Check it out, beetles!

[NickBoudin]

Well i remember going to pet-co once, to buy feeder mealworms, i got 100, and i used them all up, and didnt have time to breed them. Well, about 3 months ago i ordered 2000 mealworms from the worm man, and right now they're all pupating, i only have about 100 actual mealworms left, check out this beatle collection.

There's an estimated 100-175 mealworm beatles in this container, and i have another same container, FILLED with the pupated stage. Once or twice a week i go pick 50 - 100 beatles out of the pupa container and put them with the beatles.


How long till i see eggs or baby mealworms is my question?

 

[rhino43grr]

i'm thinking about trying to breed mealworms too, but i'm worried that i'll either be overrun with them or have a bunch of beetles and nothing to feed my gecko. i feel like it might be easier to just buy them since i only have one mouth to feed them to anyway.

 

[acpart]

When I get too many mealworms I sell them on craigslist, $5 for 1000 by weight (100 mealworms of medium size weigh about 8 grams, so it's 80 grams for $5).

Right now I have about 3000 mealworms. Every night I take 10 of the biggest ones and put them aside to pupate.

Aliza

 

[rhino43grr]

i bought 500 about three weeks ago, but most of them are dead by now, that's what got me thinking that maybe breeding them myself would be better... which brings me to my question:

is there any way to maintain a population of about 75 feeder sized mealworms at all times or does it only really work when you have large numbers? i hate to make more work for myself than it's worth if i'd constantly have to be selling off the surplus. then again i could always get more geckos :devilish: (don't know how easy it would be to convince the significant other to go along with that idea though )

i had maybe 40-50 left when i went through and tossed the dead ones tonight so i decided to just put them in a tupperware container and gave up on trying to keep them fresh in the styrofoam cooler. i'm sure they'll probably all get eaten before i get beetles, but who knows.

 

[rhino43grr]

also, nick, what's the thing at the bottom corner of the egg crate? a potato?

 

[Vamp523]

it took me about 2 weeks to see the eggs after i put beetles in, I saw the first mealies a bit more than a week after spying the eggs. It's hard to find them since they're so tiny! I have to shine a light and dig to the bottom of the box to find them, they're usually along the edges and corner.

Edit : Oh or you can look at the potato / carrot you put in there and you'll probably see tiny little worming in there

 

[moosassah]

It really doesn't take that long to get baby mealies going. They do grow at a decent rate. I bought 1,000 & have kept them going for months. I have 1 container in the fridge to slow them down from their stages. The colony is in a small tank that I sift through now & then to get out the larger ones. What surprises me is how quickly the colony will devour carrot peelings. Everytime I worry about mold issues I look in & there's nothing left. Give it a try. If you get overrun, pass them off to someone else (craigslist, freecycle).

 

[KelliH]

...

 

[Stitch]

^^Those are some wierd looking Beatles^^

I usually see baby MW in about 3 weeks. The warmer you can keep the the faster they will grow. Actually 80-85 degrees is the best temp to keep them at if you want them to grow quickly.

 

[NickBoudin]

that's a potatoe, the brown thing.

 

[geckogirls]

I usually go to the store and buy 100 mealies, and use them all up real quick, so I bought 200 and have had about 15-20 turn into beatles, this may be a stupid question, but I know you can feed roaches to leo's can't you also feed the mealworm beatles? I heard so, but I wasn't sure if it was true??

 

[rhino43grr]

i don't think geckos can eat the mealworm beetles.

 

[GeckoGathering]

goes in meal worm / shows in Gecko

Raising meal Worms are the easy sideline to healthier Geckos.
Not much trouble raising them + you see what is going into your gecko by what you feed the meal worms. Feed them things to make your Geckos healthy.
Chick Starter+Bran and Top it off with carrot and fresh pineapple. You may get a few fruit flies but they still have sticky strips to take care of that. You will be very pleased with the results of the (pineapple) meal worms and the ADDED INTEREST from your gecko.......If you get wax worm picky geckos and they seem to be waiting on the postal service delivery of wax worms...........
give it a shot...take care.

 

[GeckoGathering]

BEATLE EATERS

Geckos can, sometimes will(very hungry) but not likely. Too much shell, some other reptiles love them.(our Geckos are not on that list.)Take care.

 

[GeckoGathering]

EATING ROACHES

NOT ALL GECKOS WILL EAT ROACHES EITHER, at least while you are feeding other types of (more common known Gecko foods(.....Take care.

 

[Stitch]

I have yet to get one of my leos to eat a beatle. Not that it isn't possible, it's just that mine won't eat them. However when I had chameleons they would eat them in a heart beat.

 

[geckogirls]

cool, thanks, well I bought a pair of geckos that their previous owner fed them mainly roaches, but I never did feed them roaches. I can not seem to fatten them up though, they were never all the big, and I can't get them to eat many crickets, none of my adults really even like crickets they seem to be too lazy to catch them!!

 

[NickBoudin]

Mine eat mealworms, beatles, the pupas (with tongs, so the tail is sqwirming), beatles, and super worms.

 

[rhino43grr]

i took all the mealworms i had left and put them in tupperware containers to try and make beetles, they were all dying in the cooler. hopefully i'll start seeing some results soon.

 

[Stitch]

i took all the mealworms i had left and put them in tupperware containers to try and make beetles, they were all dying in the cooler. hopefully i'll start seeing some results soon.

If you are trying to get them to pupate then take them out of the cooler. They need to be warm to pupate. Keep them in the warmest area of the house and they will soon pupate.