Meal worms for foxers and ground squirrel?

[Elise]

Hello TSB family,

I have been wanting to spice up my babies' diets and I've been reading up on meal worms. (I have two foxers, Petey and Pablo, both 4 months, and Pip, my Columbian Ground Squirrel who is 8 months). Pip eats her oxbow pellets daily with plenty of veggies from the list and nuts/fruit 1-2x day as a treat. I also give her deer and elk antlers to chew on as well as apple tree branches. Petey and Pablo's diet is the same as Pip's except they get 3-4 hi protein HHBs per day instead of the oxbow pellets. Oh, and Pip also always has a full supply of Timothy hay to eat whenever she wants.

I get the impression from some that meal worms are only used with flyers, can I give them to either my foxers or Pip? (By the way, I caught wild grasshoppers this summer for Pip and she LOVED them! But it's winter now and therefore no more grasshoppers). If I can give them the meal worms, how many per day can they get?

Also, where is a good place to buy the meal worms online? Do they have to be alive or is freeze dried ok?

Thank you!

Edit: here's a few pics of my babies for funzies.

[CritterMom]

They can both have mealworms BUT...be aware that the all important calcium to phosphorus ratio of mealworms and waxworms is REALLY bad. It is why herp and flyer people coat them with calcium before feeding - to try to counteract that a little. I even limit them to my flyer - his food has additional protein in it via whey isolate so they are really just for the pure joy of eating something that wiggles on the way down and occasionally using them to slap me in the face when he faceplants me with one hanging out of his mouth (apparently the sight of me dry heaving in disgust is just the BEST). Lots of phosphorus and little calcium is the recipe for MBD. So they should be used only as occasional treats. If you are feeding them HHBs they are getting the correct amount of protein already so they aren't needed to boost that.

www.grubco.com has them.

[Elise]

They can both have mealworms BUT...be aware that the all important calcium to phosphorus ratio of mealworms and waxworms is REALLY bad. It is why herp and flyer people coat them with calcium before feeding - to try to counteract that a little. I even limit them to my flyer - his food has additional protein in it via whey isolate so they are really just for the pure joy of eating something that wiggles on the way down and occasionally using them to slap me in the face when he faceplants me with one hanging out of his mouth (apparently the sight of me dry heaving in disgust is just the BEST). Lots of phosphorus and little calcium is the recipe for MBD. So they should be used only as occasional treats. If you are feeding them HHBs they are getting the correct amount of protein already so they aren't needed to boost that.

www.grubco.com has them.

Thank you for the information CritterMom! I will be sure to give them sparingly and I actually have some calcium carbonate powder from Henry's that I will use to coat them. Thank you!