fly.


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## gazz

Smit80 said:


> I know it may sounds almost cruel but, I throw the mealworms out (drown) as soon as they pupate(?) into the alien immobile stage.


Rep's/Amp's eat both stages of mealworm and pupa you just need to 50/50 mix so the mealworm make the pupa wiggle.


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## Smit80

POAGeckos said:


> No, sorry but mealworm beetles do not fly.


Thanks for the correction there, thats good to know.


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## POAGeckos

Smit80 said:


> Thanks for the correction there, thats good to know.


 No problem : victory:. Do have to say the are one of the least graceful living things I have ever seen, can hardly walk without stumbling, but hardy body, doesn't die easily, makes for a extremly easy bug to breed.


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## scoop6

Great, gross little buggers will have to go in the bin or the nearest meanies underpants :devil::devil:


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## kirstyink

they do!!! i have seen it with my own eyes!
quite a lot actually! they do fly they do they do they do hahaha.

but seriously they do fly ive seen them change into a beetle and then witnessed the beetle flying.




POAGeckos said:


> No, sorry but mealworm beetles do not fly.


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## anakaday

I have read that some of these meal worm beetles have unusual defensive measure where they stand on their heads and release noxious smelling substance and their skin turns brown.


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## piglet37

iv heard thay are poisenes
and thers a smaller version of them that comes in the cricet tubs and thay deffenutley fly 
are the ones that come in cricet tubs ok to feed


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## pigglywiggly

i feed the aliens to my mouse`n`hamsters, they love `em!


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## Dom1991

kirstyink said:


> they do!!! i have seen it with my own eyes!
> quite a lot actually! they do fly they do they do they do hahaha.


You sure you're not getting mixed up with the beetles the furry worms you get sometimes with crickets turn into? (forgot their proper name) They're smaller than mealie beetles and definitely do fly, I've got one in with my roaches and it's constantly escaping and flying round my room lmao.

I keep my mealie colony without a lid on their RUB and not once have I found a beetle escapee, so unless I've got a load of lazy beetles, I don't think they can fly lol.


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## sambridge15

my gecko eats the beatles in fact it ate 3 in a sitting i dont thnik taste comes into thought for reptiles


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## Idris

Dom1991 said:


> You sure you're not getting mixed up with the beetles the furry worms you get sometimes with crickets turn into? (forgot their proper name) They're smaller than mealie beetles and definitely do fly, I've got one in with my roaches and it's constantly escaping and flying round my room lmao.


I get a few escaping, and when the bf asks me to look at the odd beetle that is flying around in the middle of winter, I look baffled and say "I wonder where that came from.:whistling2:"

I must admit I've never seen a meal worm beetle fly, but then i haven't watched them for long. 

My chondrodactylus liked the odd mealie beatle, but most of my reps won't touch them; I have a dodgy looking spider thats built a web on the windowsill, she likes them.


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## Lego

scoop6 said:


> Great, gross little buggers will have to go in the bin or the nearest meanies underpants :devil::devil:


Just be careful where you chuck them, I've found them to be destructive little b*ggers lol


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## natsuko

well I've fed the beetles to my leos and they love em well one does I've also bred them and its taken nearly 6mths for the little blighters to get to a decent size


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## amyjl

we always have the little buggers flying around...the 4 cats love chasing them and eating them! best way to get rid of them is def having a cat or 4.


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## purple-vixen

I wouldn't feed the beetles to my leos. 

I try to throw the aliens outside in the garden, not in the bin also.

Seriously, if them beetles escape, I would creep out, so I clean out my mealies once a week. I used to keep them in the fridge, but then one lot just seemed to die, I checked the fridge and it was 1 degrees, so I guess that was too low!

Anyway, I honestly thought they could fly, but never seen one...


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