Problems breeding Mealworms

[Erin]

I bought some mealworms to start a colony, got all the bedding/chicken mash, put some mealworms in and have had pupas and now beetles for a VERY long time. I STILL haven't seen ANY baby mealworms. I understand that "Giant" mealworms are treated with something that makes them grow but also makes them sterile? I did not order "Giant" ones though.... Any thoughts?

Also, where do you order your mealworms from? I used to buy from wormman.com but since my return to geckos I haven't been able to order from their site allthough the site is still there. Open to other suggestions. Thanks!

 

[martinez2828]

timberline is good i have never had any problems and they ship over night or you can try lll reptile i hear there good too

 

[justinadavid1104]

increase the temp

 

[Dimidiata]

increase the temp

Because we know what the temp is.

What is the temperature of the container, what are you feeding and that lot of questions?

 

[acpart]

When I need mealworms I order from grubco.com. As mentioned above, the mealworms will develop more quickly at higher temps. I keep my mealworms in a tub in my rack and they go from teeny to full sized in about a month.
Aliza

 

[BadKelpie]

How long is "a very long time"? Cause it takes a few weeks for the eggs to hatch, and then the mealworms are really really small. Is it possible you haven't waited long enough?

 

[Erin]

The Temp may need to go up a bit. It's just in my house and has no extra heat on it. Last time I had a colony they were upstairs and in the warmest room so....

When I say a "really long time" I mean that I got large mealworms at the end of January, had pupa very soon after but still don't see even the tinyest mealworm. There have been beetles in there for well over a month now. Am I looking too soon?

I have them in a plastic "drawer" in a mixture of wheat germ/bran (I can never remember which) that I got from a feed store with some chick hash mixed in and potatoes thrown in for moisture. This is how I did it years ago minus the chick hash and I had no problems.

I wish I had an extra drawer in my rack but alas, my husband just keeps filling them with more and more snakes.

 

[Klogue1]

My baby mealworms can take almost a month sometimes to get to the size of 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch. It's possible they're just still too small to really notice Generally I will cut up a baby carrot into segments and toss them around on top of the baby drawer on the bedding a couple weeks after I've moved the beetles to a new drawer. After about another week I can move the carrots around and see tiny mealworms, maybe 1/4 of an inch. This is around the 3 week mark after hatching. I also keep my mealies and beetles at about room temp (which could mean they're actually developing slower than they should) because I only breed to feed two leopard geckos, a rat and a hamster lol. So I don't want a whole bunch of worms!

 

[BadKelpie]

All is not lost then, they just need a bit more time probably. I would be very surprised if they didn't breed for you at all. Do you have a slightly warmer place you can stick them? Like on top of a fridge or computer tower, something with heat? Or you could put a heating pad on them.

 

[AMoriarty]

Thanks folks, this thread was very informative as I am in the same boat as Erin and had been wondering what (if anything) I was doing wrong!

 

[Naykid]

It took about 3 months in my first bin to see my new 1/8 inch worms. Probably 1500 or more in 1 shoebox.