Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright, my mealworms in the container they came in are feasting on whatever I put in their container, but the mealies in my bin won't touch their carrots. Could they be eating the oats, or do they just despise me? Is it possible to have too much ventilation? They are alive, because I took them out the other night to do a head count.

How long does it take for them to turn into beetles?

Also, does anyone know any websites with cheapish prices after shipping and everything is taken into consideration?

Once I get mealworms I put them in the gutload mix I use, then add potatoes for moisture. It seems like the next day I get a bunch of mealworms in the "cacoon" stage. After about a week they turn into beetles from there. It seems like thay change faster when you have potatoes in with them.

I use Grubco for my mealy needs, they are the cheapest I've found. www.grubco.com

What do you use as your gutload mix/bedding?

I used crushed dried dog food and some vegtable for moisture. And once in awhile I mist the dog food with spray bottle. When I crush the food, I wrapped it in 3 layers of paper towel and then use a large hammer to crush it. You can also use unmedicated chick mash, which is also sold as cricket food, to gutload the mealworms.

I use chick starter (which I'm pretty sure is the chicken mash stuff everyone talks about). I put it in a blender to make a dust so that I can just scoop the mealworms out and pour them into a mesh strainer so I don't have to sit there and pick worms for an hour. I also use the dust leftover from my Kent rodent feed. I use potatoes for moisture and occasionally oranges too, I've been told the high vitamin c content helps fight illness in your geckos. So far its been working great!

I bought 2000 from WormMan.com and paid $16.95 (Grubco would cost $18.00 - minimal difference). It's my first time to try breeding them, so I can't tell you exactly how long it'll take them to turn into beetles. According to the website, it takes 12 weeks to go from egg to worm, to beetle.
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4 Corns - Aphrodite (Normal), Freya (Normal), Peyton (Amel), and Kal-El (Lavender)
2 Florida Kings - Thor (Axanthic Brooksi) & Lilith (Normal)
1 Leucistic Texas Rat Snake - MacLeod
1 Taiwan Beauty Snake - Mushu
1 W/C Banded Cal. King - Meridian
1.1 Leopard Geckos HET for Blizzard - Baldur & Nanna
0.0.1 SHCT Baldy Leopard Gecko
2.0 W/C Western Banded Geckos

when buying large amounts of mealworms put some in containers with just a little to eat an refrigerate those. put others in a tupperware container with the feed of your choice to "gut load them before feeding off. add to the feeding group from the fridge as needed. -phillip

I'm pretty sure Grubco is 4,000 for $20, but I order 10,000 for $36, if anyplace beats that please let me know, thanks!

>>I'm pretty sure Grubco is 4,000 for $20, but I order 10,000 for $36, if anyplace beats that please let me know, thanks!

Uhhhh, NOPE. I don't know that Worm Man could beat that price, but I won't be buying that many ever! I'm HOPING that this "seed" colony becomes established and self-sustaining.
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4 Corns - Aphrodite (Normal), Freya (Normal), Peyton (Amel), and Kal-El (Lavender)
2 Florida Kings - Thor (Axanthic Brooksi) & Lilith (Normal)
1 Leucistic Texas Rat Snake - MacLeod
1 Taiwan Beauty Snake - Mushu
1 W/C Banded Cal. King - Meridian
1.1 Leopard Geckos HET for Blizzard - Baldur & Nanna
0.1 SHTCT Leopard Gecko - Sunny
0.1 Patternless Leopard Gecko - Persephone
0.1 Tremper Albino - Lily
2.1 W/C Western Banded Geckos - Nathan, Walter 6 & Zelda

Mealworms will eat the oats they like any kind of grain. Dog and cat food have flour as a main component in them, but include other things for nutrition too. Crickets love cat and dog food too for the same reason. That and potatoes will gut load them fairly well. Chicken mash contains various grains and I'm sure vitamins as well. Our Albino Leopard Gecko has gotten FAT from feeding his food this way. Now he is on a diet of every other day or less each day. I think waxworms are better (in my opinion) they don't have shells so they are easier to digest. If you have a skinny gecko they also add more fat than mealworms. Care etc. is the same for both meal and wax.
One note on refridgeration. If you do it they should be kept around 50F and once a week or so take them out for 24 hours with potatoe and food in there to keep them healthy. Too long in the fridge or too cold and they start to turn black. Not good.
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**Kenn**

Is the black them being dead, or a caccoon phase?

It's definitely because they're dead. They squish between your fingers when you try to pick them up. Yuck!!
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**Kenn**

Gotcha, I was wondering. They scared me, I didn't touch em. haha.

Gross is right. I about got sick when I picked one up and it turned to goo. YUCK!!
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**Kenn**

Be careful of waxworms. The geckos love them for sure but they are NOT nutritious. They are good as an occasional treat or as a quick way to fatten up a gecko for breeding but your gecko can become addicted to them. Once addicted it's very hard to get your gecko to eat much else and it presents several health problems down the road.

waxworms = leo junk food