SomeRandomPerson
New Member
I was wonderig on how long I should keep mealworms in the fridge and how long to stay out of the fridge. What type of bedding should I use and what container??? How do I feed them and keep them hydrated?
Mealworm housing question.
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Maurer3D
New Member
They are good in the fridge for several months without taking them out. The bedding is just the grain that they eat, and a piece of carrot (placed of the grain I use tooth picks) once a week is plenty. I usually only take then out of the fridge for a day or 2 to change the bedding then they go back in.
SomeRandomPerson
New Member
I just bought my mealworms from petsmart. Is the shavings like oats and grains???
suzi
Avid Member
This link has a lot of info for you, good luck with your project: http://www.javafinch.co.uk/feed/live/live.html
SomeRandomPerson
New Member
That link doesn't explain the shavings that came with the mealworms from petsmart o.o
fluxlizard
Avid Member
You can't really feed them in the fridge- they go dormant. To feed them you will need to take them out and put them in another container at room temperature. My colonies are now self sustaining, and I use 3 gallon rubbermaid storage containers. Each container can hold many 10s of thousands of mealworms- when I was starting them I stocked them with 5,000, and after several months I had zillions of babies in there. I sort the beetles into new containers as I feed out- just like I do my roaches to start new colonies.
You can feed mealworms a mix of about any sort of dry stuff you would feed roaches or crickets to gutload them, and gutloading significantly improves their nutritional value, just as it does for roaches or crickets. For my colonies, I base my mix with ground up grains (whole wheat flour, corn meal) and add other stuff to that (literally anything I think at the time that looks like a "good idea" including stuff like spirulina, bee pollen, dried ground up vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes etc). Literally anything that is dry that is found in cricket gutloads or roach gutloads can be offered to them.
I grind everything into a powder so I can sort through to collect my mealworms and beetles with a screen strainer when it is time to feed. Makes collecting a couple thousand reasonably quick and easy enough.
But you cannot feed as much of the "wet" fresh veggies and fruits- they achieve too much dampness more easily than roaches or crickets, and dampness will lead to mold and/or tiny mites.
Probably straight from the insect farm to your fridge, they are much poorer nutritionally. Most likely they have been fed corn meal or some other combination of simple grains and little else.
Probably- I don't know that for sure, but seems logical that insect farms would use the least expensive food items to raise their insects (including crickets- I'm don't mean to pick on mealworms here).
You can feed mealworms a mix of about any sort of dry stuff you would feed roaches or crickets to gutload them, and gutloading significantly improves their nutritional value, just as it does for roaches or crickets. For my colonies, I base my mix with ground up grains (whole wheat flour, corn meal) and add other stuff to that (literally anything I think at the time that looks like a "good idea" including stuff like spirulina, bee pollen, dried ground up vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes etc). Literally anything that is dry that is found in cricket gutloads or roach gutloads can be offered to them.
I grind everything into a powder so I can sort through to collect my mealworms and beetles with a screen strainer when it is time to feed. Makes collecting a couple thousand reasonably quick and easy enough.
But you cannot feed as much of the "wet" fresh veggies and fruits- they achieve too much dampness more easily than roaches or crickets, and dampness will lead to mold and/or tiny mites.
Probably straight from the insect farm to your fridge, they are much poorer nutritionally. Most likely they have been fed corn meal or some other combination of simple grains and little else.
Probably- I don't know that for sure, but seems logical that insect farms would use the least expensive food items to raise their insects (including crickets- I'm don't mean to pick on mealworms here).
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SomeRandomPerson
New Member
Gosh.. I'm just asking about the shavings that came with the mealworms from petsmart.... I'm just wondering If they are oats or grains...
fluxlizard
Avid Member
I generally offer every week or so. mealworms should only be one part of a varied diet. If you are going to feed something more often than once or twice a week you are better off using roaches or crickets.
Oh gee I'm sorry, I was taking the time to answer the following and could have sworn you were the one who asked it:
Didn't mean to give you too much helpful information when I responded.
Sorry about that.
I have no idea what petsmart ships them in I've never bought them from there.
Mealworms don't eat in the fridge so it doesn't really matter what they are sold in anyway unless you are trying to remove them from the fridge and warm them up so you can feed your chameleon good food that has been fed a good diet.
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