What should I breed?

[Akari_32]

Hey guys! I'd like some input on what feeders to breed and how to do it. I've got three geckos now, and Raven eats like its going out of freaking style. I spend like 3x as much on feeders with him chowing down as I did when I just had two mouths to feed!

I have readily available:

Meal Worms
Super Worms
False Death Heads
(Maybe I could order something else?? Like what??)

I've got one 10 gallon open now, and another will be open in the near future once my new tank is built. Neither have tops, but that can be arranged (I'd rather not have random bugs in a topless tank anyways, even if they can't climb!). I'd also prefer to not have to heat whatever it is, but I can, with a lamp or pad.

Are supers (of any size) ok to feed regularly? I hear such mixed reviews about this. Can I breed supers and mealies in the same tank? I think I saw someone around here doing that. In theory all I'd have to do it make sure to keep them well fed to keep the supers from munching the meal worms. If not, I can do one or the other. Do either of these need to kept in oat bedding? Where can I get it in any amount that would keep them going for a while?

The False Death Heads/Discoids/whatever you want to call them... I know they get pretty big, but I've seen 3 inches, I've seen 2 inches, heck I've seen 1.5 inches! Who has these, and how big are your largest ones? Is 10 gallons ok for a colony of these guys? What do you feed them? Would a grain free dog food and veggie diet do them good, along with whatever roach-appropriate table scraps?

I know the roaches need heating, but do I need to heat the worms? Which is better, an under tank heater, or a heat lamp? Or can I do room temp/heated during the winter, and keep them in garage during spring and summer (gets 90-100 out there, I'd say)?

I'm sure other questions will pop up later, but thats all I've got for now

 

[iCandiBallPythons]

I have a meal worm and dubia colony for my leos

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Akari_32]

How do you heat and feed them?

 

[Akari_32]

So after searching around, it seems you can't house all stages of meal worms together, as they will eat the eggs and small worms. However, I love this drawer idea, and may steal it!

How to Breed Mealworms | Gecko Time

 

[DrCarrotTail]

You can keep all stages of mealworms together you'll just lose a few more than you would if you keep them separate but they'll still produce enought to feed a few leos (at least!). I use the three drawer Steralite "dresser" for worms and a 15qt tub for adults. The drawers are a bit shallow so the adults can crawl out of them (they're about 2-3 inches high each) and are not really well ventilated. If I put moist veggies in them, like oranges or apples, I usually find mold on them in less than 24 hours and condensation/mold on the oats. Not so terrible that I'd stop using it but just something in mind if you're planning to use one too

 

[Akari_32]

Could i drill some ventilation holes at the too of each drawer? As long as they are a few inches above the top of the substrate, no one can escape, I wouldn't think.

How would i go about taking the eggs out of the adult container/drawer/whatever I use? Or would it be the other way around? Take the adults out when there are eggs? Can the adults be fed to the geckos, as well? For population control lol

 

[indyana]

You'd have to move the adult beetles to another container once you see small hatchling worms. Eggs are pretty much impossible to remove from the bedding. If you don't need high yields, you can always just leave all stages together, as mentioned above.

You can feed all stages of the mealworms to geckos, but most geckos do not like the beetles once they have turned black. You can always freeze the adults to kill them and then put them outside for birds or something if you get too many.

 

[Akari_32]

Do you think my neighbors beardie would eat them? He eats literally anything. Like, for real o.o

What if, assuming my neighbors bearded dragon will eat the beetles, I raise the worms to adults, let them lay eggs for a while then once I have a steady stream of all stages, I feed off all the adult beetles? Would that keep keep a steady enough stream of worms? It's certainly save me room!

 

[Akari_32]

Got all my stuff today! Bought a tub of 500 worms, a thing of Flukers High-Calcium Cricket diet (thoughs on this before I open it??), three containers, a sand scooper and a potato, squash, and zucchini, all for less than $20! Yay for bargain shopping! The most expensive thing were the stupid meal worms, at 8 bucks >.< Anyways, here's my set up.

I figure the big container would be good for the beetles. Any thoughts on my breeding plan in my post above?