meal worms???

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kakojones

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 29, 2006
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Florida
What kind of mealworms are these that they sell us at pet stores? My wife just learned in some class (pest control for property management type thing) that the lesser mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus I think) poses some health risk to people when in close proximity for some time or when handled.

Anybody know anything about this? I mean I normally just pour them in a dish for my geckos, but I have some small kids running around the house and stuff.

just wondering.
 
Been using them for years and never had any issues?

I don't see how they could be legal and unregulated for mass market sale if they were dangerous in any way.
 
thats what I was thinking but she's worried about the kids and I was told to check. I found something about the lesser mealworm having some kind of pathogens that mess with poultry and possibly humans, but those live in dung so I would assume the problem comes from the environment and not the bug itself.

EDIT:
Ok finally found out we use a totally different kind of mealworms for our little friends.
 
didn't kno that... just that if u fed them whole to something... like a lizard or snake then the little buggers chew their way out again
 
just goin by whats been told to me... didn't kno it wasn't real
 
Mealworm myth = totally fake

The digestive enzymes in insectivores are made to completely digest whole, non-chewed insects. There is no way that a mealworm can "eat it's way out" of a lizard or gecko that has consumed it.
 
I think the myth came from that someone's reptile died suddenly of poor husbandry or impaction and they blamed the last thing it ate if one consider what is known about crickets. I find the myth usually traces back to Bearded Dragons, from what I know -- baby Breaded Dragon deaths and high morality rate are to be expected by breeders since some of them refuse to eat, and those that will eat are susceptible to impactions, and it is not an uncommon practice for pet stores to stock underaged Beardies and mealworms are probably the most common, if not crickets, sold feeders out there.
 
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