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This is a question for anyone else whos got a colony going.

I've been getting BLACK mealworms that just JET around, they are super fast but look everything like a mealworm except their dorsal shells are black like the beetles. Now these black mealies are in the beetles box (because i have been lazy and sorting through mealworms and beetles isn't my day o fun)
But anyone else have this happen to them? Is it just because they're living with the beetles who are also black?

Some mealies from the beetles box are comng out normal.
I'll get a pic if anyone wants to see it.

thanks

id like to see a pic
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My Email

You're not the only one. Recently I've seen the black racers if you will, and I just take em out and kill em. I keep my mealworm colonies in the garage, so they could be a worm of some other bug, so to be on the safe side I just kill 'em. Better safe then sorry, right?

I've got this too! but I have a LOT of them! i have no idea what they are, but they seem to grow out of it. i just leave them in there, and they seem to turn back to normal...maybe its what there eating?
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0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.2.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
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Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

I've been breeding meallies for a while and haven't had this problem. I keep my colony inside. Maybe it's the temp, humidity or something like that. It looks like a good thing to research.
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Katie
Peach State Geckos
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Well Glad i'm not the only one

mine are kept in doors too, and they look identical to mealies but just move like you've never seen and are black

i'll leave them around and see what they pupate into, since they're in the beetle bucket no harm to my geckos
thanks for sharing everyone

If they're not mealies, or they're infected, then even if they're in the mealie bucket, there's still gonna be harm to the leopard geckos. After all, these weird things are with the mealies that the leopard geckos eat....

~~Dusty Windom
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
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~~The Gecko Barn~~

Would love to see a couple of pictures. I keep our colony plastic containers inside underneath the gecko tanks and have yet to see any non-mealie bugs.

Matt