wondering how you do it? selling mealies

[david13]

Thanks for answering all my questions about mealworms lately, this should be one of my last ones.

Do you guys put the mealies you are going to sell in the fridge? or do you have them with your breeders then just strain them and take the amount out you need without being put in cold temp.?


thanks in advance

 

[ataber]

i would think that if you are selling based on size it would be to your advantage to put them in the fridge when they reach the size and until you sell them....now whether or not the large scale insect breeders do that i have no idea. Starting out though i would let them breed and breed until you are producing a good amount at a time.

 

[david13]

like how many should I have before i sell?how many should i keep constant breeding?

any1 else know the answer to my first question...

thanks

 

[david13]

any1 else wanna share there "smartness"

 

[goReptiles]

I'd say you should have a pretty big group going before you start to sell. What if your first customer wants 10,000 and you only have 7,500? Or you have the 10,000, but you get 2 customers at once who want a total of 15,000. You want to make sure that you have enough to be able to not be out of stock after your first customer.

Separate what you're going to be using as feeders from your breeding stock. Otherwise, you'll end up using all your breeders for food for your geckos.

I'd set aside at least 1 weeks worth of meals for your geckos in the fridge so that you can use that to feed off of. Or have two groups going one for you and one to sell.

 

[david13]

should the mealworms that are going to sell be in the refrigorator or does it not matter..

 

[HepCatMoe]

the frigde *can* hurt them, but if you keep em in there for only a short time, it should only cause a few to die (out of hundreds).

if you want to breed them to sell, i dont see any reason to keep them in the fridge, unless your trying to save some for some reason. otherwise might as well keep em breeding.

 

[david13]

i mean for the ones i plan on selling...not my breeders but when i have enough.. should i just keep them together or put them in the fridge..thanks so much guys

 

[acpart]

I have not had good luck with my mealies in the fridge. Once I got 1000 and divided them up into lots of 100 and put them in the fridge and most died. I think different fridges and also different places in the same fridge are different temps. I don't know what temp becomes unsafe for mealies, so I don't do it at all. I keep all my feeder-sized mealies together and when I do sell my surplus I sell them by weight (80 grams is about 1000 mealies). If they start to morph, I just add them to my alien collection. I do not plan to go into feeder selling as a business, I just sell off surplus locally.
Aliza

 

[Leopardbreeder]

Breeding mealworms IS a FULL-TIME job. I do not even have large enough colonies to sustain all my sales. Last week, of them 120k I sold, only about 15% of those were mine. I have rather large colonies also.

Keeping mealworms in the fridge is a bad idea. They will become unhealthy, and dry up. To be sure you are selling top quality worms, I suggest keep them fed and moving, until they are shipped.

I think its awesome that you are trying to start a business, but make sure you know what you are getting into. I have never been more stressed, than I am now that I am selling. I think hobby could use some more good mealworm breeders.

I give the best of luck to you in selling and breeding!

 

[david13]

thanks guys,

and thank you Matt for answring my questions and stuff

 

[bronko]

i would put the ones your gonna sell in the fridge. eitherway there are gonna be mealies that will die whether they are in the fridge or at room temperature but in the fridge they wont grow as fast. how much do you need before you sell depends on how you are selling them if your selling them on the internet your gonna want to make sure you will have atleast 30 pupa turning into beatles every 1-2 weeks to make sure u have a constant supply rolling in

 

[david13]

i'm selling everywhere possible