Reptile & Amphibian Forums

n/p

nut generally a week or so
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-robin struck
Geckoheads And Geeks

I don't keep my mealies in the fridge, just in room temp, and they live at least 2-3 weeks. If you're hibernating them, I don't see why they couldn't live at least that long, if not longer.
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0.0.2 leos
1.0.0 spouse

mp
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1.3 Leopard Gecko's
1.0 mali uromastyx
0.0.3 tokay's(adults unsexed)

I buy 5,000 mealworms every spring and every fall. When I get the new ones I'm about out of the old ones but they are still alive and healthy. I keep them in several plastic shoeboxs with holes drilled in for ventilation in a small fridge that is used soley for the mealies. They have oatmeal to eat. I buy large mealies to start off. By the end of the 6 months the ones left are huge. I do keep the fridge a bit warmer than my normal fridge, so they are not as sleepy and are eating and growing. It's just shy of 50 degrees. Downside is I occasionally get some morphing, but not too many. The other downside of keeping them so long is that you occasionally have to move them to fresh oatmeal. I prepare the new container and hand pick them out. Takes hours. Very tedious. I did it with just one of the containers this weekend and it took about 2-3 hours to get all the worms moved. They'd been in the other container about 2 months and there were only about 20 or so dead ones. If your mealies are dying after only a few weeks or few months, they may need a different temp, or just a clean container with fresh food. Another reason the mealies might be dying is lack of moisture. You do need to offer them something to drink occasionally. Some people use carrots or potatoes. I put multiple layers of dry paper towels covering the mealies, then one moist paper towl on the top. They will make their way up to get to the moisture, but the bedding will stay dry and free of mold (very important to not allow any mold in the container). My mealworm breeding colonies are not refrigerated, and the mealies live many many months in there too. Of course if I don't pull them out to feed them off or put them in the fridge they will morph into beetles since they are at room temp. When I prepare the food bowls for my Leos I crush up fresh oatmeal fine into a powder and add calcium. The mealies munch on that until the Leos munch on them.
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www.LynsLair.com
4.8 Leopard Geckos
(Trouble, Scooter, Simba, Firenze, Buttercup, Nala, Mystique, Jewel, Freckles, Dotty, Zipper, Princess)
1.0 Carpet Python
(Bear)
5.1 Ferrets
(Wolf, Shadow, Roland, Verdell, Boo, Sullivan)
0.1 Cat
(Mia)
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog (Coming Soon)
(Trevor)
1.0.5 Assorted Tropical Fish
(Nemo, Whiskers, Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo)

Grind up your oatmeal real fine. Then you can use a strainer to get them out. Saves a lot of time.
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You can never have just one gecko. Actually it is almost impossible to have two
My Geckos

How do you grind it? Just with your hands? I actually tried to find my strainer half way through because alot of the oatmeal was chewed up into small pieces and I thought a strainer might help. I'll definitely try that next time!
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www.LynsLair.com
4.8 Leopard Geckos
(Trouble, Scooter, Simba, Firenze, Buttercup, Nala, Mystique, Jewel, Freckles, Dotty, Zipper, Princess)
1.0 Carpet Python
(Bear)
5.1 Ferrets
(Wolf, Shadow, Roland, Verdell, Boo, Sullivan)
0.1 Cat
(Mia)
0.0.1 White's Tree Frog (Coming Soon)
(Trevor)
1.0.5 Assorted Tropical Fish
(Nemo, Whiskers, Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo)

Mortar and pestle works well, though on your scale, your hand would probably get *really* tired. =) At least it's only every 6 months!

I would think you could try using a food processor or blender, but I've never actually tried that. Oatmeal is pretty light and might just fly around rather than get crushed.
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0.0.2 leos
1.0.0 spouse