Mealworms & Crickets???

[SassyKat6181]

I bought some mealworms and tiny crickets for the chicks today. The guy at the store told me that I had to cut the heads off the mealworms or they would burrow into the chicks.....is this true? The chicks are 4 days old. Also, they only had grit with calcium so I did not buy it. Will they be ok until Wednesday when I can get to the feed store, or should I not give them these delicious treats?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Once they are 1 week old it should be fine, as long as they have grit. As far as the mealworms burrowing through the chicks' crop or gizzard, it's a load of bull sh*t. This old wives tale has been in the reptile hobby for quite sometime now. Mealworms are HARMLESS and are not strong enough to survive the trauma of being eaten and sitting in acids. There is no oxygen in a chicken's crop. Have you ever stuck a mealworm under water before? They die within 5 seconds.