Breeding Mealworms for Leos

just let it be. it'll do its thing. :)

I officially have a beetle. Its still white so it hatched out of his pupa stage sometime last night while I slept. How long to the beetles live?

i'm not really sure how long the beetles live. it's not too long--2 weeks max maybe?

Just found this...

Eggs: 3-4 weeks
Larvae: 8-10 weeks
Pupae: 1-3 weeks
Adult: 3-4 weeks

cool. i have learned something new about mealworms. :P

Now I just need to figure out how to keep my cats out of the drawers. When the beetle was a pupa they left it alone because it didn't move, but they know something is moving in there now. I've had to use packing tape to tape the drawer shut, but I need a more permanent solution.

The beetle keeps going over to the other side of the drawer where there is no food and somehow turning itself over onto its back. I have to keep going in and turning it back over and scooting it towards the food. There is only a handful of food in there right now because I only have one beetle and no pupa. Any diea on why it keeps doing this?

I've got a ton of beetles, some for a month now, but no apparent new larva.

do you have anything in there for substrate/food at all besides what is on the one side? if not put some corn meal with a little dry oatmeal or other food mixed into it down for him. they like to dig to hide and whatnot and it should help him turn himself over again. mine flip themselves upside down all the time too, for whatever reason. :rolleyes:

Does it affect thier health at all to be upside down all the time? I don't want to put too much food in there for him, as he is just a lone beetle and that would be a waste of food since I won't be expecting any more beetles for a few more weeks. Also, I am doing this as a trial because I have a small ant problem (not as bad as before) but ants do find thier way into just about anything, and I want to make sure they can't climb into the drawers. If they can, I'm going to put packing tape on all the sides to make it too slippery for them to climb up.