Mazuri as mealworm substrate?

[Alisha_SBC]

I was recently sent "reptile food" via influencer to test and review, and of course its for a bearded dragon when I have a leopard gecko. So I was wondering if there was anything I could do with this bag of Mazuri Bearded Dragon Diet, such as crushing it up and using it for mealworm substrate/food. I saw that others do that with the Zoo Med bearded dragon food.

Though I'm sort of raising my brow at chicken meal being the number one ingredient in what is called a diet for insect eating reptiles. Am I better off trashing it?

 

[acpart]

There are a number of commercial gutloads that use chicken feed as a major ingredient. I notice that the feed is 28% protein. Feeding crickets/mealworms a high protein diet is not recommended because the feeders excrete uric acid which builds up in the gecko and causes gout. In particular, it's recommended not to feed the feeders cat and dog food.
This is where I get confused. I've been using Progeckos.com gutload for a long time. That's 20% protein. My cat food is also 20% protein. I just looked up a comparison of different dog foods and those ranged from 18%-35%, with most of the numbers in the high 20's. I have no idea if it makes any difference whether the feeders are getting animal protein or grain protein. I would imagine that if you mixed a little of the Mazuri into your mealworm gutload it would be OK.

Aliza