Mealworm die offs

[ImNotYogi]

Last Wednesday I received my order of 2 thousand mealies and only notice 2-3 dead ones as I was putting them in the bin. For the past few days I've been finding a dozen or so dead. I keep my mealworm colony in a sterlite 3-drawer tier thing and have 6 holes on the sides of the drawer the worms are in. I'm not doing anything differently than before. They have a constant supply of greens and two large carrots. I haven't noticed any condensation or mold in the bin but I'll be replacing the bedding today. The temperatures for my area have not gotten too cold yet. The lowest it's been at night in the past week or so was in the high 50s before they even arrived. Any idea of what could be causing the die offs? Or is just par for the course on an order that large?

 

[acpart]

As long as you don't get a whole lot of dead ones it's probably OK. That's happened with me too on occasion.

Aliza

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Yeah I would expect par for the course. I find a few dead with regularity. If you lose more than 10% I'd start to wonder.

 

[ImNotYogi]

When I was changing the bedding earlier today I found quite a few more dead. Some were even freshly molted. I'm hoping the bedding was the issue. When I decided to breed them I still had a lot left from the few hundred I ordered. So I left alone and most were dormant when I set up the drawers. I didn't bother changing the bedding for the 2 thousand I just received because of that.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Were the greens and carrots organic or washed really well? Did you put all 2000 in the same box? They generate a good amount of heat and can die if they get too hot for too long.

Just a thought.

 

[ImNotYogi]

I wash the veggies and let them dry a bit beforehand. They were all in the same drawer until a few minutes ago. Never thought about the heat they may generate just the temperature in the room itself.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I watched a few youtube videos on keeping meal worms recently. Some were saying that over a certain number together they had a decent amount of die offs. They had a recommended number to keep in a certain size box but I keep a rather small coloby so didn't pay attention. I bet you could find some info on what the best size:mealworm ratio is out there somewhere

 

[ImNotYogi]

I only have one reptile but was planning (or hoping) to get another leo or a bearded dragon next year so I wanted to try to jump start a colony. I took some more out earlier but will look up some youtube videos after work.

 

[SkinnyPete]

I have a 1000 in my drawer and lose 3-5 daily. Turn black and die. I figured it was par for the course. The others are molting and chowin like hogs.

 

[Cesar_Da_KIng]

I only have one reptile but was planning (or hoping) to get another leo or a bearded dragon next year so I wanted to try to jump start a colony. I took some more out earlier but will look up some youtube videos after work.

Im no expert as i dont own bearded dragons but i do enjoy familiarizing myself with the care and general knowledge of just about every herp i see and taking notes i put in a "herp book" and from what ive read mealworms can impact beardies and theyre not a recomended feeder. Just sayin, im no expert.