Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...on shipping for live food. I thought that ordering
mealies/crix online was supposed to save $$$$! LOL. I saw a
"great deal" on a pack of 100 mealies for .60,looked up the
shipping...$11.99. Is this normal?? If not, where can I find
live food at a good price. I pay $1.67 at the pet store for them.
Thanks,
Leslie

I grow my own. Whole lot cheaper. I took a sweater box, put in a mixture of oatmeal and yellow cornmeal, added about 200 mealworms, cut a potatoe in half and place cut edge face downabout 1x a week, there you have your own supply. I keep them in a dark cooler area in the house. I also bought the cheap generic brand oatmeal and cornmeal. Pricing will depend on how large of a setup. I change the cornmeal, oatmeal mixture when it starts to turn black by using a sifter to catch the mealies set it up again and away you go. I haven't bought mealworms in over 2 years. I feed a pair of Bearded dragons and 6 leopard geckoes

Sounds like a plan! Now do you just leave the potatoe in the
container with them until the next week? In other words,
is there always a potatoe in the mealies' container? Thanks again,
Leslie

The trick is to buy in bulk when buying mealies online to save on shipping... but the other poster is right, it is really easy to breed them... Heck, you can probably make money off breeding them, by my calculations I can breed about a couple trillion in 2 years if I start with a decent amount

so, how exactly does this work?

do u just let your adult beetles roam in the cornmeal mixture and they make mealworms?
then like the previous forum member stated, sift out the mealies and beetles and put them in fresh bedding?

sounds too simple!
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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Lizards

1.4.0 leopard geckos - raine, mango, noodle, jaws, & sobe
0.1 bearded dragon - sydney
0.1 king snake & 0.2.3 corn snakes
1 red eye tree frogs, 3 green tree frogs, 2 firebelly toads
5 anoles,8.0 bettas & numerous tropicals
1.2 dogs (dachshund-pepper, brittany spaniel-jenni, lab-kaci)
1 hubby & 2 boys

www.skayart.com

You don't need to switch bedding much, maybe every few months... And still keep it for a month or two afterwards because their are probably eggs in it...

You can breed them in one box, but I believe some cannibalism will occur since the eggs are so small

how is the best way to get the mealie shedded skins out?
-----
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Lizards

1.4.0 leopard geckos - raine, mango, noodle, jaws, & sobe
0.1 bearded dragon - sydney
0.1 king snake & 0.2.3 corn snakes
1 red eye tree frogs, 3 green tree frogs, 2 firebelly toads
5 anoles,8.0 bettas & numerous tropicals
1.2 dogs (dachshund-pepper, brittany spaniel-jenni, lab-kaci)
1 hubby & 2 boys

www.skayart.com

Well if they are on the surface, pick them out, but if not, I think the mealies will just eat them too...