# Mealworm Help (Pics)



## Tilly1988 (Dec 6, 2009)

Hey,

I'm bored this saturday morning so thought id try and give breeding some mealworms a go. Plus while the other halfs busy so probably wont notice what im doing :2thumb:

A spare cage lying around,fully cleaned and disinfected. Also got a nice egg crate which was lying around from my last livefood order. 










Super re-inforced lid to stop any escapee's. 










My (small amount) of pupae waiting to turn into beetles










And some ready to go beetle's, Not sure if this is enough quite yet.










Didnt have any bran/cornflakes so I've used some dog biscuits and shredded wheat:










mashed up with some nutrobal and fish flakes for a little bit extra. Just experimenting really. 










Spare bowl with some carrot skins, keeping them in a bowl so I can remove easily and replace to stop mites, I'm probably only going to offer this every 3 days or so, sound ok?










New home ready for them:










And the beetles are in  










I'm keeping them in my airing cupboard, which is only slightly warmer than room temp. But its permanently dark in there, so I hope this doesn't effect them. 

Any hints/tips would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I've read through some guides on here and elsewhere and just want to know if I've got it right really. I was going to get another leopard gecko but decided to use the cage for this instead haha. So if I've messed up I'll probably go and get that gecko!

Cheers for looking :2thumb:


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## Tilly1988 (Dec 6, 2009)

Cant believe nobody can help :gasp:

Just want to know if I've missed something out/done something wrong.

Thanks:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Simon M (Oct 9, 2008)

Looking good,,,,,trial and error - I have also tried breeding them but your set up is much more flash than mine. It puts mine to shame lol - I am not even going to add a photo as everyone will laugh! x


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## Tilly1988 (Dec 6, 2009)

Simon M said:


> Looking good,,,,,trial and error - I have also tried breeding them but your set up is much more flash than mine. It puts mine to shame lol - I am not even going to add a photo as everyone will laugh! x


I dont think its about how nice/cool it looks lol, aslong as it works  I'd like to see a pic, be good to see some more set ups.: victory:


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## toad650 (Feb 9, 2009)

Mealies eat most things so food choice is only really down to what you want to gut load them with really. Add a piece of bread as they will lay there eggs in the stale bread, well thats what i've read anyhe and mine seam to eat it aswell.


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## Catfud (Mar 2, 2010)

I had a cricket box of mealies left at room temperature, all I did was add some oats and before I knew it they where breeding like crazy. I moved them to a plastic tub slung in some oats for substrate and the odd bit of carrott, I was overwhelmed with baby mealies!

Only suggestion I can make is perhaps some deeper substrate, they chomp through it pretty quickly once they get going. Otherwise very nice setup :2thumb:


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## Haggis (Jun 7, 2010)

I bought a box of Mealies the other week just as a different feed than crickets

some have turned into aliens so think i will do the same and throw them in the faunarium to breed

Can mealies climb plastic?

will the beetles fit out the vents


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## pollywog (Oct 6, 2005)

I wouldn't of added the nutrobal at that stage there's a difference between feeding a nutritious diet and gutloading, you should only gut load them for a few hours before feeding them off. They can't use the calcium.



> Can mealies climb plastic?


If it's smooth then no but if it's been cleaned out a few times with a scowering pad and scratched up then yes.



> will the beetles fit out the vents


Not normally.


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## eddygecko (Feb 14, 2007)

Your gonna need a lot more beetles than that to get a colony going in the near future. They take a very long time to mature (4 months +, sometimes 6 months). And it is probably going to take a minimum of 2 lifecycles before you have a steady colony going so you'd be better buying a bulk bag of mealies, maybe half a kilo. Then letting them do their stuff.

You will also want a much deeper layer of substrate, atleast 4 cm. They will live in this the whole time and the more there is, the more space they have.


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## Haggis (Jun 7, 2010)

this is what i have so far just started the other day with mealies though


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## Juzza12 (Jun 12, 2008)

Are you planning on breeding these on a large scale? You could have got away with a small ice cream tub for the amount you have now. As mentioned get a deeper substrate, most supermarkets sell wheat bran.


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## purple-vixen (Feb 4, 2009)

Great setup, I have over 100 "aliens" and about 60 beetles saved so far, so I'm going to try this. Thanks for the thread. I'll be using your setup as a base for mine! We already breed roaches, locusts (successfully) and wax worms (3rd attempt)



Jac


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## Haggis (Jun 7, 2010)

i have about 30 aliens

and 2 beetles lmao

this could take a while


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## fubar (Sep 9, 2009)

Hi,

I've been breeding mealies for months now, and have a couple of hints;

Scrap the egg tray, they dont need it.

Much deeper substrate i would suggest. i use Tesco Value oats, Value Bran Flakes (Crushed), Value weetabix. Stale bread is always useful, as are Value dog/cat biscuits (Crushed).

Some people clean them out, be careful if you do as you will most probably throw away all the eggs, as they are almost impossible to see.

Fresh veg will give them all the liquid they need, carrots, potatoe, broccoli stalks, apple, most veg really. 

Be very patient, mine took nearly 6 months to get to feeding point.

I started mine with a half kilo bulk bag, starting feeding these to my reps and what was left went to beetles, then bought another bag. By my 3rd bag the beetles from the first one had produced babies, so now i dont buy any, i'm totally self sufficient for all my lot, mind you we breed dubai's too so they get a variety.


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## Haggis (Jun 7, 2010)

I added another crickets tub full to mine the other day

i have them on about 2 inches of wheatabix

with potato and cabbage in there for feeding on

and a piece of cardboard covering them as all the other websites i read said about covering them with paper


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## OrigamiB (Feb 19, 2008)

scrap the cardboard, they'l just eat it.... cardboard has crap nutritional value =P Food wise though just use any veg scraps, put it straght onto the surface otherwise baby mealies will have trouble getting into a food bowl

If you want to see results any time soon you'l need alot more... I started with one tub and I didn't have a stable colony for ages...
Also, get a deeper substrate, I find that they really use it as you get baby mealies lower down and adult mealies near the surface with beetles on top of the substrate. If you want large scale production then I'd say fill that tank 1/3 or 1/2 full with oats.

Next tip..... don't give up! even if all the beetles die out there might be microscopic mealies in there, they are extremely small when first born!!


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## Haggis (Jun 7, 2010)

I am using a 20L plastic tub just now till i get it going a little then it will get swapped into a bigger tub

i have almost 3/4 filled it with oats and wheatabox


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## OrigamiB (Feb 19, 2008)

Nice one 
I've just upped the scale of my mealworm farm, taken it from a RUB to one of those underbed storage boxes and filled it halfway with oats and put 2000 mealies in it! Should get some really nice results from this


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## deedee71 (Mar 28, 2010)

hi

what do you suggest i do, i have tried breeding mealies, the amount of condensation they kept getting in the outside cupboard caused mites.

i looked in my cricket tub where i'd put some celery and it was covered in mites. i wasnt trying to breed the crickets, just give them some moist veg to obtain moisture from.

i notice people mention to put the veg on top of the mealworm substrate but i'm worried about this, wont it produce mites with the moisture? i'd like to provide some nice carrots, would these be okay in the dish? i know the babies wouldnt get any, but they'd be okay on bran etc? but the adults would get into the dish of carrots and they'd be more healthy and able to reproduce better wouldnt they?

please advise

dee x x


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## benjo (Oct 31, 2007)

iv had my cat litter tray type setup going for 2 years, iv always put veg/bana peels moist part face down right onto the substrate. i normally find if you have less of a starting colony it will produce mites if your not carful. the larger the starting colony the better because the moisture will be gone within 24 hours.


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