FINCHforum

Hi All,

Yesterday, I placed a few mealworms in a hanging cup, and put them into the Lavender cage (just to see what would happen).

The two Lavenders, sat as far away from the mealworm cup as they could get . They were looking, but not taking any chances with these weird strange wigglies.

I finished puttering around the bird room, went into the kitchen and got busy.

Sometime later, stepping into the bird room once again, I noticed the Lavenders still perched in the same spot where I'd left them.

I peeked into the hanging cup.... No mealworms anywhere in sight

I think they figured out what to do with the weird strange wigglies, lol.

Or the mealworms wiggled into your house?! bwahahah

GouldianGuy



Nah, they couldn't get out of there on their own, lol.

Well, it looks like the kids have discovered a favorite food, lol.

What have I started

lovezebs

Elana, did they eat the entire mealworm? My new Orange Cheeks go nuts over mealworms but they just squish the guts out of them like they are squeezing toothpaste out of a tube and toss the skins. The Javas, however, gobble up the entire mealworm.

When I put new mealworms into my aviary, my shaft tails are the first ones to show up and in fact they eat about 60% of them by themselves. Then Francois, my blue cap, shows up and by stretching his neck as far as it will go, carefully 'steals' one mealworm at a time from in between the shaft tails. I have yet to see my lavenders eat any of the mealworms. In fact, their eating habits have changed since I released them into the aviary: while in the cage they ate some fruit and loved pieces of pear. Now, outside, they prefer apple and love cucumber slices. Since yours love orange slices, Elana, I tried those - none of my birds even tried them. Go figure.
Iso

Shannylee & isobea

Most of my guys do the tooth paste tube thing. They suck out all the insides, leaving empty husks behind. That includes the Lavanders, Owls, Red cheek CB's, Orange Cheeks, Strawberries, Goldbreasts, Stars, Parrot Finch, Societies, Zebras, Cut throat, and Shaft tails.

My Javas, look at Mealworms and go....
I had thought that they would love them, but no way.

I have caught my Gouldians trying them, but not on a regular basis, and the Canaries just look at them and go phooey.

lovezebs - my shaft tails, the blue cap and all my former fires and gold breasts ate the whole worms. There were some other species (for the life of me can't remember which ones - darn this getting old) which did the toothpaste thing. So happy these guys I have now don't do that.
Iso

lovezebs, LOL!!!

My male java will shove his wife out of the way if I put mealworms in their cage. All of the aviary birds (canaries, gouldians, spice finches) have zero interest in them. I have gold breasts in quarantine with the orange cheeks. They are interested but the orange cheeks don't give them a chance.

Scrambles loves to violently kill large mealworms and has a great time of it, wasting the good and making a mess. Weeb won't have anything to do with them unless i feed her the tiny ones or chop them into tiny peices.

I personally love mealworms myself

isobea have you tried offering orange juice instead? My finches ignore the oranges, but love when one of their small waterers has orange juice in it for a day.

MisterGribs

Ok, do tell....
Steamed, stir fried, baked, as salad toppers, pickled....???

lovezebs Baked with a spoonful of butter and garlic salt. I love them, and incidentally, they're my main source of protein. I don't like them steamed though, as the texture reminds me of shrimp, and I really don't like shrimp.

Shame my birds don't like them as much as I do, they are picky zeebs

MisterGribs

Are you pulling my leg?

lovezebs No, I'm honestly not. o_o A lot of people eat them these days. They've got no saturated fat and have a massive amount of protein. Also they taste like bacon and peanuts. I can't handle cholesterol well, which goes hand in hand with meat and eggs, so they're a perfect supplement for me. (I'm still a bit too pudgy round the middle, sadly, they won't help with that lol)

You might find this article interesting!
http://mealwormcare.org/recipes-nutrition/