# Help With Breeding Mealworms



## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

hey guys, im trying to breed mealworms, i have done all what people have said but nothing has happened yet, i have the beetles and lots of them. how
long does it take for the mealworm eggs to hatch and and to have baby mealworms? x


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## redcherry (Aug 4, 2009)

hey i was looking through the forum and found this....http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/feeder/143883-mealworm-life-cycle.html


have a look, its easy to understand, it helped me alot:2thumb:


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## Gemstone Dragons (Jul 29, 2009)

I just found baby mealworms today and have had a box full of beetles a couple of months now :gasp:


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

Yeah it will take a couple of months till you actually see them, they are very very tiny to start with.


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## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

thanks guys, i started doing this about 3-4 weeks ago, nothing yet, but can do with all the tips you can find please:2thumb:


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## MarcusF (May 9, 2010)

Get two shallow tubs and stick about an inch of wheatbran in them. Buy a tub of mealworms and leave them alone until they turn into chest bursters. As each beetle 'emerges' put it in the new tub. Adult beetles will eat the chest bursters so you need to keep an eye on them and get them out before they have chance.

Just stick a crust of stale bread on top of the wheatbran and add dogbiscuits or cereal too if you like. They quite like cheerios. Then just wait.
Takes a while.

Once you start seeing babies chop a potato in half and whack that in. Eventually when you get adult beetles put them in the other tub to start again. That way you'll always have some to feed and some to breed.

That was almost poetic :mrgreen:


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## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

Thanks, i have them in 3 cricket tubs at the moment as i only want to breed them on a small scale, i have the brough shop mealworms in one, and the aliens in another and the bettles in another tub with holes in, i was told to shake the bettles and the eggs will fall out while shaking. i dont know whether this is right..
please help me..
getting so confussed



MarcusF said:


> Get two shallow tubs and stick about an inch of wheatbran in them. Buy a tub of mealworms and leave them alone until they turn into chest bursters. As each beetle 'emerges' put it in the new tub. Adult beetles will eat the chest bursters so you need to keep an eye on them and get them out before they have chance.
> 
> Just stick a crust of stale bread on top of the wheatbran and add dogbiscuits or cereal too if you like. They quite like cheerios. Then just wait.
> Takes a while.
> ...


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## MarcusF (May 9, 2010)

If you put the beetles into a tub with wheatbran, you'll be able to raise the mealworms in the same tub. Saves messing about.


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## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

Ok, i have them on tesco value weetabix. is that ok. are the cricket boxes too small? also the cricket boxes have holes in?


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## Darryll (Nov 7, 2009)

hmmm shake the beetles for the eggs to fall out.. haha nether heard that one before.
I have a huge mealworms colony and when i started it took about 4-5weeks before any sign of baby mealworms, then one day i got up, looked in the trays and the bran was moving insanely... it was the first 100 or so baby mealworms. since then they just kept breeding and hatching a continueous supply of mealworms.
make sure they are not cold.. they won't breed much atall and the mealworms will grow very slowly.(also don't use heatmats they will die) 
keep them in bran and feed them on veg like potato, carrot etc..
clean them out once a month with a siv- that has small holes so the eggs/babies won't fall out.
hope this helps a bit. good luck =]


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## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

thanks guys, it helps very much,
if anyone has any other tips it will be very much appreciated 
x


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## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

I Have Now Found My First Baby Mealworm.. Thanks everyone For Your Help x


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

Blaze167 said:


> I Have Now Found My First Baby Mealworm.. Thanks everyone For Your Help x




Have you found any really really tiny ones yet? These are really small & very hard to see (just watch for the substrate moving, then pick some up & you'll see them :2thumb.


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## Catfud (Mar 2, 2010)

MarcusF said:


> chest bursters.


I'm totally calling them that from now on! :roll2:


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## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

Yes I Have Found Hundreds  I Now Have 3 Boxes Full Of Them


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## Blaze167 (Apr 8, 2009)

what can i feed the baby mealworms on???


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## mandi1234 (Mar 13, 2009)

weetabix, bran, bread, spuds, carrots, apples..............just leave them in a tub with any off the above hun , thats all i did. they do tend to smell a bit aswell lol. i did it for about a year but then i stopped


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## mandi1234 (Mar 13, 2009)

mandi1234 said:


> weetabix, bran, bread, spuds, carrots, apples..............just leave them in a tub with any off the above hun , thats all i did. they do tend to smell a bit aswell lol. i did it for about a year but then i stopped


oh yeh, leave the lid slightly open or you will get a load of condensation in their aswell. and change your food regularly cos it goes mouldy


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