Live mealworms questions

[shirleytx]

I have a few questions in regard to fresh mealworms.
1. What color should they be?
2. Should they all be the same color?
3. Should I purchase if some in the tub are dead?

I went to both Petsmart and Petco to get fresh mealworms for Daisy and the ones in Petsmart ranged in color from beige to dark brown almost black. Plus there were several dead ones in their. The ones in Petco didn’t look a lot better.
What should I be looking for when purchasing fresh living mealworms?

[PrettyHate]

1/2.A healthy mealie (the larva) should be a dark tan colour. The pupa are white, and the beatles are dark brown-black. Depending on which stage they are in their color will vary. But in my experience the real dark ones are on their way to being dead.
3. A few dead ones wont hurt. It would be fairly difficult to have ONLY live ones in a large tub- just think of how time consuming it would be to sort through all those mealies every day to pick out the deads :)

Darn me for double posting...

[oXo_HogMom_oXo]

Hey Shirley... I have a mealie farm right here at home! I have a 10 gallon plastic tank where I breed them in. Mealies go through stages... If you buy mealworms they should be a healthy brownish beige color, with maybe a darker red or brown head and legs.

Some mealies might be dead, as they eat their own kind, not enough food, to many in the tank, not enough air... The list can go on. If there's only one or two dead ones your container should be fine. But if there's more then that just ask for a new container.

I think it would be easier to start your own mealie farm... not only does this save you TON (and I do mean a TON) of money but you can ensure that you ARE getting HEALTHY stock!

Sometimes I worry about petstore mealies, crasshopers, crickets, junebugs and pinkies... I've heard rumors say they spray them down, or they pick these bugs out of the wild where they have been introduced to field poisons...

And it's not that hard to start a mealie farm at all... I used an old fish tank to begin with... washed it out really good... ground up some crackers, some corn meal little bit of flower, mixed it all together....

Dump em in there, buy some regular mealies and buy some super super mealies... this way you can produce stock of all sizes... depending on your animals you will need it. Sugar gliders like your medium sized mealies, baby gliders like the smaller sized ones because of their tiny hands... and hogs love the huge huge super mealies, lol. (at lest Chunk does).

I used to spend $15.00 ever week on mealies since they are part of gliders diets... not to mention another $15-20 ontop of that for pinkies.... Now save that much just because I have my own...

Oh, if you buy a container of mealies and there are some dead ones in there, don't pick them out. They might not be dead, maybe going into the stage where they turn into beetles (adults/to have babies)... and the actual dead ones feed all the other ones.

If you do decide to make your own farm, you will have off and on stages of mealies. You may come into a problem where ALL the mealies have turned into adults and there are no babies, it's alright... spend $5.00 and buy new stockand toss em in there... throw a egg carton piece in there! The sidewith the dips... This way when you spray down the cage with your spray bottle the egg carton soaks it up, and this gives the mealies something to suck the water out of and then they chew that up and make bedding out of it....

I hope this helps!

[PrettyHate]

1/2.A healthy mealie (the larva) should be a dark tan colour. The pupa are white, and the beatles are dark brown-black. Depending on which stage they are in their color will vary- young larva will be lighter in color, and then continue to darken as they mature. All the deads I see in the container at work are dark brown to black- now whether this is what happens to them when they die, or if dark coloration is a sign of approaching death, Im not sure.

3. A few dead ones wont hurt. It would be fairly difficult to have ONLY live ones in a large tub- just think of how time consuming it would be to sort through all those mealies every day to pick out the deads :)

[who00knows]

This helped me! I will be starting mine up tonight...I would say order 1000 to start off. I paid 15 bucks for 1000 shipped. Since I have a nursing mom I have been going through them like crazy!

[Nancy]

Since I have a nursing mom I have been going through them like crazy!

Mealworms are fattening and too many can cause stomach upset which is something you do not want with a nursing mom.

Yes she can have more than normal but I would limit it to 2-3 a day and if they are large sized 1-2 per day.

[shirleytx]

Thanks I feel more prepared to purchase now.

[who00knows]

I have been told that I should feed them between 30-45 a day.

Mealworms are fattening and too many can cause stomach upset which is something you do not want with a nursing mom.

Yes she can have more than normal but I would limit it to 2-3 a day and if they are large sized 1-2 per day.

[Nancy]

I have been told that I should feed them between 30-45 a day.

NO WAY! OMG, where did you hear that? :(

Normally, 2-3 mealworms 2-3 times a week.

[LovingHedgieMom]

HOLY CRAP! 30-45 mealworms per day?!? I don't know where you heard that from, but that was wrong information. I guess if that's all they're eating, then it wouldn't be a lot. But, they should be eating a high quality mixture of cat foods, not mealworms.