# mealworms and weight gain



## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

sorry i am at it again. :roll: do people actually observe a weight gain from mealworms? i ask because all of mine get good helpings of mealies and crickets, but their weight is always the same. Sniffy is new, but he's not putting on any weight either. so i guess i'm wondering as to why mealies would affect some hedgies in terms of weight but not others. :?:


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

My boy burns weight off so fast that I can't get him to gain any, but if he's *not* eating mealies he loses weight.


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

LizardGirl said:


> My boy burns weight off so fast that I can't get him to gain any, but if he's *not* eating mealies he loses weight.


how much does Inky weigh?


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Right now he's at about 276 each night.


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

Col. Mustard gets 6 mealworms and 3 or 4 waxworms every night, but she is so active that she never actually puts weight up, it just keeps steady. 

Pete gets 6 mealworms and 3 waxworms a night as well. When she came to us last December she was very overweight. I switched her to low fat cat food and she gained more weight (not surprising at all) and then I tried limiting her food but she kept gaining weight and was very inactive. I finally decided to stop trying to get her to lose weight and let her eat the same kibble mix Mustard gets (which has a 18% fat food) and more worms (she wasn't getting more than 1 or 2 mealworms a night when she was "dieting".) At the same time I started feeding less kibble and more chicken/pinkies/eggs, and I'm happy to say that Pete turned out to be a very active hog, running for hours on her wheel every night. She has lost almost 100g since then.


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## moothecow (Jun 4, 2011)

I'm with you on that... I've been giving Misha about 10-12 mealies plus 5-6 crickets every night, AND he's on 18% Blue Buffalo, and no weight gain to be seen. If he gets more mealies, he just eats less kibble that night, which I think balances things out. He's keeping steadily between 232-242g (accounting for small daily fluctuations). I got some waxworms recently, so will try giving him a couple of those, and see if there is any effect.


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## hanhan27 (May 12, 2011)

It seems like the more mealies Milly gets, the more weight she loses. I'm sure that it isn't the mealies causing the weight loss but it's kind of funny. I'm trying to put some weight on her but it isn't working! 

In July she was at 376g and got maybe 3 mealworms every other day. She started losing weight, so I started bumping the number of mealies up. She gets 6 or 7 a night now and her weight is down to 357g! Sigh.


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

LizardGirl--how many mealies does Inky get? 

btw, Harvey and Sniffy weigh in at about 350 and Sweetie is 405.


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2011)

If I recall LG posted once saying Inky got like 20 or 30 or something but I probably really misread it or not idk


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Yep, 20-30 is right.  Right now his diet is his softened kibble, 20 mealworms, and 5 waxworms each night. Then he has his treats once in a while. I would give him more waxworms, but they are so expensive that I just give him 5. They helped him add about 4 grams, but no more than that. Again, it's just the fact that without them he loses weight.


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2011)

LizardGirl said:


> Yep, 20-30 is right.  Right now his diet is his softened kibble, 20 mealworms, and 5 waxworms each night. Then he has his treats once in a while. I would give him more waxworms, but they are so expensive that I just give him 5. They helped him add about 4 grams, but no more than that. Again, it's just the fact that without them he loses weight.


I just imagine Inky running non stop for 10 hours at top hedgie speeds! with that kind of awesome intake I had to cut back on the cricket hunting for my girls when some of the poos were cricket shapes with legs XD


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## fracturedcircle (May 31, 2010)

Sniffy gets about 20 mealies and a good helping of crickets and his weight has been exactly the same 354g. kinda makes you wonder...


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