Breeding Mealworms for Leos

I was wondering how many of you breed mealworms for your leopard geckos. Also what is the best set-up to breed them?

Would a drawer system work? I could get a cheap one at walmart and seperate the stages.

Basically, what do I feed them? How do I provide water? ect.

mealworms are super simple to breed. i'll refer you to this post by april for instructions: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showp...89&postcount=4. :)

Thanks. Just set up the larva 'tub'. Its a little plastic container about as big as a large cereal bowl. Filled it with oats, semi-crushed cheerios, bran flakes, and slices of strawberry for moisture.

I can't wait till I get my drawers in a few weeks. So then I can seperate the stages.

I just started the breeding attempt a month or so back. I'm using 3 sterilite shoebox tubs.
It took a couple weeks for the mealworms to pupate, and a couple more to turn into beetles. I've got a lot at all 3 stages now, but no new larva noticed as of yet. I've had the earliest beetles for 2 weeks now I think.

The majority seem to be in pupal stage right now.

I just got my mealworms on Sunday, so no pupae (sp) at this time. They love the move to the new bowl. More room and more stuff to burrow into. And they love the strawberry. I'll be switching out the fruit every day to every other day to something different to give them variation.

I would worry about mold with strawberries.

I use slices of carrot, which is convenient since my rats get fresh carrots every day or 2.

I will be removing the strawberries every 1-2 days so there is no mold. Any pieces of food that start to mold will be tossed out and replaced. If I start to get a serious mold problem, all food will be tossed and replaced.

Ok, I got a three drawer system for the mealies. There are a few problems though.

A) There are small gaps at the top of each drawer. While I know the mealworms can't climb the slick sides to get out, I'm worried that ants or other insects could crawl IN. I had an ant problem a week or so ago when I set up my new 10g tank for my molly fry. After setting down some ant traps, I don't really see any more ants, but I'm still worried.

B) The drawers do not lock into the frame. My cats have learned how to open these types of drawers and I need to figure out a way to keep them shut. I was thinking of drilling small holes in each of the 'handles' and the bar going across the top of the drawer and using either some kind of small chain (like on those fake metal necklaces) or somthing like that. String would just entice my cats to play with it and it is cut too easily.

Other than that, I'm very excited to be starting my own mealworm 'farm'.

I have been breeding mealies for quite some time now.....I do not bother with separating the stages.....they go like rabbits anyway......LOL

I got my first pupa. I have it in a seperate drawer with no substrate. Should I do anything with it? Or just let it sit there. I'm going to check tonight for any more.

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.