Breed Meal Worms

[Chameleon Brothers]

I was wondering if it's worth breeding meal worms and if anyone has had success with this in the past?

 

[happiness]

Not sure if its worth it.. but! I tried to breed them myself with only 5 beetles!

I used the tray method where you have a top tray with the beetles and you cut a hole in the bottom of that tray and glue screen to the bottom so the babies/eggs drop to the next tray underneath that has oatmeal in it and veggies.. I recently found tiny tiny babies throughout the oatmeal and I didn't really have to put any work into it. Just let the beetles do their thing. I want to try this with superworms in the future

Its nice to know I won't need to buy anymore. Even though I'd only give them as treats

 

[fluxlizard]

I breed lots of them. My routine is pretty simple. I use 15 qt storage tubs, and place them on heat tape at 85 degrees. You don't have to do that, but the heat speeds up growth some, and growth already takes a long time (16-20 weeks from egg to beetle). Every week I move all my beetles into a new tub to lay eggs. I have several hundred beetles at any given moment and I have thousands of worms in each tub. It takes up a good bit of space and takes a while to get rolling, but it is great having zillions of worms of all sizes for feeding lizards. I feed them the same dry foods that you would feed crickets- wheat bran or corn meal is not very nutritious in comparison, and mealworms do not have to be raised on that stuff- can be fed the good stuff and you can see the difference in the worms. They just look healthier. I provide water by putting a bit of vegetable or fruit into the tubs every day or 2 or 3- you have to be careful not to over do the moisture or you will end up with a dust mite infestation. Better a little to dry, than a little too much moisture. I keep a paper towel on top of the food-substrate. It gives the beetles something to cling to and perhaps lay eggs in, and the worms seem to like hanging out beneath it on the surface of the food. When I start feeding a tub out to the lizards, I toss the paper towel into the trash. I grind all the dry foodstuffs into a flour with a coffee grinder. This makes sorting the worms at feeding time easy- just scoop out the flour and dump it into a strainer and sift them out.

To me, breeding them is totally worth it. You can give them far better nutrition, and they are one of the easiest insects to breed.