Breeding Mealworms

[LeopardGeckoMom52688]

Alright I go threw over a 1000 mealworms a month. I have 11 adults currently with a 12th on the way. I also have baby geckos. I am looking to breed meal worms. What do I have to do. I have a few beetles and the 2nd stage. The one inbetween meal worm and beetle. What do I have to keep them on and whats the best item to keep them in. Could I keep them in like a three draw bin you would get from target or no?

 

[GeckoMandi]

If you search this forum area you will find all the answers you need, there is lots of good threads on it

 

[Alusdra]

Here's a good link from this forum.

As for personal experience: I have 3 adult geckos that I feed off of my colony. I have to supplement with an extra 100 or so every once in a while (every year to every other year), but usually can feed exclusively from it. The colony is in a 1 foot long ~ plastic container with a top. I would say that the three drawer bin would be ok, except for heating concerns. If you have a gecko room that's kept at 80-90F than that would be perfect- but I find I have few to no mealworms hatching at room temperature which makes sense since they basically stop growing in the fridge. I have a heat pad under mine and that seems to work great. For you, though- you probably need at least one 10 gallon tank, maybe 2, if you were going to move beetles to a new tank as they hatch.

As for substrate- I use the 'old fashioned' Quaker oats (I'm sure you can get a cheaper brand but it HAS TO BE 'old fashioned'- the 'instant' kind will stick into a gooey disgusting mess if any water/ food gets on it). And then as that as the main substrate then you give them some source of water- I find that paper towel soaked but not dripping works ok, or if you can get your hands on the gel packs those are even better. I was thinking of experimenting with jello, but haven't tried that yet. Also good is apples, potato etc- hard juicy fruits. Carrots also work really well I use my colony sometimes as almost a compost pile and stick banana and strawberry tops and things in there, but you have to be careful with that as it gets really smelly and/or moldy if you don't take it out quick enough.

Getting breeding worms is easy- just dump them in on some grain of some sort and leave them alone. Getting enough to breed consistently is tricky, though, at least in my experience with it.

 

[Leopardbreeder]

If you want, I can send to the bedding I use for 1.20 a pound + shipping. I love the stuff I use! You can contact me with the contact button on my site (leopardbreeder.tripod.com ) or just PM me.