# Meal Worms Question, Leopard Gecko



## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

Please don't move this to the Live Foods section, no one ever answers me there and I really need to know what to do.

So about 50 of my meal worms have pupated over the last 3 days and I have no idea what to do with them.

I have a cricket colony and a locust colony, but I have no idea what to with all these pupae.

My Leo's aren't interested in eating them. At all.

WHAT DO I DO!?


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## PhillyDee (May 17, 2010)

Thriw them away? Feed them to the birds? Will they eat mealies? Start a colony of them. Hoy them in a big tub with cereals n stuff. Leave alone for months.


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## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

PhillyDee said:


> Thriw them away? Feed them to the birds? Will they eat mealies? Start a colony of them. Hoy them in a big tub with cereals n stuff. Leave alone for months.


Will they develop if I do that, it'll save loads of money in the long run, that's why I have other colonies of other live foods. Just; I only have 7 Leos that eat the mealies, the Bosc and the Beardie aren't interested. I don't want to chuck them away, bit of a waste, might feed half to birds and leave the rest in a tub, see what happens.
Don't want to be over-run.


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## benjo (Oct 31, 2007)

i had a cat litter tray, half full with oats and some other none sugar cereals and a egg crate ontop of it and left them ontop of a warm area and hey presto too many mealies to use, so gave tubs of them to my mother to feed to her wild birdies.


edit: also gave them partially dried carrots ect to give them moisture but dry enough to not cause mould.


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## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

benjo said:


> i had a cat litter tray, half full with oats and some other none sugar cereals and a egg crate ontop of it and left them ontop of a warm area and hey presto too many mealies to use, so gave tubs of them to my mother to feed to her wild birdies.
> 
> 
> edit: also gave them partially dried carrots ect to give them moisture but dry enough to not cause mould.


How long do they take to hatch, it's not meal worms ''eggs'', do the beetles lay eggs?
It's the actual meal worms that have pupated and will turn into the beetles.
What do I do with 50+ beetles!!!?? LMAO
Hmmmm


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## AnnieM (Nov 4, 2011)

Put some oats and maybe a bit of crushed weetabix in a tub, put your aliens in, (which will turn into beetles in a couple of weeks) with a bit of egg crate, a piece of apple or carrot every now and then (once they are beetles, the aliens don't eat) and leave them to it. In a few months you will have baby mealworms, which will eventually grow into adult mealworms. Hey presto free food! :2thumb:


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## Dan Trafford (Mar 10, 2011)

Freeze them for a couple of days, then bin them.


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## iggiethegecko (Jul 17, 2011)

Starting a colony is dead easy. If you've got cricket and locust colonies already, mealies are a walk in the park!

You'll need 3 ventilated rubs (you could reuse the plastic tubs live food is sold in) Line them with around 1cm of bran or oats. When your mealies cocoon, move the 'aliens' into a rub on their own (the beetles and worms will eat them otherwise). After a few weeks they'll hatch into beetles. Remove the beetles as they hatch into your second rub. 

At this stage offer your beetles veg (carrots, spring greens, etc). You can add in dried cat food and cornflakes too if you like. The beetles will start to breed and eventually die off. Remove dead beetles and any left over veg and wait for the mini mealies to hatch out (this will take a couple of months).

I normally feed the newly hatched worms on cornflakes and cat biscuits until they reach around 1cm, then start adding in veg. Then it's just a case of removing uneaten food and gutloading until they're a good size for your lizard.


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## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

iggiethegecko said:


> Starting a colony is dead easy. If you've got cricket and locust colonies already, mealies are a walk in the park!
> 
> You'll need 3 ventilated rubs (you could reuse the plastic tubs live food is sold in) Line them with around 1cm of bran or oats. When your mealies cocoon, move the 'aliens' into a rub on their own (the beetles and worms will eat them otherwise). After a few weeks they'll hatch into beetles. Remove the beetles as they hatch into your second rub.
> 
> ...


I've been taking all the aliens out over the past few days, theres like 100 now.
I guess that's what happens when you forget you have a tub of mealworms and buy a new tub, then find the old one!
Lucky in a way I guess.

Gonna invest in a few tubs 

Thank you!


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## Dan Trafford (Mar 10, 2011)

Rawwwrchazli said:


> I've been taking all the aliens out over the past few days, theres like 100 now.
> I guess that's what happens when you forget you have a tub of mealworms and buy a new tub, then find the old one!
> Lucky in a way I guess.
> 
> ...


If you think that's bad, try forgetting you have a tub of waxworms, letting them pupate to moths and then finding the tub a few months later buzzing and vibrating away!


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## Rawwwrchazli (Mar 16, 2012)

Dan Trafford said:


> If you think that's bad, try forgetting you have a tub of waxworms, letting them pupate to moths and then finding the tub a few months later buzzing and vibrating away!


I would have died.
I'm not at all worried about beetles, spiders or any creepy crawly except moths!
They just...no. I hate them. They freak me out.
That's why I quite like feeding my lizards wax worms!
I'm like 'aw little caterpillar, you will never be a moth. Bu-bye.'
Mean right?
Lol.


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