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Ooops, posted this is the insect forum, then i noticed a feeder forum

What is good to place in mealworm bins for egg laying medium. As of now, i have mine n wheat bran and oatmeal and for the beetles to lay eggs, some peices of wood. I am not sure if there is a better, or best type of wood, or anything for the beetles to lay their eggs. Such as balsa wood, or a sponge....any thought would be appreciated, thanks!
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0.1 Pogona vitticeps Inland Bearded Dragon Puff the Magic Dragon Approx. DOB's 01/11/02.
1.0 Uromastyx malinensis Mali Uromastyx Fluffy 04/19/00.
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0.0.1 Phelsuma standingi Standing's Day Gecko Emril 3/24/04.
1.0 Tabby Cat Sargon 08/08/89. Our real fluffy.

>>Ooops, posted this is the insect forum, then i noticed a feeder forum
>>
>>What is good to place in mealworm bins for egg laying medium. As of now, i have mine n wheat bran and oatmeal and for the beetles to lay eggs, some peices of wood. I am not sure if there is a better, or best type of wood, or anything for the beetles to lay their eggs. Such as balsa wood, or a sponge....any thought would be appreciated, thanks!

I use egg carton, layers of paper towel and I leave in any dried (not molding) potatoe husks.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

Having raised mealworms for my own personal use and working for a zoo many years ago, the following method is the tried and true for me:

Keep worms (beetles) in bran with a piece of burlap on top folded over to provide an envelope effect. In between the fold is where I place thin slices of apple (some people use potato but I find the apple dries out before it molds where the potato will just mold sometimes) depending on the size of the container and the number of critters. Replace the apple slices about once a week and let them go to town. I have used containers from as small as a 10 gal tank to as big as a 5' long X 3' wide X 3' deep.

I hope this was of some help.

I also reccomend starting a new culture every 4-6 weeks until you have 2-4 good cultures going that way you will always have worms available to feed your animals.

Don't worry about that. They will lay thier eggs in the substrate, mine lay them in the bran. If you want a place for the beetles to hide just toss in some toilet paper rolls or something.

My meal worm colony has been too successful, I may be unloading some free worms soon, no live guaranty. If interested drop me an email. When this does happen supplies will be limited (I still need to feed my gecko).

Joe Conklin
joeconklin@gmail.com

so how do you get rid of the old skins and dead ones ,sorry the worms i mean
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carrotaildreams

Well the old skins i just leave alone until I do a complete substrate change. I guess if you have 4 hours a day to do it you can but....

As far as dead worms just pick'm out when you see them. My worm death rate is very low so it's not a major problem for me. I had run out of carrots so the worms would eat the pupa before I could get them out sometimes. This lead to a highpupa death rate for me but i still managed 20-30 pupa week.

When the beetles die pick them out. I have found that dead worms dry up and don't smell but for some reason if i left beetles too long they would always stink up bad. Not sure why.

If you have any other questions ask away.

Joe Conklin
joeconklin@gmail.com

how often do you change out the substrate,for the worms

do you have any photo's of your setup ?
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carrotaildreams

Well, there's not much to take a picture of. The worms are in a sterlite-like container with about 3" of bran.

The beetles are in a big critter carrier sort of deal, about 15"x9" or so with about 1/2 in bran in it.

Finally the pupa I toss in the cup the origonal mealworms came in. They don't need anything since they don't even move.

As far as changing the bedding, I just do it when it starts to build up a lot of poop in the bottom. Theres no real easy way to do it other than find a few hours one day and pick the worms out of the bedding.

If you still want pictures ask again. I just moved and the digital camera is packed in a box.

Joe Conklin
joeconklin@gmail.com

no pic required got the idea thank you,

just that i seem tp get alot of dead ones, i drrf them potato sloce and carrots, and a couple of big handful of bran, may they need more like a bed 3in ,which ill try

what temp to you keep them at? as mine are kept in my reptile room, which is about 80
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carrotaildreams

I keep mine in my basement, probably about 65 or so? 80 should be fine though, they should just grow faster.

Go to a feed store, I live in central PA there are a ton around here. You can get a 50lb bag of bran for $15 I would think. My fiances (sp?) dad works at one so i get my bran for free so i'm not sure. (Thats's right all i need to pay for is carrots sometimes).

Like I said before if the worms don't have enough water they tend to kill/partially eat the pupa.

Joe Conklin
joeconklin@gmail.com

I don't agree with you on the bedding issue. It's real easy to clean. Find a fine wire screen sieve and sift about a cup at a time. All the feces will fall through as will any really fine bedding. You will be left with clean bedding and all the mealworms (unless you have added egg/hatchling bedding from beetle bin).

Doesn't take much time but it's a messy chore. I do this cleaning outside when weather permits and when it doesn't I just turn on my mini-shop vac and set the nozzel where it will collect most of the dust but not the good stuff!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

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Signature file edited. [phw 9/13/04]

Where do you guys buy your big ole 50lbs. of wheat bran?? What type of store? The only place I can find it here is a health food store, it's like 5 bucks for a 2 lb bag, and it is all "organic," i just want the cheap stuff.

Thanks for help
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0.1 Pogona vitticeps Inland Bearded Dragon Puff the Magic Dragon Approx. DOB's 01/11/02.
1.0 Uromastyx malinensis Mali Uromastyx Fluffy 04/19/00.
0.1 Iguana iguana Green Iguana Taco 10/5/94.
0.1 Gekko gekko Tokay Gecko Brogan 12/14/01.
0.0.1 Oedura monilis Australian Velvet Gecko Danny 08/28/01.
0.1 Eublepharis macularius Leopard Gecko Jazmine 4/10/04.
0.0.1 Phelsuma standingi Standing's Day Gecko Emril 3/24/04.
1.0 Tabby Cat Sargon 08/08/89. Our real fluffy.

Feed stores for farmers usually have it cheap. My fiances dad works at one so i get my bran for free, but i would suspect a 50lb bag to be less that $20.

Sometimes the feed will have bran mites (not sure of real term). Since i get mine in a bucket I have found that a spider in the bucket takes care of the mites. You can't pick them out or kill them all they are too small. A regular spider from your basement will due the trick in a weeks time.

Joe Conklin
joeconklin@gmail.com

I don't worry about the grain mites. They are simply a harmless nuisance. They may eat a bit of grain but they don’t harm the colony or the lizards as long as they don’t outnumber the mealies. I crush them as I find them and don’t worry about them otherwise. I have also seen the small spiders in my basement devour my pupae. That is more harmful than the mites are when you figure the number of eggs one beetle can produce. In fact, I bought a bunch of tiny crickets for my hatchlings earlier this year. They turned out to be too small for my babies so I put them in a kritter keeper to grow up a bit. When I checked on them the second day they were all gone and there was a spider living in there. I don’t generally mind spiders as long as they leave me alone but I sure don’t invite them in to feed on my insects!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

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Signature file edited. [phw 9/13/04]

I don't. I go to the feed store and get a 50# bag of unmedicated chicken layer mash. It is full of all kinds of good stuff to keep your mealies gut loaded and is formulated for high egg production. I first read about it on a worm farm site that used it to fed bed run nightcrawlers. They said the reproduction was much higher using layer mash.

It is coarser than bran so cleaning is a snap, messy but easy. The little devils seem to really eat it up and even feeding off 1000 worms of varied sized a 50# bag still lasts me over a year and cost less than $20. Pretty cheap mealworm colony when you figure the pet store gets over $6 for 500 worms. At that rate I could easily spend $25 for one weeks worth of worms or I can raise my own for less than $20 a year!

I know that everyone says to use bran for bedding but if you look up the nutritional value of bran you will find that it contains nothing but fiber, no vitamins, no minerals. Even the health food store won't sell it to you for it's nutritional value. Pure fiber! You mealies won't get constipated but they also won't do much for your lizards. Of course this is just my point of view. Also, with bran you lose an awful lot of bedding when you clean your bins. With the mash you only toss out the frass and the fines.
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

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Signature file edited. [phw 9/13/04]