Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im going to be setting up my mealworm "colony" today. I have been reading on drgecko.com and also talking to people trying to decide how to do it. I think i have it all figured out...my only question is that on drgecko.com they say to use an edible substrate (various types of oats and brans) and to periodically clean it. They also say the eggs will be laid in the substrate and are very tiny and almost impossible to see. Then they also say be carefull not to throw away the eggs when cleaning the substrate!!! Just wondering...how do you do this? How do you change the substrate without throwing out the teeny eggs that might be laid in it?

The only thing i could think of was to clean half of the substrate at a time, that way i at least wouldn't be throwing away ALL of the eggs, thus squashing my colony....

any ideas?

TIA

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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

I keep a whole lot of "substrate" in with the babies/eggs, and wait until they are large enough to easily seperate by sifting. It will take a few months to get things rolling...but one day you'll suddenly realise that you have more worms then you know what to do with. Don't be discouraged when the beetles start to die, and you don't see any worms. When they hatch they are TINY! If you want to know if you have worms around that time...try this...move a section of the bedding, and you should see that somehow the substrate is moving and setteling on it own (tiney-tiny baby worms).
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Official Leopard Gecko Freak

1:4:1 Leos - Gilean (HTCT), Aurora (High Yellow), Amber (LVPA), Garnet (Tang), Tigerlily (Hypo Tang), and Mirage (Hypo Tang) (1:0 more on the way! WOO!)
2:0 Cats - Troi and Mitsu (shhhhh...don't tell them they're neutered!)
4:0 Betas - So pretty, yet so violent!
1:0 Husband - Eric (He's a lot of work, but it's worth it.)

So how do you keep your mealies seperated? Do you have all lifestages in the same container, or are the seperated by stage? Are the eggs in a seperate container..or are they in with the adults? Could you give me a run down on your set up? Thanks
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

I have a 3 drawer set up. So long as the beetles have a good food/moisture source they won't bother the pupas (they'll eat them if they aren't getting enough moisture - I've seen it!).

To start out, toss a whole bunch (several hundred) large worms into one drawer. That drawer can stay as is. Depending on your temps, you should start getting aliens and beetles in a few days to a few weeks. The beetles will die off in about a month. Shortly after the beetles have died, the baby worms should be getting large enough to see fairly easily (about 1/4" long).

When the first drawer has baby worms that are between 1/4" and 1/2" long, then start your second drawer, doing the exact same thing as you did for drawer #1. Keep in mind you'll make TONS of worms this way, so either start with fewer worms, or have a lot of mouths to feed...lol.

By the time Drawer #2 is getting worms 1/4" - 1/2" long, Drawer #1 should start getting Aliens. Transfer those Aliens to Drawer #3.

Over many months you should have a rotating system - Drawer #1 for large, feedable worms; Drawer #2 for small, growing worms (there might be a few beetles left in here); Drawer #3 for new aliens/ beetles.

Once Drawer #1 is nearly empty, and there are visible worms in #3, rotate all drawers. #2 becomes #1 (put the leftover big worms in here), #3 becomes #2, #1 gets a good cleaning and becomes #3.

It'll take 4 - 6 months to reach the final stage. You should have some usable worms in about 2 - 3 months.
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Official Leopard Gecko Freak

1:4:1 Leos - Gilean (HTCT), Aurora (High Yellow), Amber (LVPA), Garnet (Tang), Tigerlily (Hypo Tang), and Mirage (Hypo Tang) (1:0 more on the way! WOO!)
2:0 Cats - Troi and Mitsu (shhhhh...don't tell them they're neutered!)
4:0 Betas - So pretty, yet so violent!
1:0 Husband - Eric (He's a lot of work, but it's worth it.)