# Mealworm beetles...



## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

Hi guys,
I was wondering if I can feed mealworm beetles to my beardie because I had loads of mealworms, but them all turned into beetles :whistling2: My beardie is 12.5ich and a year old.

Any advice would be greatful, Thanks 
~fraggs : victory:


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## 53bird (Sep 30, 2009)

not sure if this is advice but mealworms get out my feeder and turn in to beatles and i see my water dragens dig them up and eat them and they are doing fine:2thumb:


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## connor 1213 (Apr 6, 2009)

you can but its not very good for them so its up to you.


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## RepBex (Jan 17, 2008)

he will more than likely not take them...

u can feed the alian stage thou i use to with my leos but the fussy buggers dont take any mealworms now:devil:


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

:2thumb: Thanks guys, i'll try and catch them in the alien stage : victory:

~fraggs


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## ollie1 (Oct 13, 2009)

Im doing a mealworm breeding project and i have just got a few beetles, why not breed them?


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## neil1983 (Mar 22, 2009)

ollie1 said:


> Im doing a mealworm breeding project and i have just got a few beetles, why not breed them?


Thats what I'm doing (well trying to) with the beetles thats I've found


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

I hadn't thourght of breeding them, it is a great idea though :2thumb: Thanks ollie 1 and neil 1983 : victory: ( and everyone eles :notworthy: ) 

Your all great help,
~fraggs


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

Any advice on keeping the beetles? Because they have all died  I have still got loads of mealworms and the alien stage though :Na_Na_Na_Na: What should i feed them?

thanks,
~fraggs : victory:


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## neil1983 (Mar 22, 2009)

fraggs said:


> Any advice on keeping the beetles? Because they have all died  I have still got loads of mealworms and the alien stage though :Na_Na_Na_Na: What should i feed them?
> 
> thanks,
> ~fraggs : victory:


Here's a couple of site with info on breeding mealworms

Breeding mealworms

Breeding Mealworms


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## Garko (Nov 9, 2009)

connor 1213 said:


> you can but its not very good for them so its up to you.


Do you have any evidence to back up this factoid ?


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

connor 1213 said:


> you can but its not very good for them so its up to you.


 They are no worse than mealworms themselves :whistling2: just gutload them.

I don't buy mealworms often, but all my lizards are happy to eat them whether in the worm or the adult stage. Some of my medium-sized frog don't show much interest in the worms but are happy to eat the beetles- I do try and give them the softer, newly-metamorphosed ones, but it doesn't seem to matter.


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

O.k thanks guys, I'll try and get a few pics of the mealworms for you to admire your advice put into action  :lol2:
~fraggs


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## beaniebopps (Oct 4, 2009)

Not the most exciting pic but heres my beetles... In a cricket tub, with oats at the bottom and an egg crate for hiding. 

Only been keeping them about 3 weeks now but theres about 45 in there and none have died yet. I assume the older ones will probs start to die off soon though...


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

Nice pic, it's quite helpful aswell  : victory:


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## Grond (Jun 17, 2008)

Garko said:


> Do you have any evidence to back up this factoid ?


It's an incorrect factoid!

They're fine to feed, but many lizards won't take them.: victory:


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## ollie1 (Oct 13, 2009)

Heres how i breed mine 3 stages...(i purchased large mealworms)
1)I put the mealworms in a container in my airing closet and they grow faster in there. I keep them on oatmeal that you buy from the supermarket and slice up a patato and put it on the bottom for them to eat and they pupaid(like a cacoon) for me in about 1 week.
2)when they have pupaid in the mealworm container i then put them in an old livefood/ice-cream tub untill they turn into beetles 1 week.(no food required)
3)Move the beetles out of the pupai tub and into a new icecream tub with outmeal again(not required this time) and give them a tiolet roll tube for them to hide in and feed them on patato again.

Repeat this cycle over.
(P.S i may have spelled pupai wrong)

Hope this helps, Ollie.:2thumb:


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## ImAly (Jul 26, 2008)

You could but most animals wont eat them because they secrete a bit of a smelly smell :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

ImAly said:


> You could but most animals wont eat them because they secrete a bit of a smelly smell :Na_Na_Na_Na:


Hehe. Well either mine are kept cleaner, or my herptiles are deficient in a sense of smell...:lol2:


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

Thanks for all the help,

Mine smell a bit too, but my beardie still eats them 

~fraggs: victory:

( pics comming later today :2thumb: )


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

I have put the "alians" in an aircupoard. No pic today though because my cam is playing up. I'll try and get sum up early 2 morrow 
~fraggs : victory:


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## ollie1 (Oct 13, 2009)

lol lovin the term 'Alians'!


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

lol they look like these test tube alian things i have had before


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## ollie1 (Oct 13, 2009)

Lol i had them to!!!! totally agree


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

:lol2:

Here are a few piccies:

This one is for ollie 










The normal one:










My setup for the beetles:










And the last one, a pic of spike (my beardie)










~fraggs : victory:

(feel free to comment)


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## nikki_alaska (Apr 10, 2009)

I am trying out breeding mealies too, for my APH. I have had loads of Aliens, quite a few seemed to die though. i now have a total of 32 beetles, all emerged this past week, so hopefully they'll start laying eggs soon!!

The beetles only live for 30 days dont they?!

Nikki
xx


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

good luck  

I'm not sure how long they live for... 30 days seems about right tho :Na_Na_Na_Na:
I have 65 aliens at the moment :2thumb:

~fraggs : victory:


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## nikki_alaska (Apr 10, 2009)

wow thats alot of aliens lol, i only have anout 20 aliens atm, but a couple die every few days- i seem to lose (roughly) 1 alien per 3 new beetles. 

I only started out with a £2.50 little tub of normal sized mealies from Pets at home as i couldnt get t my usual store, and they have started transforming from then!

xxx


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

you must have magic fingers :2thumb: :lol2:

None of my alians have died yet :whistling2: (well... apart from the ones i fed to my beardie)

~fraggs : victory:


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## nikki_alaska (Apr 10, 2009)

haha, i feed them to the hedgies every so often too, i think they may be getting too hot, they are in a heated area so maybe, i dunno.
the beetles are in an even warmer place and seem ok though, very active lil' buggers they are lol. It took me AGES to get my first beetle lol, i was starting to dispair, but it finally arrived and now im getting 6+ a day


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

How long did it take for the beetles to hatch out from there alien stage?

~fraggs : victory:


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

fraggs said:


> How long did it take for the beetles to hatch out from there alien stage?
> 
> ~fraggs : victory:



I'd be interested in knowing too as i've got 20+ aliens put by in a seperate live food tub. Going to have a go at breeding my own mealies :2thumb:.


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## nikki_alaska (Apr 10, 2009)

they seem to be taking around 5-7 days, when theyre ready to turn, you will see very dark legs and the very flimsy white wings, then they will start to wiggle their legs, and withing 12 hours they will be a full white beetle with a brown head, then as their shells harden they go brown then black

I have had another 2 since i last posted on this thread lol, so i now have 34 beetles!!


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

Thanks :2thumb: I should get some beetles soon then ...

~fraggs : victory:


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## ollie1 (Oct 13, 2009)

Ta for the photos!!:notworthy:


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

Looked in on my aliens this morning & nothing much happening. Look just now & i have a brown beetle mooching about looking lonely :2thumb:. So hopefully won't be long till i get more beetles & then babies!!!


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

The legs and antennae on the 'aliens' start to darken when they are close to changing.


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

Ron Magpie said:


> The legs and antennae on the 'aliens' start to darken when they are close to changing.



Yeah think i have about 5-6 beetles now :2thumb:. Hopefully it won't be long till i get babies :2thumb:. Got loads waiting to hatch out, every now & then the aliens do a jump, funny to watch!!!


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

My alians jump around to sometimes... :lol2:
~fraggs


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

So how long will it take from the beetles hatching till they start breeding & i get baby mealies? Are we talking days, weeks or months here? In other words how long do i have to buy in mealies for?


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Within reason, the warmer you keep them, the quicker the life cycle. If you have a boiler cupboard or an old-style airing cupboard, that should be ideal. Within a month or so, you should have some decent-sized worms. Every few months, you'll have to sift the culture through an old sieve (or buy one specially), to remove the waste, and top up with fresh food. This will slow down breeding each time, but only for a bit.


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

Ron Magpie said:


> Within reason, the warmer you keep them, the quicker the life cycle. If you have a boiler cupboard or an old-style airing cupboard, that should be ideal. Within a month or so, you should have some decent-sized worms. Every few months, you'll have to sift the culture through an old sieve (or buy one specially), to remove the waste, and top up with fresh food. This will slow down breeding each time, but only for a bit.


I have the tub sitting on the end of a heat strip, so should be nice & warm for them. Got a few beetles now so fingers crossed they are breeding (knowing my luck they'll all be males :whistling2.


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## Kerry-Louise (Mar 4, 2009)

ohh im doing this too 

I have all my tubs labelled and in rows to move on to the next stage and my beetles hopefully breeding away
Gahh im so sad :blush:

Just seems simpler than buying mealworms and hopefully soon il have a constant supply: victory:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

You can also make sure they are fed properly, to be as nutritious as possible, and have a choice of newly-shed worms- the 'white' ones- which are easier to digest. Win-win, really.:2thumb:


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## fraggs (Mar 16, 2009)

I have now got approx 50 beetles and have caught a few of them makeing love :Na_Na_Na_Na:

Thanks for all the help from everyone :2thumb:



> I have all my tubs labelled and in rows to move on to the next stage and my beetles hopefully breeding away
> Gahh im so sad :blush:


I do this to! :lol2:

~fraggs : victory:


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