# Can a California desert tortoise eat mealworms?



## WolfRune1988 (Nov 17, 2018)

I was thinking about it because when we had our tortoise set up outside she had actually gathered her own collection of roaches and was munching on them when she was in her burrow. Can you give a desert tortoise mealworms or something like that every so often?


----------



## Tom (Nov 17, 2018)

They don't need mealworms and should not be fed mealworms.

Tortoises don't normally eat roaches either because the roaches run away. Were these roaches dead? If yes, I'd be concerned about pesticides.

A main problem with ingestion of protein is lack of water to flush the digestive by products. I recommend soaking your tortoise at least 4 days a week if you think it is eating insects. This should help to prevent the formation of bladder stones.


----------



## WolfRune1988 (Nov 17, 2018)

Tom said:


> They don't need mealworms and should not be fed mealworms.
> 
> Tortoises don't normally eat roaches either because the roaches run away. Were these roaches dead? If yes, I'd be concerned about pesticides.
> 
> A main problem with ingestion of protein is lack of water to flush the digestive by products. I recommend soaking your tortoise at least 4 days a week if you think it is eating insects. This should help to prevent the formation of bladder stones.


They were alive, they had nested in her enclosure no pesticides we had made sure that the guy never did inside her enclosure


----------



## Tom (Nov 17, 2018)

WolfRune1988 said:


> They were alive, they had nested in her enclosure no pesticides we had made sure that the guy never did inside her enclosure


If pesticides were sprayed outside the enclosure, the bugs collect it and carry it around wherever they go. If your neighbor sprayed pesticides, any animal eating those insects is at risk. I'd put up some roach motels all around and inside the tortoises shelter, out of tortoise reach, to eliminate this problem. Change out the roach motels every week or two, and this problem will go away without toxic chemicals being sprayed anywhere.


----------



## WolfRune1988 (Nov 17, 2018)

Tom said:


> If pesticides were sprayed outside the enclosure, the bugs collect it and carry it around wherever they go. If your neighbor sprayed pesticides, any animal eating those insects is at risk. I'd put up some roach motels all around and inside the tortoises shelter, out of tortoise reach, to eliminate this problem. Change out the roach motels every week or two, and this problem will go away without toxic chemicals being sprayed anywhere.


This was 2 years ago that she did this and she has been fine. I'm just gathering ideas to feed her that will be easy to find once she wakes up when we move. We have been in apartments for 2 years now so no bugs for her to munch on. Once we realized she had been eating the bugs we really paid attention to how she was behaving and there was no change in her personality or anything (other than she was mad that I destroyed the nest she had burrowed under.) And I also saw that some are giving different breeds of tortoise mealworms so I was wondering if desert tortoise was in that group.


----------



## MichaelL (Mar 12, 2019)

WolfRune1988 said:


> This was 2 years ago that she did this and she has been fine. I'm just gathering ideas to feed her that will be easy to find once she wakes up when we move. We have been in apartments for 2 years now so no bugs for her to munch on. Once we realized she had been eating the bugs we really paid attention to how she was behaving and there was no change in her personality or anything (other than she was mad that I destroyed the nest she had burrowed under.) And I also saw that some are giving different breeds of tortoise mealworms so I was wondering if desert tortoise was in that group.


I am not an expert on desert tortoises, but mealworms every once in a while are probably fine. In the wild, when they see an easy insect prey, they probably will go for it because it has a good source of water and is partly nutritious. This is shown with her eating roaches. Just don't give her too many or too often. Many tortoises will even eat dead animals they find, and they aren't negatively affected.


----------



## ascott (Mar 13, 2019)

WolfRune1988 said:


> I was thinking about it because when we had our tortoise set up outside she had actually gathered her own collection of roaches and was munching on them when she was in her burrow. Can you give a desert tortoise mealworms or something like that every so often?



While I would not go out of my way to buy bugs to offer as a food....i would not stop the tort from partaking of its own desire.


----------

