how much is enough

[cuomop]

i notice everyone talks about ordering insane numbers of mealworms for leos. I currently have 2 eating 7 mealies a day, and a third leo will be coming soon and i assume she will eat mealies. My 4th leo hopefully will start eating again after he acclimates (he was eating superworms)

my question is:
with 3 leos eating mealies and one eating supers, is it worth me buying 500/1000 mealies online and saving lots of money????? will they survive the expected months it would take for them to be eaten?? how would i keep them? im not really trying ot breed leos or mealies.
or is it easier to just spend the $4/week on large mealies for the kids?

same with supers, is it worth buying 500 and keeping them around?? will they eat each other, will the cost of keeping meal and supers alive negate the costsavings?

 

[rhino43grr]

depending on whether it's three or four geckos you'll need 21 or 28 mealies per day based on your feeding schedule.
500/21 = 23.8 days per order of 500
500/28 = 17.9
1000/28 = 35.7
and actually they almost always overcount on the orders in case of dead ones, so an order will most likely last a few days longer.

 

[cuomop]

can i just keep them in the tub that they come in and just add some potato and they will keep for the month???? or will it take special equipment???? do i keep them refrigerated or room temp???

 

[cuomop]

bump

 

[moosassah]

The container they come in will probably be too small. You don't need a special container. Any plastic will do. They cannot climb & the beetles do not fly. Add some cricket feed or other dry feed and a few slices of potatoes. I have 5 leos that I feed & have only bought a little over 2,000 mealies. The rest we've grown. Well, worth the very little effort.

 

[RepBex]

no you will need to add more oats

 

[cuomop]

if i get 1000+ do i have to separate them or can i just let them life cycle all in one container, or can i just keep the 1000 in the fridge so they dont life cycle??? i think its more of i am to lazy to breed cause i dont need thousands at a time.

 

[cwazy]

you dont have to do anything... lol... but really breeding is effortless and money saving... but i sapose its not for everyone... so with that said, if you buy bulk, yes put them in a container with some food, and toss em in the fridge, when they are chilled they go into a dorment stage and will not pupate, but its important to take them out of the fridge for a lil while and toss some carrots or potatoes in with them and let them warm up and eat... then back in the fridge for a week... according to rhinos #s 1000 would go you just over a month... most of them should surrive that long in the fridge... as long as you let them warm up and eat on a weekly basis! good luck with wich ever you choose to do

 

[Scoots85]

I bought about 550+ mealies at once maybe 2 weeks ago, and I seperated them into two piles. Each pile goes into a round margarine container and I switch them out maybe every 5 days or so. So one stays in our basement cool-room (you can use a fridge or whatever) while the other stays in my room, and then I'll switch.

I doubt it's necessary but it seems to work for me. Last time, I had maybe 200-300 in one container and a lot of mealies ended up either dieing or turning into beetles. :\