Feeder station

[Crewdog00]

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This is what I keep my 1500 mealworms in. It's a new method for me. Ziplock plastic tub with paper towel at the bottom and bedding is dusted oatmeal and orange cubes.

When I want mealies I will pull an inch of paper towel and they stick to the paper and all the bedding rolls down. Easy way of getting my mealworms without having to dig or search and sort out bedding.

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My cricket station below mealworms tub. I have a container with moist Eco earth coco and some water plus food. They can get a little loud but not too bad.

I feed them dusted orange cubes and dusted oat meal. Gut loading 24/7 for all my feeders. Temps in basement are between 65-70 and they stay cool in my closet. Mealies don't go in fridge because I will feed them off to my gecko before they start turning or dying.

 

[LLLReptile]

That looks like it works super well!

A couple suggestions:
Try Rice Crispies instead of oatmeal. It's SO much easier to sift through them with a regular sand sifter when it comes time to clean. We keep between 3,000 and 6,000 of different sized worms in the store, and since we switched to rice crispies instead of oatmeal it takes half as long to clean the tubs.

Also, look into the Repashy Bug Burger as your feeder gutload. Stuff is super inexpensive for the amount you can make, and the insects love it. I use it for my roaches at home and it's fantastic. It does smell a bit funny, though...And you do have to make it yourself (you microwave it with water).

But honestly, if this works, this looks like an awesome way to maintain bulk quantities of feeders!

-Jen

 

[Taesolieroy]

I'll have to check out that Bug Burger stuff then! The orange cubes keep drying out too fast between batches and I don't run through my apples fast enough with my sugar gliders to give my crickets an apple core treat.

I'm curious though, what sand sifter are you using on the cereal bedding?

 

[mudskipper]

That looks like it works super well!

A couple suggestions:
Try Rice Crispies instead of oatmeal. It's SO much easier to sift through them with a regular sand sifter when it comes time to clean. We keep between 3,000 and 6,000 of different sized worms in the store, and since we switched to rice crispies instead of oatmeal it takes half as long to clean the tubs.

The Rice Crispies sound interesting! They come in squares, right? So you don't break them up at all and just line them up in the bin?

 

[mango+cola]

I believe she is referring to rice crispies the cereal, not rice crispies the treat. Putting the treat rice crispie square in a container to gut load your feeders isnt a good idea because they are full of sugar and marshmellow. But the cereal is a good idea.

 

[Crewdog00]

I upgraded the cricket tank to a 10 gallon and gave my leopard gecko the 20L tank.

I have an extra 5.5 gallon for quarantine.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I just cleaned out my colony and switched them to Rice Crispies - thanks for the idea! What do you use as a water source for them and do you do anything special with with it so they don't get mushy?

Also - I learned a lesson...haha. Unless my colony starts going crazy in the next couple of days the next time I order 1000 mealworms at least half are headed straight for the fridge. I left the large ones I got last week at room temperature (about 75 degrees in my house) and about 50% are pupae or will be in a few days so they stopped moving