Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking into purchasing enough mealworms to form a self-sustaining feed source for my juvenile leopard gecko. I've got a few questions:

1) Where would you recommend I purchase the mealworms.
2) How many mealmorms should I purchase, and how large of a container should I get?

If you are only feeding one leo this should be too hard. I would start with 1000-2000 mealworms, this may sound like a lot, but I think this would be a minimum for the self-sustained colony you’re looking for. Mealies are fairly cheep, try to find a dealer online, you should be able to get this amount for under $18 shipped. I use www.wormman.com

Once you get your mealworms, keep them at room temperature. Place them in a container that they cannot climb out of. You don’t want your mealies to be more than ¼ -1/2 inch deep in the dish. Make sure to leave the lid off or provide many air holes, because the need lots of ventilation. You’ll need to feed them daily with a dry food (oats, chicken mash, or any insect gutload). Also you need to provide them with a moist food daily, like apple, potato, or carrot.

Your mealies will turn into ‘aliens’ also known as the pupa stage. Take the aliens out, and place them in a separate container. I use a butter container to keep the aliens. They don’t need food or water; you are just waiting for them to turn into beetles.

Whenever you see a beetle in your alien dish, take it out and put in into a breeding container. You can feed the beetles the same food you would mealworms.
The beetles will mate and lay tiny eggs in the substrate that will hatch into tiny mealworms. I like to move the beetles into another container every few weeks, because they will prey on the eggs and tiny mealworms. This may not be necessary for your project. I use a small sized critter keeper to keep my beetles in.

Keep a fresh slice of potato/carrot/apple in with the tiny mealworms, and they will grow fairly fast. This whole process will take some time, mostly dependent upon the temperature. I was tempted to give up a few times on my first attempt, but rest assured that you will end up with baby mealies.

It seems to me like it’s harder to keep the insects than it is the leos, but that is just the way it is. With a little time and patience, you will have your own mealworm colony. Hope this helps, and let us know if you have any more questions.

DaveCable

How large of a container would you recommend for 2k worms?

I have a care section on my website about breeding mealworms. If you are interested have a look, it'll be worth while. If you have any questions, you can just drop me an email.

I buy all my feeder insects from wormman.com Well, I only get my crickets there. I breed all my worms myself. I have bought mealworms from wormman.com in the past and I have nothing but good things to say about their company. Their mealworms are healthy and disease/pest free. I think its very important to get your feeders from a reputable company and also one that raises healthy and disease/pest free insects.

Shayna
Leo Lovers Lizard Lounge

I would go with Rainbow Mealworms. I tried the other one and it was a hassle. Took over a week to get here. With Rainbow, I ordered 2 day delivery and got them within 24 hours!!!!!! It may be a buck or two difference, but worth EVERY penny. Nice to deal with competent people!
-----
You can never have just one gecko. Actually it is almost impossible to have two

m
-----
-robin struck
Geckoheads And Geeks