Mealworms shortage

[Halley]

I was wondering after the shortage is over how many people are going to go back to mealworms, and how many are going to start using alterative feeders.

The reason I ask is because of this thread http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=23998

 

[brad.a.c]

I already have. I have a colony, thank god. :main_evilgrin:

 

[cassadaga]

I'll be sticking with my roaches and supers. Our hatchlings seem to grow faster on roaches than anything else, and our fertile eggs have had a 100% hatched and healthy rate.

 

[mynewturtle]

I'll be useing them, crickets, and supers like before. But instead of crickets once a week mealies once a week, supers daily, crickets 3 times a week.

 

[Kristi23]

I'm still using them right now along with dubias.

 

[thegeckoguy]

i know this is a little off topic but...can young geckos(2-4 months) eat small supers?

And yes, ill probably stick with mealies and possibly some supers

 

[MSMD]

I have had my own breeding colony (maintaining 100-150 beetles at a time) for quite a while now, so I was unaffected, and plan to stick with the mealies.

 

[hoppslover]

I have been working on my mealworm colony. I have so many little ones crawling around in there. They just arent quite ready yet. I did feed some of them however to my hatchlings which worked out quite nice. It makes me kind of laugh though when I read these threads "not to be rude", but it kind of reminds me of the talk about getting off of fossil fuels. I just dont think that running from the first sign of hardship is always the best bet. Whos to say that the next food source wont be tainted with something as well. Just my thoughts.

 

[Halley]

Whos to say that the next food source wont be tainted with something as well.

Good Point.

But fossil fuels will run out some day, and will need that car that runs on water. :main_laugh:

But mealworms, there is a great renewable resource for ya'! :main_thumbsup:

 

[cassadaga]

Personally, I just think geckos get bored with mealworms. Mine always seem happier when the get to occasionally chase some roaches.

 

[hoppslover]

Mine like mealworms. There are somedays that I get them in the dish and my geckos start eating them before I get their water dish filled, or their moist hide sprayed. Nicholas as for fossil fuels I would agree with you that someday they will run out, and we should be looking toward the future at finding something better. I also think that for now since those new sources are not going to be ready right now we need to keep working with the fossil fuels that we have around us.

 

[karls-geckos]

due to the shortage i tried super worms and my geckos love them. shy geckos that wouldnt eat in front of me will eat a super while i am holding the gecko im hooked on supers now and for the guy who asked about 2-4 month old geckos, yes they can eat them. my geckos are like 4 months old or so and though i was scared at first because of the supers large size, they eat full grown supers no problem !

im even selling my mealie beetle colony cause i like supers so much and the move alot which really attracts the geckos and they still cant get out of my mealie dish.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

due to the shortage i tried super worms and my geckos love them. shy geckos that wouldnt eat in front of me will eat a super while i am holding the gecko im hooked on supers now and for the guy who asked about 2-4 month old geckos, yes they can eat them. my geckos are like 4 months old or so and though i was scared at first because of the supers large size, they eat full grown supers no problem !

im even selling my mealie beetle colony cause i like supers so much and the move alot which really attracts the geckos and they still cant get out of my mealie dish.

I feed primarily supers to my adult leos. They will get bored though eating just those and you need to still feed them mealworms once in a while to keep them interested. I also feed waxworms once a month and on occasion three week old crickets.

Young leos do fine on young supers.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I haven't decided yet. From a breeder's standpoint, mealworms are the cheapest and easiest way to feed large colonies of geckos. Feeding crickets over the past few months has been a nightmare. I have all my breeders on superworms, but they are more expensive than mealworms... although they eat less of them. I've been feeding my babies small supers and crickets.

I guess my problem is, that we STILL don't know the truth about what happened with the mealworms and my season has been the worst in GGG history for fertility, egg losses, hatchling mortality, and deformities. If the mealworm breeders would simply let us know if there is a correlation between what went wrong with the mealworms and the problems many of us breeders have been having, I would at least feel better knowing that the problem is solved.

The other thing I think about is how the rest of the mealworm suppliers have been capitalizing on the loss of feeders nationwide. Prices of mealworms have doubled, and even tripled, since they have been in short supply. It doesn't make sense for me as a breeder to have only a 50% hatch rate and pay 3X as much for feeders this season.

I'll just have to wait and see how this issue plays out before I put the health and safety of my geckos at risk... not to mention taking a major loss of business this season. If this is going to be a trend, then Golden Gate Geckos will be history.

 

[Ccrashca069]

For now I am using Small and bigger Super Worms. I have a few I been feeding crickets to as well but those ones I am trying to get their weight back up from laying eggs.
I can't believe how much of a price difference there is now from before the shortage and now. Also can't believe the price difference from Mealworms and Supers. Its like double. I spend double the amount I paid for feeders before the shortage to now and get less feeders.

 

[hoppslover]

I had been getting my from nyworms.com. I think they were 13.99 for 1000 med shipped and now they are up to 16.99 for 1000 medium shipped. When I first started buying mealworms last fall the petstore I was getting them from wanted 4.25 for 100 mealworms. Im pretty ok with 16.99 for 1000 as compared to 42.50 as I would pay in a petstore. I am just about at the point that I have self sustaining colony at the moment so hopefully in the future I might only need to buy if I get low. I due understand though that it would be tough if I was buying tens of thousands of mealworms a week as the big breeders are. Hopefully the prices will come down soon.

 

[Baker14]

I have a colony of mealworms, so Im stickking with them as of now, but they will run out eventually. I use the large superworms to feed to my bearded dragon, so I do ahve a nice supply of supers, but what size should adult geckos eat? (Inches wise).

 

[Ccrashca069]

I have adults leopards eat 1 1/2 - 2 inch Supers. Juvies I am using 3/4 - 1 inch sized. Hatchlings the smallest I can get.

 

[leolover23]

I love using mealies, you can get more of them compared to crickets although I like the crickets every once in a while to keep him busy!
I REFUSE to feed my leo pinkies cause I'd feel too bad! :cry: I love mice too much!

 

[nats]

I know there are a lot of opinions, but I do not like to feed my geckos mealies.
Crickets are more nutritious, and easier to digest (esp. for the little ones).
I understand all the complaints about crickets; they stink, they can bit your leo, they hide so you dont know if they have been eaten, etc, etc.
But there are work-arounds for all those complaints. The breeder I got my little mack snow female from, thinks that long term diet of mealies is very bad, and use only for a change. Another breeder I know, feeds her leos mealies only (mostly because she HATES crics!! ).
Unless your providing some digestive grit, finely crushed schell and sand, for your leos, the mealies are hard for them to digest. You can see it in their poop!
So, put me down as another advocate for crickets :main_yes:

BTW, as of this post, Crazy Carl has mealies. Trouble is, small quantities!