Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking to buy 500 mealworms at a time for our 1 leopard gecko and feed 5-15 daily depending on his willingness to eat. The gecko is roughly 2 months old. Are mealworms a good main source of food, or must I suppliment with crickets, or should the mealworms be more of a 'treat'.

Also, what is the method for feeding and dusting the mealworms.

Is it a MUST that they be kept in the fridge, and how long does it take mealworms to become beetles if they aren't refridgerated?

I've done some research but a lot of ppl seem to tackle breeding more than the simple basics, I can't find the answer to these, what seem to be, simple questions.

How do i feed the mealworms and do they need fed while in the fridge (if they need to be in the fridge).

I have some 'mealworm bedding', which kind of looks like fine cut aspen, but smells a lot different - is this also a food source?

Thanks for any help!
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TekMunki
Web Designer/Network Analyst/Snake Enthusiast
Lake City, FL
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I can't answer all your questions, but can offer some information on some.

Mealworms (Tenebrio Molitor) are kept in the refrigerator are in a sort of hiberation. They still do move a little, but not much. That is why it is a good idea to remove worms hours (6 or even 12 hours) before you feed your reptile to gutload them in room temperature. This way they are loaded with nutrition before you feed them off.

Some people may recommend not giving baby leopard geckos mealworms and to start them on crickets, but when I was breeding them, I used to give my baby leopard geckos both crickets and mealworms. I have some raised on mealworms only when money was too short to buy crickets. I even had adults live on mealworms just fine. Some may suggest feeding them only white freshly molted ones since they are softer and don't have all that hard shell, but even when you have 5,000 mealworms, you won't have more than a dozen molted ones at once. I have had some leopard geckos that would get so excited about mealworms that they would gorge themselves and eventually regurgitate clumps of worms back out...but after time they learn not to overeat.

I am not sure how long it takes for them to go worm to beetles. You can test a few of them and put them in a container with some food substrate and a moisture source like carrot. Make sure they can't climb out.

The bedding they are in is probably a grain type. I have used oat bran, wheat germ, grain cereal (chopped almost fine), baby cereal, etc.

Mealworms can make a great main source of food. All my leopard geckos are fed strictly mealworms with crickets maybe twice a month and waxworms about the same frequency, especially for my female adult who's given me 7 clutches this year in her first breeding season. All you have to do is make sure they're properly gutloaded and dusted and you're all set.

Feeding: I make a substrate of ground dog kibble, some sunflower seeds, rabbit pellets and ground grain based cereals. Moisture in the form of greens or veggies.

I think the whole life cycle of a Darkling Beetle is somewhere near the 12 weeks mark. So to slow that, you have to keep them in the fridge. Once a week I'd take them out for 24 hrs and put them in bedding to eat and take on water.

I doubt its a food source and if it is.. its probably not very nutritious.... You can use stuff like I outlined...or dried milk and oats.. baby cereals.. etc etc..

Okay.. that post just went nuts on me *blinks* Ah well.. the information is still there *L*