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Can I feed slings mealworms?

MassExodus

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That makes sense..I find it rather vague though..how common is this, with captive lizards? Has it been documented at all? I hear the same things about tarantulas..yet if I find things like big locusts, grasshoppers, grubs, w/e, I have always fed them to my spiders. Just for a variable diet, efficiency, etc..yet, none of my adult tarantulas have died from anything other than old age. And one incident where I killed twenty myself, from dog flea medication on my hands..Two of my local sp were collected from a location where spray, and killboxes, were EVERYWHERE..they're the healthiest specimens of their sp. I could put my hands on, fat, happy, and gorgeous..and one is still gravid..I sometimes think our fears hurt us more than they help us.
 

Tortoise Tom

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Southern CA
That makes sense..I find it rather vague though..how common is this, with captive lizards? Has it been documented at all? I hear the same things about tarantulas..yet if I find things like big locusts, grasshoppers, grubs, w/e, I have always fed them to my spiders. Just for a variable diet, efficiency, etc..yet, none of my adult tarantulas have died from anything other than old age. And one incident where I killed twenty myself, from dog flea medication on my hands..Two of my local sp were collected from a location where spray, and killboxes, were EVERYWHERE..they're the healthiest specimens of their sp. I could put my hands on, fat, happy, and gorgeous..and one is still gravid..I sometimes think our fears hurt us more than they help us.
Lack of D3, lack of calcium, and poor calcium to phosphorous ratio, are all causes of MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) in captive lizards and tortoises. Sadly, MBD is fairly common and well documented. It is less common than it was 20 or 30 years ago, but vets still see it regularly due to ignorance or neglect. The consensus seems to be that carnivores and some omnivores like snakes, some turtles and tortoises, and some lizards get and use D3 from their prey items, while herbivorous and insectivorous reptiles like bearded dragons, iguanas, chameleons and most tortoises, for example, do not get dietary D3 and so must be either supplemented with dietary D3 or given a good UV source like real direct sunshine, so their bodies can manufacture their own D3.
 

Arachnoclown

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6,382
Location
The Oregon rain forest
@Franckw been breeding them for years...very easy and cheap way to feed your tarantulas. I use a 3 drawer system. Top has the beetles with screen mesh floor. Eggs fall to the second drawer. I transfer larger worms to the bottom. Endless free cycle of worms.
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