Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had about 10-15 beetles in a container until they died now that the baby mealies are large enough to see it seems like its not many. I hear the beetles lay about 500 eggs but it doesnt seem even close to 100 babies, why am I not getting alot of babies? I now have another setup of mealies and now have over 10 aliens seperated with more turning to aliens on a regular, if the beetles lay 500 eggs shouldnt I be getting 1000's of babies?

All the eggs aren't laid at the same time so it could be that some still haven't hatched or are too small to spot yet.

Also, some do die off and/or the beetles eat them. The beetles will eat anything; baby mealies, pupae, other beetles, etc.

Just give it some more time and you'll probably see you have more than you think in that bin.

Na its been a good while they have been large enough to see for some time now, the beetles must have died off hmmm maybe couple mths now. If anything the beetles must have eaten them. Should you rotate the mealworms like superworms different bin like every 2 weeks?

If the bedding is a couple months old, I'm sure they've eaten all the "good" stuff. You definitely should transfer them to all new stuff, or at the very least, renew what they've got. They'll grow faster with better food/bedding.

I use half bran, half oatmeal and then sprinkle some baker's yeast in for some extra protein. Once the oatmeal doesn't look like round pieces of oats anymore, I know it's time to give them new bedding.