Using Nestle's Fitness cereal as mealworm substrate
- Thread starter ragidi
- Start date
reptiles4evar
Member
Just use oatmeal to be safe.
I ran out of oatmeal at the moment. I just put this temporarily until I get oatmeal.
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
Before everyone chimes in that meal worms aren't a good staple food, please be aware that Ragidi is in Saudi Arabia where she can't buy things we can and can't have it shipped in.
Ragidi, it should be fine. You have a veiled and they don't seem affected by the artificial vitamins the way some other species are. I would keep the meal worms in plain oatmeal or oat bran and feed them some fresh veggies. Since you have such a problem finding insects, make sure you feed them really super healthy "gut load" foods. Be careful that the oatmeal doesn't get wet from the veggies or the humidity levels get too high in the container. You can set up little feeder stations of the fresh (wet) food on jar lids so it doesn't touch the bedding.
Have you had any luck finding any other feeder insects?
You should be really proud that you have managed to keep her alive. You had a huge uphill battle. Make sure she has something like hibiscus in her cage to eat. Don't forget her laying bin.
JGuinan007
Avid Member
Can't get Zophobas morio in Saudi Arabia but can get Nestle's Fitness cereal we truly live in a mad mad world.
Thank you jajeanpierre. Sorry for the late reply. I got some oatmeal so it should be fine. Oh, my mealworms colony is go8ng great! I have 6 beetles now, 10 or 15 pupa, and some young mealworms.
Unfortunately I haven't found any other feeder insects. The guy who got me the mealworms told me he's gonna start selling crickets once he gets the proper cages for them, so there might be some hope.
I'm so so lucky to have found this forum and got to talk with many experts here! If it wasn't for the great advice I got here, I don't know what I would've done.
Thank you all so much!
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
That's fantastic.
Feed the mealworms good fruit/veggies. Look for things with lots of Vitamin A in it. Put the wet food separate so your bedding doesn't get damp and go moldy. If you don't give them something like fruit or veggies, they will cannibalize the nymphs and little worms. Be very careful about the mold/dampness issue. Make sure what you have them in has a lot of ventilation.
I have kept big crickets in big plastic garbage cans with no lid. I think the little crickets might be able to crawl up the sides. And, those big Saudi grasshoppers/locusts can just jump out. I use big plastic totes to keep bugs in--you can get that sort of thing at the plastic souq. You will want to cut out most of the top and use a glue gun to attach a screen to it. That gives you ventilation and keeps everything inside.
Maybe someone else knows a better way of attaching screen to plastic than a glue gun.
