I started mine with a colony of 2000 large mealworms...I took 1000 for feeders and the other 1000 were left to mature into beetles...Of course some of the feeders also morphed before they got fed so I had more or less.. You can stop at a dollar store.. or walmarts and get one of those 4 or 6 tiered plastic drawer systems.. which is what I use..they have enough open air for ventilation... You set at least 3 of those drawers up as breeder areas...lay down a layer of dry food for them. (rolled oats, baby cereal, dried milk and a little bit of ground up dog kibble works well for me..along with the reptile vitamin powder added in small amounts) As for cleaning.... as long as you remove the dried out veggies every day or two..you shouldn't have to clean for about 3 months with this starter group... When you do go to clean..never throw out the bedding..that will have eggs in it if you have beetles in the container. You can take the old bedding and put it into a larger container and wait for the eggs to hatch...sift out the baby mealies when they're big enough to see (you can use fine mesh screen to do this or by hand..I do it by hand)Save whats left and do it all over again about once every week until it becomes hard to find any..then toss the old bedding. Its not really as hard as it sounds... Takes me about an hour to go through one of my drawers and remove all beetles and mealies to their own containers...I eventually plan on setting up 4 more shelving tiers for them and producing on a large scale..since I anticipate more gecko hatchlings next year...but anyway, once you get them in there..just give them some kind of veggie for moisture 3 times a week or so..and you're set..they thrive on neglect...As long as they have moisture its all good to go

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