Mealie life span

[Ipsl]

I'm curious how people keep mealies alive in there Leo's feeding dishes. I know some people put in like grapes or carrots but I wanted to see how many in a feeder bowl thats like 3x6 inches. I put like 6 in the bowl with a little calci sand and vita with no moisture and they die pretty much over night in the feeder.

 

[rhino43grr]

mine have been in there for a while and they're still kicking mostly. they don't move around much on their own but they'll go nuts if i poke them.

 

[MichaelJ]

At each feeding we toss the dead ones the worm poop, add some fresh ones worms. This cycle perpetuates until about 10 days, when we dump all the dishes and clean all the dishes and give them back with a fresh batch.

 

[acpart]

I put a little gutload in the mealworm dish and that keeps them going for awhile.

ALiza

 

[Ipsl]

Well maybe it the feeders I'm buying are mal nurished. I orderd some from a place online that someone recomended. (Thanks David.) Damn just can't really use petstores for nothing can you!!!! Lol

 

[TWC]

this past week, 80% of my mealworms turned into little pods. i cant keep them active.

 

[Kimjorg]

Are you guys keeping the mealworms in the fridge until you feed? That is what we do and just add a little calcium to the bowl when we feed and we hardly ever have problems. Maybe its because my geckos are usually always hungry and eat all the worms in their dish almost everytime. Also only feed what you think that gecko is going to eat. Don't fill up a bowl and let it sit for over a week with the worms still sitting in it. Only feed like 10 or so every night and you shouldn't have a problem with have tons of dead worms in the dishes. Also IPSL, try ordering from Sunshine mealworms...we order from them and have never had any problems.

 

[Ipsl]

Well the thing is is the regular mealies are for my two babies. The King Worms last a while and This Fool eats them right as I put them in her cage. The mealies I kept in the fridge and they die literally overnight. So Im getting my other mealies in tomorrow so everything's gonna be copasetic. There a local shipper here in Nor Cal so there perfect for me.

 

[Alusdra]

Yeah, something's not right if they are dying on you like that. I've left mealies in bowls for like a week at a time without anything and they're fine. What you might want to do is give the mealies a carrot before you feed them- take them out of the fridge, stick them in a bowl (outside the lizard's cage) with a baby carrot. Once your mealies warm up they should attack the carrot and start devouring it. After leaving them out like 1/2 hour to 2 hours, then feed them to the gecko.

 

[GroovyGeckos.com]

Best thing to do is to get a smaller size than you need, and feed them wheat bran w/ carrots every so often for moisture, and only give the gecko what it will eat overnight. If you do it right, they will eat it all, and there will be no waste, but as some suggest leftovers should be thrown away, not put back into your other mealies.

That way the insects have been fed, otherwise they will only be filling, but have no nutrients. You can get larger worms, and just take the majority and store them in the fridge. Then you take out enough to last a while, and feed them a few days first. Then you will have something good to give to your gecko/s.

Calci sand is not needed, it can be bad for Leopard Geckos. You should be using powdered calcium supplements.

 

[acpart]

You may want to check the temp in your fridge. My fridge runs a bit cold (things in the back sometimes freeze) and when I used to keep mealies in the fridge I didn't feel they survived that well. Now I breed them so I always have any size any animal would need.

Aliza