Walnut litter: Good or Bad?

[reptileguy2727]

Millet is good for things like uromastyx. It is safe to digest and helps keep the enclosure clean.

 

[darthbravo]

Would millet be ok for a beardie?

 

[TheBloodyIrish]

I am not talking about cases of dead lizards that are fed upon by mealworms, obviously those cases are not what I am talking about. I have talked to people who WATCHED IT AS IT HAPPENED. That doesn't mean they found a dead lizard and a mealworm was crawling around in it. It means they fed mealworms, watched, the lizard stopped moving around, and a mealworm emerged from what a minute ago was intact abdomen.

Did you see it happen for yourself? A lot of people spew crap. If you ever seen a mealworm eat, you would know it would take them days to eat out of the abdomen, and even that would not kill a reptile. There are a lot of big-named breeders who keep thousands of breeding geckos on mealworms and they don't have a problem. You would think that with all these specimens, one of them would have a higher chance of encountering this.

I am talking about a vet who was brought a beardy with a bump on its stomach and when the vet went to drain the mass, a mealworm's head was right under the skin. Yes, their stomach can deal with it, usually. But mealworms are tough little things and every once in a rare while this happens. That doesn't mean every animal fed mealworms is going to die from this.

Well, technically you are not suppose to fed hatchling or juvie Bearded Dragons mealworms or superworms since they can cause impaction.... and their organs are pretty close to the skin.

I am not saying it doesn't happen, but I am just saying there are more logical explanations.

 

[reptileguy2727]

The vet one was not a young one, if I remember right it was either a young adult or a sub-adult.

I am sure not every supposed case of this is this. However, I doubt that none of them are, some are true. I already said it was rare, obviously it is or it wouldn't even be questioned. But it has happened. My whole point is that even when there are risks, it is a balance of risk and benefit. Does the risk of damage to a beardy outweigh the benefit of having mealworms in the diet? No. Eating through their stomach can't kill them?

Millet should be okay for beardies, but you may want to check with more beardy experienced keepers (reptile forum with beardy section).