Check it out, beetles!

[rhino43grr]

they're out of the cooler and sitting on top of the screen cover over the hot side of the tank. i had been keeping them in a styrofoam cooler with ice packs in the cup they came in but the majority died. i would guess i have about 100 mealworms in the container now so i'm hoping that i can keep a constant supply of about that many once they start breeding.

 

[Grinning Geckos]

Ice packs would be too cold. Ideal is actually about 50-60 degrees, which is way warmer than a standard fridge. The colder it is, the more that will die.

 

[rhino43grr]

i had the ice on one side and kept them from touching but it was probably still too cold. i think the other thing that hurt was that they were in a tall cup so the ones on the bottom got squished and suffocated.

 

[B5inVA]

Ok I'm taking my stab at breeding mealworms too. Last night I just bought two 6.5 qt clear plastic containers with lids. I also bought 500 mealworms to start with. I put a mixture of dry oat meal and gut load for the substrate and cuts of potatoes in there.

So...this is a good start right?? Should I buy more mealworms...like 500 more??

 

[Vamp523]

depending on how big you want the colony to be but 500 is probably good I guess. I started w/ 4000 mealies and now I got over 400+ beetles and about 200+ pupa lol >< I feed alot of mealies to my geckos too so. I have to seperate the beetle / pupa from the different box everyday so they dont get eaten.

 

[2.1SRR.YYC]

I started by tossing the mealworms, that had pupated while in the geckos food dish, into a small container within a rubbermaid Clear Box with substrate. When the aliens (pupae) transformed into beatles I would toss them into the main Clear Box tub. After about three weeks I started seeing tiny worms. At this point I take the beatles out and place them in their own smaller container inside the mealworm tub. I have 10 geckos and more mealworms that I know what to do with. I always seem to have about twenty aliens and about 60-80 beatles in separate smaller containers within the mealworm tub. I check the aliens once a day to see which ones have turned into beatles. I take the beatles out and put them in the beetle container inside the mealworm tub. There are usually two or three every day that make the move. When I'm left with about three weeks of worms in the tub I'll start a new mealworm tub and toss all the beatles and beatle substrate into the new tub. I would imagine the beatle substrate is loaded with eggs! After about three weeks when I notice mealworm sheds in the tub I'll take the beatles out and put them back in their small container within the bigger mealworm tub and the process is started all over again.

I always have fresh worms available and once I get the timing down I shouldn't have to keep any in the fridge. I haven't purchased mealworms in over two months and I'm sure I have enough worms to feed at least twenty adult geckos.

:main_thumbsup:

Now I'm working on Waxworms...so far I have moths but no worms!

 

[mynewturtle]

I did the same thing as Steve said above.
I keep my beetles at 86 for better hatch rate.

 

[NickBoudin]

I'm starting to notice orange looking dots all over the egg crate, i'm guessing this is the eggs. All of my beatles are now a dark black/ dark dark red color.

I must have at least 300 in here.

 

[rhino43grr]

found 2 more "aliens" this evening and i have the tupperware containers moved into the 10 gallon tank on the uth side so i'm hoping the process goes faster now. i took the powdery bedding advice and spent half an hour pulling out the mealies from the oatmeal and putting them in the new stuff... :robin::dizzy2:

 

[NickBoudin]

Yeah, I use, basic "Corn Flakes" cereal, and it's such a pain to get the mealworms out. :lol:

 

[rhino43grr]

i kinda experimented with this mix... some oatmeal, some whole wheat pancake mix, some pork rinds for a little bit of fat... oh and calcium and vitamins.

 

[rhino43grr]

beetle number one, all present and accounted for.

 

[mynewturtle]

I just sifted my beetles over last night looks like I have about 2150 this time (mealies)

 

[TWC]

i thought that pork rinds were low in fat.

 

[rhino43grr]

i decided to put the remaining mealies in the fridge... beetle #2 showed up today and there's about 8 more pupae still to hatch so i think there should be plenty of eggs hatched and ready to go by the time i run out of the mealworms in my other container...

i don't know about pork rinds being low in fat or not, you could be right though.

 

[NickBoudin]

Well, i have yet to see 1 new mealworm since i did any of this. Anyone have any ideas why i havent got any yet? It should be long enough. They've been in room temp. between 68-75F

Any ideas?

 

[Inlovewithherps]

It hasn't been very long yet. Be patient and you'll see them.
When mealworm babies hatch they are half the width of a human hair and Very,very tiny.
I have mealies that are large enough to see and we're on our third month. It's a long process.

 

[Stitch]

If you can up the temps to 80-85 they will grow and hatch faster. After eggs have been layed it takes about 3 weeks for them to hatch. At 80-85 degrees they may hatch sooner, but it will still take another week or two before you really start to see them. I can tell when the eggs have hatched because when I lightly mist the cage the bedding comes alive.

 

[NickBoudin]

why would you lightly mist the cage?

 

[Stitch]

I don't use carrots or potatoes for moisture, so I mist the bedding. So far it has worked for me. The only reason why I don't use the veggies is because we don't have them in the house. I will however use my Nature Zone "Total Cricket Bites" as a source of moisture from time to time.