FINCHforum

Can mealworms climb or escape from feed dishes? If they can't climb out and just lay in the food dish, can they just be left in the cage in a container (oats and all) so the birds can go and look for worms anytime they please? Seems like a stupid question but I just had to ask.

I left a few in my cage the past 2 days and they disappeared a few hours later, I'm assuming the birds ate them.

Mealworms are very good at escaping from dishes that are shallow or textured in any way. If it is a deep dish (deeper than the mealworms are long) and is smooth like metal or glass, then it should be okay. I wouldnt leave them with food or anything, maybe a piece of carrot for water, but not a tall enough slice for them to use it as a step to get out of the bowl.

I keep my mealworms in bran and ,I put them in a glass bowl with a little bran its about inch deep and they find them ,haven't seen any get out of the bowl the birds get them
I order mine on line when I get them in I put them into small plastic containers with bran that I keep in refrigerator they last for a month at a time, I leave the container out that I will use that day and give them a slice of apple to eat before I feed to the birds

As long as the food dish is more than an inch deep with smooth vertical sides, they wont escape. Personally, I don't allow my birds to eat too many mealworms unless they are feeding young. I regulate them to about 3 mealworms per bird per day. If they were given an unlimited supply they would go through about 10 times as much and would wind up very fat.

I feed out mine in stainless bowls with 50mm sides.No bran is added.I keep them in the fridge for up to 3 months in pollard.Then feed them out as needed.