Feeding Australian wildlife with mealworms

Are you a wildlife carer or enthusiast? Discover the benefits of feeding mealworms to Australian wildlife. Many animals enjoy mealworms as a treat in their diet – particularly birds, sugar gliders, and frogs.

Mealworms, also known as Tenebrio Molitor, are the larvae of mealworm beetles. They are the perfect nutrient rich, high protein, and clean to handle live insect feeder.

Arguably one of the most versatile live feeder insects, you can feed a wide range of animals with a single tub of mealworms from PetWave. Australian wildlife carers, if you have not already, keep mealworms on hand for the wide range of animals you encounter – they will thank you for it!

How to store mealworms

PetWave’s premium mealworms are delivered in plastic containers with enough food to sustain them a week when stored in the cooler temperatures of the fridge.

If keeping mealworms alive for a longer period of time, PetWave recommends removing the mealworms from the fridge every 2 weeks for 24hours to warm up and eat. During this 24hour period, offer your mealworms some food. Mealworms eat small amounts of carrots and apples.  

After 24 hours, replenish their unprocessed bran from their container, remove the uneaten food and return the mealworms to the refrigerator.

Mealworms can live for up to a year if stored correctly. However, wildlife and pets will love their mealworm treat so much, it is unlikely to you will be storing the mealworms for long.  

Storing bulk mealworms? Storing large amounts of mealworms is made easy with PetWave’s live insect storage containers. Place some unprocessed bran in the containers with the mealworms to provide a substrate and food source.

Mealworms can live for up to a year if stored correctly. However, wildlife and pets will love their mealworm treat so much, it is unlikely to you will be storing the mealworms for long.  

Read PetWave’s mealworm care sheet for more information on caring for your mealworms.

PetWave has live mealworms for sale online, delivered across Australia.

Do birds eat mealworms?

Tenebrio Molitor make the perfect addition to your bird feeder. The movements of live mealworms attract local birds. Get your camera ready for some amazing wildlife photos of native birds enjoying mealworms! 

Mealworms are a great source of protein for native Australian birds. The nutrients and proteins found in mealworms help aid in the muscle development of wild birds. 

Your wild birds will be very thankful for their nutritional natural insect food!

How to feed mealworms to birds?

Feeding mealworms to birds is very simple. Using Insect handing scissors, place a handful of mealworms in your backyard bird feeder, a rimmed dish, or mealworm dish, in the morning, and enjoy all the visiting birds throughout the day.

Hint: Mealworms should be offered on a limited basis as they have a high fat content and are low in calcium. Use seed and fruit to supplement the feeding of mealworms to wild Australian birds.

What birds eat mealworms?

All insectivorous birds enjoy mealworms as part of a balanced diet, including Australian magpies, kookaburras, wrens, and finches.  

Where to buy mealworms for birds?

Buy mealworms for birds online at PetWave.

Read more on safely feeding wild birds in Australia.

Can finches eat mealworms?

Mealworms are a popular live feeder for finches. PetWave recommends mini mealworms for finch feeding. Mini mealworms grow to roughly 1cm – the perfect size for small birds to enjoy!

During breeding, finches need a continuous supply of live food. Some types of finches, such as, strawberry finches, red headed finches, and waxbills, will not breed without a source of live food.

As the supply of mealworms should not run out, finch breeders may benefit from buying bulk 1kg mealworms online from PetWave.

Mealworms are popular as a live food when encouraging finch to breed, due to their high protein content.

Finches generally do not need to be fed live insect food unless breeding. Mealworms may still be offered to your finches as an occasional treat. The occasional live insect in your finches diet is useful to replicate their environment and diet in the wild. Mealworms should not be the sole diet for finch birds. Feeding live mealworms to finches should only occur regularly during breeding.

Feeding finches mealworms

Feeding mealworms to finches is very simple. Using Insect handing scissors, place a handful of mealworms in a rimmed dish or mealworm dish, in the morning and leave until empty.

Some small baby finches may have trouble digesting mealworms as mealworms have a hard exoskeleton.

Can sugar gliders eat mealworms?

Mealworms are amazing bonding and behavioural enrichment treat, as well as, protein source for sugar gliders.

It is important to limit the number of mealworms to 10% of a sugar gliders diet. No more than 10 regular mealworms per week should be fed to an adult sugar glider. Mealworms have a high fat content, and if not fed in moderation, can cause fatty deposits in sugar gliders eyes. Instead use mealworms as a healthy treat to encourage interaction from the sugar glider.

Hint: As sugar gliders love mealworms, use live insect feeding tongs when feeding mealworms so the sugar glider doesn’t nip your fingers!

Can frogs eat mealworms?

Green tree frogs eat mealworms as part of a varied diet. Frogs are enticed by live moving food.  Offer other live feeder insects for frogs, such as; crickets, woodies, and earthworms.

Feed tree frogs 1-2 mealworms per day as a nutritional addition to their diet.  

Mealworms are a must have for any Australian wildlife carer. Buy mealworms online Australia today from PetWave.

What pets eat mealworms?

Live mealworms for bearded dragons

Bearded dragons eat mealworms as a treat. Mealworms should be offered in addition to fresh salad, and other live feeder insects.

Using insect handling scissors, place a couple mealworms on a mealworm dish in your bearded dragons enclosure once a week.

Can juvenile bearded dragons eat mealworms?

Baby and juvenile bearded dragons should not be fed mealworms. Young bearded dragons may find the exoskeleton of bearded dragons hard to digest. Feed mealworms to bearded dragons aged over 18 months.

Live mealworms for chickens

Feeding mealworms to chickens provides them with an excellent source of protein. It is important chickens consume a lot of protein as it helps with egg laying to produce large healthy eggs.

Chickens eat up to 10 mealworms per day as part of their diet.

Due the large amount of mealworms you may go through when feeding your chooks, PetWave recommends buying mealworms in bulk and saving!  

About PetWave

PetWave is an Australian online pet supply company. We’re experts in successfully shipping fresh, live, frozen and delicate products to you and your pets' door, wherever you are in Australia. Order before 7:30am for next day delivery. 

PetWave are very proud to offer the highest quality and largest selection of live aquarium fish, aquarium plants, live reptile food, live insects, including live Woodies, frozen feeders especially for snakes, lizards, frogs and birds of prey, as well as, many other beautiful decorations for your aquarium and terrarium. 

Find the best live insect feeder for your pet using this guide.

Visit PetWave at www.petwave.com.au, for any inquiries email customercare@petwave.com.au