I am surprised regarding mealworms since they are a high protein food and thus have some nutritional value
If we now take mealworms as an example (since they are our farm bug of choice), the protein content of fresh weight ranges from 14 to 25 grams per hundred. Now if you were to dry-roast your mealworms, the protein content jumps to a whopping 55% and you still retain a good chunk of those vitamins, minerals and polyunsaturated fats (including Omega-3 and 6). You can see what I’m getting at here… bugs are incredibly nutritious! But let’s take this a little further and look at the essential amino acid content. Amino acids are the protein building blocks of our bodies and around 500 are known to science, but as far as human nutrition is concerned, these are classified into 22 functional groups. All but nine of these can be synthesised by our bodies out of other molecules, and these nine therefore have to be taken up through our food. They are called the “essential” amino acids and are what we’ll focus on.
http://www.ediblebugfarm.com/blog/edible-insects-nutritional-content/
My hogs love them however i only put out a bit at a time throughout the night so everyone gets a chance to nab some along with other goodies such as crushed peanuts, sunflower hearts, kitty bix since none of mine like hog bix and if i leave my backdoor open in the summer evenings, the hogs will wander in and much my cats bix (much to their disgust) i also put out the odd bit of lacto free grated cheese or hard boiled egg and on occasion some meaty cat food but only once my 3 cats are in for the night.
The down side of meaty food is the neighborhood cats will scoff if if i leave their dinner uncovered during dry nights. Wet nights i place the food under a large inverted plastic recyclying box with a hole cut in the front for easy access keeping their dinner dry.
It also means the local birds eat what the hogs have missed so it is win win.
I have a large trough saucer which i use as a birdbath on the ground and also for the hogs to drink in and paddle in and it is refilled each day at least once.
My cats drink from it as well despite having a large dog water dish for fresh water.
I have come to the conclusion the water in the birdbath tastes of bird and my cats are treating it as a chilled consomme.
