Feeding and Nutrition :: mealworms and ghost shrimp

[imderanged]

I was looking on the "nutrition" page on the main site for info on live prey, cause Sylar seems to really like that. I noticed they were selling "Ghost Shrimp" for .25 cents in my local fish store, so I wanted to check if they were OK before I bought one for him. It says "rarely" for them, so I guess its OK as long as I don't over do it, but it got me to wondering what makes it a "rarely" item when, say, rosie reds are "occationally"? And I noticed mealworms are "not recomended"...why is that? I used to feed them all the time before I found out that I was giving him too much protein, but he still gets one every once in a while, I keep them around for my gecko. Should I stop giving him those all together?

[AnthonyGarcia]

i sometimes take out ghost shrimps from my brother's planted tank to feed my turts. i feed them like once every two months... maybe that's what they call rarely, i guess/

[megcornell]

Once in a while I get a few to clean up some of the debris on the bottom of my turtle tanks. It takes my turtles a few days to catch them all because they're so hard to see (I suspect).
I don't think there's any harm in an occasional feeding. I'm not sure why they are classified as "rare" though.

[Rexamus]

I was told by the manager at Petsmart not to feed a baby turtle mealworms. Apparently the worms can eat through a baby turtle's stomach.

I realize I've been told a lot of things from petstores and reptile shops that haven't always been true and this may be one of them...but I'm not taking any chances!

[imderanged]

heh, Sylar aways chewed them up pretty good, don't think I'd worry about them eating through this stomach, they were in little pieces by the time he swallowed them.