meallies eating stomach again - poll

[RoninSTi]

Maybe cricket suppliers started it.:main_rolleyes:

:main_laugh::main_laugh::main_laugh:


I'm very new to the reptile hobby. I've had my gecko just over a month...and it chows on mealworms and small superworms. You can hear it crunch and squish with each bite. I doubt the worm can survive all that crunching and chew through a stomach.

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

I believe someone also tested how long mealworms survive in liquid--the answer was, not even as long as you might think. Once swallowed, they die too quickly to have a chance to chew anything.

 

[StatikStepz]

I can't STAND this myth.
It just won't DIE. Like the sand debate.
Seriously people, think about ALL the big breeders whos names are at the top of this webpage...most if not all of them feed mealworms, or have fed mealworms at some point...and I can GUARENTEE that no one has enough time to be chopping the heads off of thousands and thousands of mealworms.

Not to mention, there isn't any possible way for something to be LIVING inside your stomach, unless it's a parasite that originated there.

+1

I think that of any worm to do it, if this were true, it would be superworms over mealworms, because they are larger and have larger "teeth" (whatever those pincher things at their mouth are called, lol)... and even at that, supers DO NOT and will not and can not eat thru a stomach... So if a superworm can't, a mealworm cant.

But yes, this is a complete myth. Not to mention the fact that as the gecko chomps it down, and crunches it up, it's pretty much dead. Then, it hits the gecko's stomach acids... lights out even more, if the gecko's jaws didn't quite do the job, lol.

Allow me to quote Steve Sykes of GeckosEtc.com... This can be found at http://geckosetc.com/htm/care.htm#food -

"Some people say that you should not feed mealworms to your geckos because there is the possibility that the mealworms can eat their way out of the stomach of a gecko. This is absolutely, 100% not true!!! A customer of mine once called me frantically after hearing this old wives tale from an employee at their local pet store. The pet store employee told them they need to pinch off the mealworm's head before feeding them to their geckos. Not true! This is also a problem because geckos require live prey! I go through 150,000-200,000 mealworms a week, if I had to pinch all those heads it would be a full time job!"

I think that pretty much seals the deal. 200,000 mealies a week... and not 1 death from it yet...?!?!

 

[Revilo]

I believe someone also tested how long mealworms survive in liquid--the answer was, not even as long as you might think. Once swallowed, they die too quickly to have a chance to chew anything.

I think the result they came to was that in the high acidity of a leo's stomach, an UNCHEWED mealworm would fall unconcious in 2 seconds or less and die soon after.

 

[Shera]

I believe someone also tested how long mealworms survive in liquid--the answer was, not even as long as you might think. Once swallowed, they die too quickly to have a chance to chew anything.

If they are anything like supers, they die really fast in water. I was trying to wet my supers so the dust would adhere better and I put 2 in a small dish of water, and in the time it took to dust and feed the first one (30 sec maybe?), the second one was dead. I bet they don't last nearly as long in stomach acid, let alone the fact that they've been munched up.

 

[JordanAng420]

Who voted that they had a gecko that died from this??? I'd like to talk to this person.

 

[geck]

There is no way anything can survive in a leos stomache even if swallowed alive. Complete myth and leos are suffering for it. GO MEALIES!!

 

[Vision Geckos]

Who voted that they had a gecko that died from this??? I'd like to talk to this person.

It had to be a prank. There's no way someone has a legitimate story to make this myth plausible. Someone was just trying to be funny or spoil the poll. Some people just get a kick out of doing immature things.

 

[StatikStepz]

It had to be a prank. There's no way someone has a legitimate story to make this myth plausible. Someone was just trying to be funny or spoil the poll. Some people just get a kick out of doing immature things.

+1

 

[Jama]

There is no way anything can survive in a leos stomache even if swallowed alive. Complete myth and leos are suffering for it. GO MEALIES!!

+111111111!!!
if you cut the head they will die, so your gecko wont hunt him/her!!!!
my gecko never eats a dead worm or cricket or whatever i fed him with.

He eats around 4 or 5 super a day. i can tell you, there is no way anything will survive in there. he gets really aggresive.
plus i read somewhere on the forum that the acids on their stomache are very effective....please correct me if i'm wrong!

 

[StatikStepz]

plus i read somewhere on the forum that the acids on their stomache are very effective....please correct me if i'm wrong!

No correction due!

 

[mindgamer8907]

I agree, the myth is dumb. My only thought is as to how it started. I know here, crickets are more expensive than mealies by far (something like 3 bucks for a bag of two dozen) so maybe it was the chains plotting against us? Or maybe it was the fact that baby leos love to sleep in odd spots... like food dishes... and I don't know if THIS myth has any validity: live mealies will try to eat at a baby leo, asleep near them. Obviously it seems like a healthy leo would move, but if say the baby were sickly (as one may find occasionally for whatever reason in a pet store or elsewhere) or very sickly it seems like maybe the worms might have their way. Still, this is hinged on the idea that the mealies would be able to eat at the gecko from the outside. Does anyone know about that? If so I'd say we all just put this myth to bed.

 

[newfieb]

i have heard this too many times. I feed mealies and have never had any trouble. I read on sites about people feeding leos mealworms for 15 years and this has never happened. i am so sick of hearing people saying this. I have one thing to say THIS IS BULL SH**

 

[newfieb]

I once heard that if a cricket chirps at the right frequency, it will make a gecko's head explode.

i would love to know how someone came up with that. to funny:main_laugh:

 

[sammer021486]

Toss a mealworm and/or a superworm into a small cup of white vinegar and see how long it takes for them to die. Either by drowning or by whatever happens while in with the acid, not too sure. I've done it quickly and the superworm was dead in about 20 minutes in my test, mealie lasted about 45 minutes before it died, it was a very rough test, no precision nor multiple samples.

I have done two other quick tests with coke and peroxide and if I remember correctly the mealworms died after an hour in the peroxide and 1.5 hours in the coke. The superworms both died around the 45 minute mark.

White Vinegar on any google search for pH level comes back as being around 2-3, and gastric stomach acid is said to be around 1-2 on the pH scale. I have never found an article on the acidity of a leopard gecko's stomach, but I have found one on frogs and the acidic level of the stomach was reported as 1.2 on the pH scale, a leopard gecko has to be close to that.

If just placing the worm into the cup of vinegar takes that short of time to kill it, most likely by drowning, then there is no way that a chewed up worm is going to chew its way through the stomach wall, then if present the sack that contains the vital organs, then through muscle, and finally through the skin. I am not too sure on the anatomy of a gecko, but in an assumption those are the layers that are present.

On top of that, if you were to place one mealie or super worm in a small container with only a carrot, you would most likely see that the worm does not eat a straight hole through the carrot, the worm normally eats only a small indent that has a large diameter.

Another thing to mention is that I have never seen a mealworm or superworm that has been regurged ever be alive after being regurged, except for one time, when my gecko regurged only 10 minutes after eating.

 

[sammer021486]

I agree, the myth is dumb. My only thought is as to how it started. I know here, crickets are more expensive than mealies by far (something like 3 bucks for a bag of two dozen) so maybe it was the chains plotting against us? Or maybe it was the fact that baby leos love to sleep in odd spots... like food dishes... and I don't know if THIS myth has any validity: live mealies will try to eat at a baby leo, asleep near them. Obviously it seems like a healthy leo would move, but if say the baby were sickly (as one may find occasionally for whatever reason in a pet store or elsewhere) or very sickly it seems like maybe the worms might have their way. Still, this is hinged on the idea that the mealies would be able to eat at the gecko from the outside. Does anyone know about that? If so I'd say we all just put this myth to bed.

funny that you brought that up, about the odd places a hatchling will sleep and being nibbled on. There was a study done on, I think it was fence lizards, but the study came to the conclusion that the lizards that grew up in areas that had fire ants present were more likely to run away from the ants, then sit there. Where as the lizards that had never seen the ants before where more likely to remain still and eventually succumb to the ants.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

this is a myth ppl use super worms forgod sakes end the poll

 

[thegeckoguy23]

Its a complete myth.

+1 and also its 109 to 1 so im pretty sure that that one was himan error

 

[thegeckoguy23]

Its a complete myth.

+1 and also its 109 to 1 so im pretty sure that that one was human error

 

[Heatherdove]

This is a FACT. Also, if you eat watermelon seeds a watermelon plant will grow in your tummy. Don't lick envelopes because the glue is infested with roach eggs and if you get a paper cut on your tongue they will incubate in it and hatch out while you're sleeping. E-mail this to 20 people in the next 10 minutes or you will have bad luck for the next 5 years. Mwah-hah-hah

All kidding aside, I used to work in a pet store. We never told people horrible misinformation like that. Then again it was a small family owned business that hired people with brains in their heads.