Keeping Mealworms...

[SBP]

So If any of you have read any of my previous posts I went from keeping venomous snakes to selling off my collection and buying a baby Leopard Gecko. Thanks to patience and an insane amount of research I believe I created the ultimate LG habitat. Thats neither here nor there.

Now to mealworms. I bought a thousand count because it was the cheapest and I have a mini fridge I use to keep them in and dormant.

I bought Repashy in bulk and used it as their bedding. Before I feed them to the LG I let them sit at room temp for 24-48 hours to liven up and gut load. Then the select few are fed to the gecko and the rest go right back in the fridge.

Is there anything wrong with this method of keeping/feeding mealworms:main_thumbsup::main_thumbsdown:

Steve

 

[acpart]

In theory it should work. When I used to keep my mealworms in the fridge, I had more deaths (of mealworms) than I was happy about. My theory is that the place in the fridge was maybe just a bit too cold. Now I keep the mealworms out and breed the ones that turn into pupae (but I have FAR more than 1 leo to feed). Maybe you should consider putting a thermometer near the worms in the fridge to monitor their health and the temperature.
(Side note: I used to keep frozen bloodworms in the freezer to feed my fish. I had a note on the bag for my squeamish family that said "You really don't want to know").

Aliza

 

[SBP]

In theory it should work. When I used to keep my mealworms in the fridge, I had more deaths (of mealworms) than I was happy about. My theory is that the place in the fridge was maybe just a bit too cold. Now I keep the mealworms out and breed the ones that turn into pupae (but I have FAR more than 1 leo to feed). Maybe you should consider putting a thermometer near the worms in the fridge to monitor their health and the temperature.
(Side note: I used to keep frozen bloodworms in the freezer to feed my fish. I had a note on the bag for my squeamish family that said "You really don't want to know").

Aliza

That's Classic! LOL!

Steve

 

[indyana]

Haha, I was laughing at that too, Aliza.

There's always this moment are "Ug!" in my house when someone's going through the freezer and pulls out some frozen bugs or pinkies... XD

 

[Herbiebug]

Sounds fine. Toss a couple carrots in for moisture when gutloading. Only thing i would add is to check the bin regularly for signs of mold. I've never used Repashy by itself as worm substrate so not sure how prone to mold it is in these conditions.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I keep mine on the door of the fridge in a mixture that's mainly oats and oat bran. I pull them out for 24 hours every 7-10 days and give them some apple and/or carrot for water and stick them back in until I feed them. they can tolerate temps down to about 40 degrees for extended periods. The back of my fridge would kill them for sure but the door keeps them at a good temp. I also keep some breeding in my gecko room and sort and refridgerate them when they get to the right size for feeding or if I'm too late they get thrown into the breeding pool