Giant Mealworms Hormone

[rlhruza]

Hey all,

I recently was looking up mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) vs super worms (Zoohobas morio) and I ran into giant mealworms (Tenebrio molitor + juvenile hormone).

It sounds like a product is applied to the meal worms that keeps them from molting so they can’t go on to the next stage but continue to grow.

I can’t seem to find much info on this in regards to ants. Many of the reptile folks are concerned, though the action of the chemical isn’t directly targeting their pet’s physiology. Ants being insects would, I assume also be susceptible to the hormone. So any residual product on or in the mealworm could theoretically get passed on to the ants.

Has anyone run into this before? I wonder if that would cause gaps in new workers coming out or could cause larger than normal workers?

How do you know if the meal worms you buy at the pet shop haven’t had any hormone sprayed in them?

I have been buying “large” mealworms, thinking they were just older/more stages along development wise. I am thinking I need to do some research into the company and see if they use the hormone or not.

Your insights are appreciated!



Maybe it is safer to stick to the small guys

[Attatexana]

That is interesting thank you for telling me.

[Franckw]

Hi

I don't suppose the mealworms have the hormone or chemical products used, because you can just give some veggies food then they grown very fast. Here is more detail about the mealworms: https://atbuz.com/post/raise-mealworms/