# do gut loaded mealworm feed forbidden food ?



## plank (Jul 7, 2008)

it suddenly occured to me that by gutloading mealworms with vegetables and feeding them to our reps, are we feeding our reps with food that they should not be eating ?

Mealworm eats carrot, crestie eats mealworm, there for crestie is eating carrot . Same with leos and other reps that dont eat veg.

Anyone ...?


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

It's normal for carnivorous and insectivorous reptiles to also consume the contents of their preys guts- they get some of their trace minerals and other nutrients that way.


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## kelsey7692 (Jul 28, 2010)

This is exactly the same as what would happen in the wild, only the insects would be eating whatever foliage was there. It's the food cycle and the way that our reps get the nutrients they need.


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## plank (Jul 7, 2008)

Yes I understand that but my point was this - if the gut of the prey contains what would be considered an unsuitable foodstuff, does this in any way compromise the well-being of the reptile. In other words, should we only be gut loading mealworms and other food insects with the correct type of food for the animal to which it is going to be fed?


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

plank said:


> Yes I understand that but my point was this - if the gut of the prey contains what would be considered an unsuitable foodstuff, does this in any way compromise the well-being of the reptile. In other words, should we only be gut loading mealworms and other food insects with the correct type of food for the animal to which it is going to be fed?


Yes you should gut load with stuff that's good for your reps.

This is why my roach colonies are feed on vegetarian diet.


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## kelsey7692 (Jul 28, 2010)

plank said:


> Yes I understand that but my point was this - if the gut of the prey contains what would be considered an unsuitable foodstuff, does this in any way compromise the well-being of the reptile. In other words, should we only be gut loading mealworms and other food insects with the correct type of food for the animal to which it is going to be fed?


Considering that this happens daily in the wild I doubt it compromises the health of the animal though I slightly confused to what your asking.

What would you consider the correct type of food stuff to gut load if you say carrot may be wrong as the animal doesn't naturally eat it?


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## PhillyDee (May 17, 2010)

I get what the op is talking about, in the fact that they are insectivors, but they are consuming plant matter by eating gutloaded insects.

OP, the plant matter has already been partly digested, and changed to a useable form for the reptiles involved in the chomping of jumpy wriggly things.


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## kelsey7692 (Jul 28, 2010)

PhillyDee said:


> I get what the op is talking about, in the fact that they are insectivors, but they are consuming plant matter by eating gutloaded insects.
> 
> *OP, the plant matter has already been partly digested, and changed to a useable form for the reptiles involved in the chomping of jumpy wriggly things.*


That is what I was trying to say in my first post but I explained it rather poorly.


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## plank (Jul 7, 2008)

kelsey7692 said:


> ...What would you consider the correct type of food stuff to gut load if you say carrot may be wrong as the animal doesn't naturally eat it?


You`ve answered your own question... only gut load with suitable food. Why, if you have a choice, would you choose to feed food insects on anything other than what you would automatically feed to your rep.





PhillyDee said:


> I get what the op is talking about, in the fact that they are insectivors, but they are consuming plant matter by eating gutloaded insects.
> 
> OP, the plant matter has already been partly digested, and changed to a *useable form* for the reptiles involved in the chomping of jumpy wriggly things.


Yes that`s the answer to my question I think... but better still just to feed the right food in the first place.


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## kelsey7692 (Jul 28, 2010)

plank said:


> You`ve answered your own question... only gut load with suitable food. Why, if you have a choice, would you choose to feed food insects on anything other than what you would automatically feed to your rep.


I gut load using a mix of veg peelings and dry/cat dog food. None of these I would feed directly to my rep but I feed them to my live food to provide them with the nutrients to pass on to my gecko.

Leos are purely insectivorous. I would never dream of trying to feed them a carrot but I would feed the live food a carrot. You can't gut load live food on live food, can you?

In the wild live food would each foliage that the reps wouldn't eat themselves, the nutrients from this would then be passed onto the reptile after being digested by the live food.


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