Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been trying to start my own mealworm colony. What a pain in the butt. So far I have two beetles, sort of. It's been two days and one still hasn't made it's way compleltely out of the alien thing. It's half in half out. The other is on it's back every time I check on them. It's still alive and seems fine once I put it right side up. Is this normal or do I have dud beetles? Thanks for any replies,

Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas

the mealworms can take quite a bit of time to get to beetles. i am starting a colony of superworms, and individuals can stay in the larve stage for 4 weeks. from my experience, the time required to advance stages is very much dependent upon temperature. it seems the warmer it is, the faster things move. but that is only my experience.

What temperature do you keep your bugs at? The room they are in is about 70-75.
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas

Hey lisa, i've been trying to do the exact same thing

I've got like 30 beetles now and tons of aliens, BUT NO BABY mealworms, its really annoying. This has taken me a total of at least 2 months. And at least a 1000 starting mealworms. You have to wait till some of the beetles die then its a sign that after another week or so you may get little mealworms.

Also warmer temps induce them to morph to the next life stage. i found none of my mealworms were turning into aliens then i turned on a heater next to them and i got like 30 aliens the next day.

Good luck

I really should buy a large amount to start this going. Right now I just have 50 mealworms from my local pet store. I did order a large quantity at one point, but found out I am allergic the little buggers when there is more than 100 or so. I'm hoping if they do manage to reproduce they won't bother me much. I think it's just their shed that bothers me.

I just moved them to a warmer spot, hopefully that will cause more action.

Thanks,
Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas

for the worms to turn to the "aliens" and then into beetles, my temp is 73 degrees. i then move the beetles to 82 degrees for them to mate and do their thing. the temps are not for any other reason than the fact that i have room for them there. however, as somebody else just pointed out, temperature plays a huge role in their activity. the warmer, the faster. there is also a thread on the food breeder forum between myself and somebody else who gave me a lot of info on breeding superworms. i would suggest looking over the info there. just search for my screen name. it should be towards the top of that forum as it is not as active as this one is. let me know if i can help any further.

jason