fresh mealies

I ordered my babies some mealies from the link in the shopping mall, Vita-Mealie, they got here today (almost did a dot dot dot) . I have them settled in their bran meal and some apple slices on them. I will put in the fridge when i get home from work tonight, minus the apple slices. Any advice for a newbie live mealie feeder. I am gonna give the babies one when I get home tonight too :) can't wait to see them what they do with it .

I would first put a few in a small foraging dish just to see how the react to them. If they are real grabby then you can either hide them in the cage in foraging dishes (make sure they can not crawl out) or you can hand feed them but watch your fingers as almost all gliders love them and do not mean to get your fingers but will grab them from you.

My gliders love Carmilla's Vita Mealies!

I've got some gliders who are so in love with mealies that they lunge for them and I've taken a few nips. Some people use tongs or tweezers to feed, but I just do it by hand. I hold the worm as close to the tip as I can and hold it up for them to see. If yours have never had live mealies, it may take them a minute to figure out what to do. I raise my own mealies and my gliders know where they're at and tend to get very excited as soon as I open the drawer.

And if they don't like them at first pop them in half so they can get a taste of the good stuff so they know what is inside I do this for young joeys when they are first learning how to eat them.

The mealies are a hit they love, love, love them. The girls just got a whiff and snatched them right up. I have been feeding them the can ones. Little Johnny didn't quite know what to do with his. The girls took his first one away from him. I took him out of the cage all by himself and let him have one. He looked at it and kinda gave it a little nibble right in the middle and licked his lips and then he went for each end and nibbled. LOL he finally ate the whole thing. The girls knew he had one and they couldn't get to him, they were running up and down the cage wanting to get out to him, they were so funny.

How many of these can be to many. I think i read here somewhere that we may give to much protein. I don't want to do that. I'm sure their diet is at least 40% protein. Maybe now that they are gonna get some protein treats I might need to skip a couple of the protein meals and do all veggies or fruits. What is ya'lls opinion on the amount of protein i'm giving them.

A few mealies each a day shouldn't effect the protein as far as I know. You should be fine. What diet do you feed?

Meal worms are not a significant source of protein. They are about 58% protein, but that is not saying much considering how small they are and the fact that our babies spit out the exoskeleton most of the time. So, they don't get all of that protein. You would have to feed a whole lot of mealies for them to have any significant protein impact.

Brenda, I use the Suncoast diet for my main direction. I add a little HPW every other day, I change it up a little sometimes regarding the single veggie rule and i will give fruits and veggies at the same time. I need planning and structure. I have a list of the order i feed the proteins. Then I add veggies and or fruits in the form of fresh, frozen or babyfood. I have graduated to using the babyfood to a gravy for the fresh and or frozen. That makes it easier too to make sure they get the cal/vit/milk replacer supplement i sprinkle on their food.

Thanks Val :)

Question. What happens if i mistake a dead mealy and give it to them. I did notice 1 dead one. As it never moved at all when the others were all moving and shaking the bedding. Then my worrying mind wondered "after they get cold in the fridge and go dormant will I be able to tell a live one from a dead one" ?

What do ya'll use for foraging dishes? I have a few of those cute little treasure chest i ordered from Critter Hill a while back. I hide those in the tunnels and toy box, easter eggs. I have a few of the little mugs i hang around the cage. I think the mealies could crawl out of those. I would like to be able to hang stuff around for them to find too. I find witht the treasure chest if I put it somewhere and they open it above the bars the treat falls out through the bars. That's why i hide them in the tunnels and toychest. I don't like the toys with fleece and cups hanging together on a stem. I have to be able to take the fleece off and wash it. I took apart the toys i had like that and remade them, so those type of toys are out for me. If it has fleece it has to be something i can throw in the washer without haveing to do much taking apart.

When they're dead, they'll either turn black or they'll be hard as a rock/crunchy. If they're still soft, it probably either just died or is dormant. I don't use foraging dishes but there are lots of vendors that sell foraging toys that are great! You can also put them inside a straw.