Mighty Mealies

I hope this is the correct area for this.

First time I got mealies I got vita-mealies from Camillies, no problems handling them. First mealies I had seen. Well, I got my first Mighty Mealies from Grubco that I won in the RRR and oh my goodness, they are HUGE, Bigger than HUGE, I don't want to handle these when they are warm (room temp.) and awake, They have to be cold for me to handle them. If Superworms are bigger than these I don't want any part of those babies. Anyway, now is my question and observation , I was watching them eat and they got a big mouth. They really tried to latch on to my finger (hence I won't touch them warm anymore) When the suggies bite the body in half and the head is still wiggling can it bite their little hand? One of my suggies I swear she sucks it down whole, can it bite her little tummy from the inside. I am giving them cold so they don't wiggle so much and hoping they chew up the head good. Do I need to cut off the ugly heads?

I have seen this topic on GC refering to the Superworms. One person says yes, the other person says no. I want to know what Val (the know all glider guru) has to say about this subject.

When in doubt ask Val. Your opinion breaks all ties. Do Mighty Mealies bite the hand and tummy of the suggie who is eating them ?

After reading your post, Cathy, I may NEVER try live mealies!!!!

LOL, Bobbie, what you can do is freeze them. They are still fresh, well sorta fresh, fresh frozen, way better than canned ones and they don't wiggle or bite at all. My babies like the ones I freeze almost as good as the live wiggly ones. These Mighty Mealies are so big they only get 1 a day so I will be freezing hundreds of these soon as I see them morphing to the next stage.

The smaller little cute ones that come from Camillies are not bad at all :)

I feed mighty mealies all the time. I like them because I don't have to feed as many per glider. NO they do not bite the gliders. And, your little one can't suck them down whole as a glider's esophagus is not that big.

So, feed away! They like them better when they are wiggly, BTW.

LOL, I know they love them wiggly. Grab, snatch, bit, give me my mealy Mom. OK getting use to Mighty Mealies. Thanks Val :)

One item I can mention regarding the Superworms. We do not feed our gliders these at all. They are very large. And they can bite. I do feed these to my bearded dragons. But, they can handle those worms. The superworms have to be stored at room temperature too. I use needle nose to load their bowl up. I agree with Val the Mighty mealies are great. You can feed less mealies and they can last longer especially if you have a lot of gliders to feed. Like Val. I just bought some from Vita Mealies. I wanted to try them. They just arrived last week.

Are Mighty Mealies a different variety of meal worm from Vita mealies?

Mighty Mealies are sold by Grubco. Camille sells hers on her site, Camillie's Vita-Mealies.

No, Cathy, they are not a different variety of meal worms. They are both meal worms. Mighty mealies are reportedly given a treatment to cause them to grow so large - maybe growth hormone? (I can't remember to be honest). The point is that they are both meal worms.

If you don't like touching them you can use a pair of tweezers to give them out, or put them in a bowl.

LOL - sorry, Cathy - I completely read this one incorrectly. Thank you, Val.

Shawna, I started using a bowl too, I have some small ones, I put 2 in there and offer it to each baby , they will reach in and get 1 and munch, munch, then get the other one. My little Gracie, the smallest of them, she grabs both of hers LOL, one in each hand.

Cathy, she sounds smart!

Do they make a gross mess...guts everywhere??

Not usually, they eat everything, then clean themselves up. They're like chicken, "Finger licken' good!"

When you feed them...like treats, correct? Doesn't that mean they don't eat their veggies/fruit that night? I generally don't treat until morning so that they eat their veggies/staple. Or do you reduce the dinner size and add mealies?
Maybe I should try them sometime.....

Most feed mealies in the morning. The exoskeleton is excellent for dental hygiene, they aren't typically fed for their nutritional content. I wouldn't reduce their dinner size, just give a few in the mornings.

Yes, give them in the morning, and they don't leave a mess with them. LOL they get every single drop, they even help each other to make sure there are no drops left on their pretty little faces :)