Keeping and Breeding Mealworms

Introduction
Mealworms can be a great feeder insect, suitable for use as a staple for some lizards and a good treat for almost all of them. They will be readily accepted by a large number of your Herps, and make no noise at all. They keep for long periods of time, longer if kept in the fridge, and make next to no smell if well ventilated. .

Materials Required
The materials required for a basic setup are as follows:

• 3 Small plastic containers with ventilated lids, such as the ones used for transporting small animals

• Fine mesh sieve

• Oats/bran

A Description of the Basic Setup
Cut large openings in the lids and fix in the mesh either with duct tape or epoxy resin. This will provide enough ventilation to keep the colony dry, as excess moisture will kill all the mealworms very quickly. Put a layer of the oats/bran in the bottom of each of the tubs. This will be the substrate but they will also eat it, so add some new medium every so often. Every couple of months you should fish out all of the mealworms, pupae and beetles and throw away the oats or bran and clean and dry the container. Put in fresh substrate and replace the insects/worms.

You need to gutload your mealworms before feeding them to the herp, so provide a variety of fresh salads and vegetables. If this is unavailable, commercial gutloading formulas are known to work but I dont have much experience with them. If you choose to go down this route ask around to find out which are the best ones. The general rule is not to feed anything to the mealworms that you would not feed to your herp. Not spoiled food, or anything that should be going in the bin.

Breeding Mealworms
This is very easy and requires little or no intervention on your part. mealworms will form pupae once they reach a certain age, and as you see them fish them out and put them in the second container. Once these turn into beetles, transfer them to the third. This rotation of stages in the lifecycle is all you need to do. Provide fresh food for them and they will do the rest. The beetles will lay their eggs in the substrate and die off, after a few weeks you will begin to see small mealworms emerging. Any remaining beetles should be removed and put into a different container or culled. As the mealworms grow you can begin to feed them to your herps, making sure there are enough left over to continue the breeding cycle. When the time comes, simply scoop them out and apply any vitamins/calcium required and feed out to the animals. .