Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Where can I get large quantities of wheat meal. Also should I use wheat meal or wheat germ? Any tips that I should know about on how to get them to breed? Thanks for your help.

I'd use Unmedicated Chicken Lay Mash instead. You can get this at a feed store. I got 50lbs for $7.20 USD. As far as getting them to breed. All you need is 3 containers. 2 large ones and 1 deli cup.

What you do is:

1. Place mealworms somewhere warm in the mash.
2. When you see a pupa, take it out and put it in the deli cup. This is so he doesn't get eaten.
3. The 2nd Large container is for the beetles. Once the pupa turn to beetles, placethem in the third container. I have a 1/2 of a McDonalds cup holder in mine so they can hide and stuff.

After a while you will see babies (few months). You can then take all that bedding and place it into a 4th container until the babies are semi-large. Once they are fair sized you can toss them with the rest of the worms.

Joe Conklin
joeconklin@gmail.com

I don't use wheat meal or wheat germ. I prefer unmedicated chicken layer mash. Wheat meal isn't going to be a balanced diet and wheat bran is void of all vitamins and minerals, just fiber and that's all. I like the layer mash as it has vitamins, minerals, and most importantly for the lizards eating the worms, lots of calcium. It is forumlated for egg production and is used by many earth worm breeders who claim it increases reproduction so I figure it can't hurt to use it for mealies. Based on the productivity of my colony I wouldn't consider switching. Besides, in my opinion its also a good gut-load!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html