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i have another question about mealworms ..... lets say i bought 500 mealworms and feed them [gut load mix] then put them in the fridge and then scoop some out for my gecko would the mealworms die if i kept them in there for such a long period of time

Thanks Brandon

No, they won't what happens is they like go into a coma, and just revive when warmed up, give them a couple minutes and they should be good to go.I hope I could help you.

From:Brent Allen email leosrule182@yahoo.com AIM albinoleodotcom

Mealworms can survive in the fridge for months. However, you need to gutload them after they've been in the fridge before you feed them to a leo...also, if you intend on breeding them you don't refridgerate them because then they won't pupate.
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Christina

1.3.1 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-0.0.1 albino (supposed Tremper)(Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

I wouldn't stick them in the fridge for months. Take them out once in a while and warm the entire colony up for a day every 2 weeks or so and put them back in the fridge, so that they can eat and function normally. Mealworms cooled for too long seem to get a little small and dehydrated.

Also, might want to let them warm up for 24 hours and feed them high quality gut load before you feed them to your gecko, my gecko seems to have problems with cold mealworms and they probably won't be as nutritious straight out of the fridge.

-Lemur 6

I lost a few thousand mealworms that way. The fridge got to cold, iced,then thawed and mold formed killing everything. Its easier to allow the mealworms to pupate and begin a breeding colony of your own. There are tons of sites out there about how to care for them, gutload mixes etc.

My setup is like this: I have bins with tops for the beetles (there are holes in the top). For the baby mealworms i have a few huge bins, for the mealworms i feed i have those plastic drawer units and i've separated the mealworms into groups depending on who i'm feeding them to. The worms i feed to the two geckos i believe are gravid are fed more calcium, minerals and vitamins.

Once i find the pupated worms i place them into a holding container until they turn into beetles. From there they go into the beetle box. Every two weeks or so, i switch the beetles from one box to another with new bedding and dump out the old bedding into the baby worm box. The baby worms are very hard to see, usually after stirring up the box i can see the bedding moving, thats the worms.

Hope that helps

Red
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Crested Gecko Zeek:1.0, Ziggy and Zeus
LEOS: Boo: 1.0 normal , Bronx & Nala: 1.1 blizzard,
Lily: 0.1 patternless, Abby: 0.1 albino, Zoe: 0.1 reduced pattern, Dot: 0.1 hypo
New Girls: Flame, Karma, Bubbles and Bell pics coming soon
Chip: 1.0 papillion (small dog)

np

Sounds very similar to my operation. I tried the fridge a couple of times to keep some from pupating, and they all turned black and died. I buy layer mash from the feed store and bake it for about 20 minutes to kill anything that might be present. The stuff is super cheap. I blend it into fine powder before I use it. Much easier for them to eat and sift. I place whatever greens or other veggies that I have around or as leftovers to them (chicory, potato, cucumber, squash, kale, califlower greens, turnips, mustard greens). Took me 3-4 months to get it started, but i have tons of worms now (feeding our RES, oscars and bettas right now because our only leo is not eating right now.)

Matt