Just like humans, birds love their food as well. If you’re a bird owner you probably already have some insight on what your birds should eat. Also, you know how important nutrition is when it comes to keeping your pets healthy. There are a few different options when it comes to bird food, but today we’re going to cover dried mealworms. Let’s see what’s so special about this type of bird food and what the benefits are of buying and feeding your birds with it.
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What are mealworms?
Mealworms are sometimes mistaken for the standard worms. And even though it sounds like they are the same thing, they are pretty different. In fact, they are the larval form of a mealworm beetle. What is different than mealworms and standard worms then? Well, mealworms are much cleaner, easier to work with and most importantly they are an amazing source of nutrition.
Alive or dried?
Img source: wigglywigglers.co.uk
You have two options when purchasing mealworms. You can buy them alive, or dried. Of course, there are pros and cons for each option, so let’s weigh them in and help you decide.
If you decide to buy them alive, the first thing you will notice is that your birds will find them much more appealing than if you bought them dried. However, buying them alive requires some maintenance in order to keep them as they should, they will make more mess and are usually quite more expensive. Dried mealworms, on the other hand, will be cheaper, won’t make any mess and are much easier to “work” with. We suggest going for this option because the pros outweigh the cons. We also advise you to buy dried mealworms bulk since they should turn out to be cheaper than if you buy them in smaller quantities.
How to store Mealworms safely and effectively
Once you purchase them in bulk, considering you bought them alive, store them in a plastic container. Make some perforations on the top for air circulation. You can throw pieces of apple inside for some moisture and some oatmeal as well. How nutritious your mealworms will be, depends on how you feed them. So if you want your birds to be healthy, you need to have healthy mealworms. You can also put the plastic container inside of a fridge in order to slow their growth. Additionally, one hundred grams of mealworms contain about 20 grams of protein, which is more than enough for birds.
How to serve them and in what portion size
Img source: capregionpets.com
Now that you’ve bought and stored your mealworms, it’s time to start feeding your birds their nutritious treats. Instead of placing them on the ground scattered around in your backyard, put them on feeders and hang them close to vegetation and away from windows. If you decided to buy them alive instead of dried, you should be more careful about some of them running away. Make sure the feeders are designed in a way that they can’t crawl out and escape.
