Thinking of raising mealworms.

[ReptilesForTheWin]

I saw a way to to keep them but they said use oats and grain for a substrate. What is a good substrate for meal worms to live in/on?

 

[Tony C]

I use a custom mix of grains, wheat bran, and oat bran, but when my current batch runs out I think I will switch to Pro Geckos Gutload, the reviews have been excellent.

 

[jfreels]

I use a blend of wheat bran, wheat germ, wheat flour, oats and I sprinkle cricket gutload in some areas to see how they take to it. I can definitely tell that they like the cricket gutload because it's all gone by the end of the day.

 

[RoninSTi]

ProGecko gutload=mealworm steroids...(in a good way)

 

[Dogger25]

I use pro geckos gutload its the best ive used. I started with oats but there some drawbacks with it - if u put any moisture in it. As far as carrots, potatoes, cale - it will begin to mold the oats. Wheat bran is ok, but i believe pro-geckos gutload is the best. I'm still on my original investment of 300 mealworms i bought in april of 09. Now i have 10 geckos and supply some of my friends mealworms request monthly.

 

[ReptilesForTheWin]

How many pounds of the gutload should I get? 5 pounds?

 

[RoninSTi]

I started with 10 pounds and it's been lasting me a long time. I have a colony of mealworms going, all on ProGecko Gutload. I feed it to my 1000 dubias. and I have my superworms on it. Although once my supers are fed off I will no longer be keeping them.

 

[Pro Geckos]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

 

[ReptilesForTheWin]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Can you help me out?

 

[serialzombie]

Previously I used steel cut whole oats. It's easiest. Then I switched to a home brew of a variety of grains, kitten food, and powdered milk in an attempt to increase protein and calcium content. I've always mixed an entire small bottle of Calcium+.

If I were to do it all over again, I'd probably just use ProGecko.

 

[Hiccup]

How do you guys give yours moisture?

 

[Pro Geckos]

Can you help me out?

Sure, what do you need?

How do you guys give yours moisture?

I use water crystals. Potatoes, carrots, apples etc are all good as well.

 

[ReptilesForTheWin]

Maybe a size container. I have about 50 meal worms right now. If I want to make just a colony for me how many should I let become beetles?
Then for that size container and amount of beetles how much of the gutload should I buy.
I am trying to be very thrifty!

 

[Pro Geckos]

50 mealworms should fit fine in a 12oz deli cup or even something like a cool whip container. How many beetles you would need kind of depends on how many geckos you have. If it was me to start out with, I would let all 50 become beetles just to have plenty on hand.

As far as how much gutload you would need 5# would be plenty for quite a while.

 

[ReptilesForTheWin]

Ok well thank you for the info I will try it soon!

 

[GrimmyX15]

If shipping price was low like 5 dollar, i could buy pro gecko and also wheat bran. D:
Hopefully, when i get money, i'll beg my mom to get them for me. xD

 

[Pro Geckos]

Ok well thank you for the info I will try it soon!

Your welcome!

If shipping price was low like 5 dollar, i could buy pro gecko and also wheat bran. D:
Hopefully, when i get money, i'll beg my mom to get them for me. xD

I try to keep shipping costs as low as possible. The USPS flat rate boxes go a long way in doing this.

 

[bkelley02]

What do you recommend storing the extra gutload in until needed? I don't want it to go bad or get damp before I need it.

 

[Pro Geckos]

It doesn't really matter what you store the extra in as it's in an air tight container or bag. Exposure to air will cause it to dry, become stale or open it up to pest bugs. I don't do anything special as far as refrigeration but just leave it at room temperature.

 

[janjgeckos]

It doesn't really matter what you store the extra in as it's in an air tight container or bag. Exposure to air will cause it to dry, become stale or open it up to pest bugs. I don't do anything special as far as refrigeration but just leave it at room temperature.

I have about 3000 beatles and couldnt tell you how many baby worms I have but at this time I use bran as the bedding. The worms go through the bran pretty fast, because of the pro gecko being a better food will it last longer than the bran or should I mix it in with bran.