# Keeping Mealworms



## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

I've read everywhere about keeping mealworms on a Oat based substrate and throwing in a potato etc.

I came to do this for the first time yesterday when I purchased some for my beardie.

I just want to check though

In the box from the store, they seems fairly active/wriggly.

I transferred them to a tub containing Oats with some potato in it and they just seem less active. They've had at the potato pretty quickly.

Am I killing them off or are they just content with the new substrate/spud that they've gotten lazy very quickly lol


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## davidfitch (Nov 19, 2008)

I find they do calm down a lot when you put them in a setup with a deep layer of oats, its probably that they feel more secure though. I have had my colony for about 4 years now and have found them to be bullet proof, you just have to watch your humidity doesn't get to high. I just keep in a rub without a lid (never had any escapes) with a couple of inches of oats and throw in a bit of fruit or veg once or twice a week. I did use potato to start with but haven't recently and haven't noticed a difference.

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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

Great thanks

I think I'll try Carrot instead of Spud anyway cause it seems to last alot longer, at least it does in my cricket pen


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

do mealworm beetles have to turn black before they can start breeding or do they start breeding as soon as they turn into beetles?


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## mrkeda (Nov 6, 2012)

tropicaljoey said:


> do mealworm beetles have to turn black before they can start breeding or do they start breeding as soon as they turn into beetles?


Not sure on that, but I've only seen black beetles bumping uglies. It really doesn't matter to be fair, they only take a day to fully harden up and go black, from what I've noticed with mine any way


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

I find when I change them.over they very quickly turn to aliens!!

Tiger

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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

mrkeda said:


> Not sure on that, but I've only seen black beetles bumping uglies. It really doesn't matter to be fair, they only take a day to fully harden up and go black, from what I've noticed with mine any way


Mine take about 5 or 6 days To black and have a hard shell, not sure why though, thanks


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## mrkeda (Nov 6, 2012)

tropicaljoey said:


> Mine take about 5 or 6 days To black and have a hard shell, not sure why though, thanks


Oh, fair enough. Once you have a good number of beetles you won't even notice them 5 days when adding more beetles. 
When you see new beetles in your alien tub, give them a couple days before putting them in with the rest of the colony.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

mrkeda said:


> Oh, fair enough. Once you have a good number of beetles you won't even notice them 5 days when adding more beetles.
> When you see new beetles in your alien tub, give them a couple days before putting them in with the rest of the colony.


Ye I will leave them in the alien tub from now on for longer, usually as soon as they turn into beetles I put them in te beetle colony coz I'm scared of them eating the aliens


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## mrkeda (Nov 6, 2012)

tropicaljoey said:


> Ye I will leave them in the alien tub from now on for longer, usually as soon as they turn into beetles I put them in te beetle colony coz I'm scared of them eating the aliens


I used to just chuck mine straight in but started seeing beetles with what looked like eaten wings or exposed backs. 
If you are concerned about them eating the aliens, although I'm not sure if they do, I haven't seen it you can just use another 'holding' tub for them for a couple days.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

mrkeda said:


> I used to just chuck mine straight in but started seeing beetles with what looked like eaten wings or exposed backs.
> If you are concerned about them eating the aliens, although I'm not sure if they do, I haven't seen it you can just use another 'holding' tub for them for a couple days.


Ye iv seen a couple with bare backs as well, I will put new beetles in seperate tubs wen they first change, thanks


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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

I've just had my first few beetles appear lol

What's the next step with those?

I leave them to go at it and when I see babies appearing I transfer those off to another tub to become worms?


How long do the beetles live?


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

Corfel said:


> I've just had my first few beetles appear lol
> 
> What's the next step with those?
> 
> ...


The best thing to do is to have about 3 tubs, once u see babies in the beetle tub move the beetles to a seperate tub and then once iv fed off ur feeder mealies then the mealies uv bred should be feeder size and the cuckoo repeats, or u could leave the beetles and babies together, or even keep everything in the same tub, a lot of people do this and it works just fine, the babies stay at the bottom, feeders in the middle and top and the beetles right on top, I have 2 tubs at the moment and I will stick with 2, once my beetles have babies I will put the beetles in the feeder colony and keep them all together so o have a baby tub and a mixed tub


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## mrkeda (Nov 6, 2012)

Stick them in another tub with some oats as a substrate, some card board egg tray and some food like carrot or potat and leave em to it


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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

Ye I had no intention of doing this but I saw alot of my mealies turn to aliens and thought meh, I'll seperate those

Well I fed off the remaining mealies so I'm just left with aliens atm and just now I noticed I've got 3 beetles (got a lil excited about it too )

Figured I would just keep the beetles seperate from mealies/babies as best I could and anything else in the same tub

I guess that would work, I'm not planning on breeding these die hard or anything, just a few would save me some £ I guess

I've got D Roaches arriving tomorrow though, those I do want to breed


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## mrkeda (Nov 6, 2012)

The same happened with me bit before I knew it I had 3 tubs worth of aliens. 
I now have 2 tubs with lots of babies in em.
And the beetles are still going at it, I've had about 10-20 max die on me in probably 4-5 weeks maybe


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

Corfel said:


> Ye I had no intention of doing this but I saw alot of my mealies turn to aliens and thought meh, I'll seperate those
> 
> Well I fed off the remaining mealies so I'm just left with aliens atm and just now I noticed I've got 3 beetles (got a lil excited about it too )
> 
> ...


I also have dubia roaches I'm trying to breed, they stay around 81 degrees until I get a heat mat, no babies yet, could be a couple of months before I see any


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## ReptileGary83 (Jun 4, 2013)

Nope thats normal be fine after a few days


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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

tropicaljoey said:


> I also have dubia roaches I'm trying to breed, they stay around 81 degrees until I get a heat mat, no babies yet, could be a couple of months before I see any


Ye I heard the Dubia are slow to get going but in the long run will be worth it 

My Beardie is only a baby so with 10 years left in him, 6 month startup won't seem that big of a deal


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

Corfel said:


> Ye I heard the Dubia are slow to get going but in the long run will be worth it
> 
> My Beardie is only a baby so with 10 years left in him, 6 month startup won't seem that big of a deal


do u not think i will get babies yet, only got them about 4 days ago


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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

4 days, ha, tough goin


I'm hopeful that the Roaches will be easier to deal with than worms etc - they seem to be pretty resilient at staying alive


I had a small tub of about 20 that I fed off over time as sort of treats, I had them for like a month, no deaths in there and infact one of them became an adult.

It's what made me think I should buy bulk and let them go at it. 

I've even purchased a heart shaped rotating bed to speed up the process


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

Corfel said:


> 4 days, ha, tough goin
> 
> 
> I'm hopeful that the Roaches will be easier to deal with than worms etc - they seem to be pretty resilient at staying alive
> ...


haha i need them to breed soon so thats why im dying to get them breeding, the bed thing is a good idea, might get one for them myself :2thumb:


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## annie.davis (Feb 18, 2009)

Wow what do you mean by aliens!???

I believed the mealworm lifecycle started with the darkling beetle’s laying eggs, which hatch into tiny mealworms and as each mealworm grows shedding its exoskeleton it then enters the pupal stage finally turning into a white adult darkling beetle and the cycle begins all over again haha


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## mrkeda (Nov 6, 2012)

annie.davis said:


> Wow what do you mean by aliens!???
> 
> I believed the mealworm lifecycle started with the darkling beetle’s laying eggs, which hatch into tiny mealworms and as each mealworm grows shedding its exoskeleton it then enters the pupal stage finally turning into a white adult darkling beetle and the cycle begins all over again haha


No need to shout.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

annie.davis said:


> Wow what do you mean by aliens!???
> 
> I believed the mealworm lifecycle started with the darkling beetle’s laying eggs, which hatch into tiny mealworms and as each mealworm grows shedding its exoskeleton it then enters the pupal stage finally turning into a white adult darkling beetle and the cycle begins all over again haha


the pupa stage are called aliens for short, coz they look a bit like aliens


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

tropicaljoey said:


> do u not think i will get babies yet, only got them about 4 days ago


If you have adults they'll probably produce babies within a month... Sometimes I've bought adult females who've given birth in the post.. Lol

But they take 6 month's to mature, and males live for 1.5 years with females making 2 years... 

Tiger

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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

Is it just me or has The Roach Hut now only selling females?


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Corfel said:


> Is it just me or has The Roach Hut now only selling females?


Most people want females if your increasing your colony.. Males are usually used for feeding, as you only need one to 3/5 females... 

Tiger

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## Corfel (Apr 29, 2013)

Ye but I need Males to get things started :lol2:


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## annie.davis (Feb 18, 2009)

mrkeda said:


> No need to shout.


Haha!!! Im not shouting, just shocked. Never heard that term before.



tropicaljoey said:


> the pupa stage are called aliens for short, coz they look a bit like aliens


Ahhh I see  yes I know what you mean haha.


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

vukic said:


> If you have adults they'll probably produce babies within a month... Sometimes I've bought adult females who've given birth in the post.. Lol
> 
> But they take 6 month's to mature, and males live for 1.5 years with females making 2 years...
> 
> ...


nice one cheers, just got my heatmat today, 7 watt and kept under the tub on the side of the egg crates, humidity 53% and temp at 25c at the other end of the tub, pretty lucky having some give birth in the tub haha, i found a tiny one today thet iv never seen before, only one though so probably just didnt see it :2thumb:


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

annie.davis said:


> Haha!!! Im not shouting, just shocked. Never heard that term before.
> 
> 
> 
> Ahhh I see  yes I know what you mean haha.


its weird how they turn from mealies to beetlesm they suddenly grow wings and turn completely haha


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