Mealworm Colony Update

[Jay_Bunny]

I started attempting to breed my own mealworms since I want to be able to produce my own leopard gecko food. I plan on getting more leos in the future (only have one now) but figured I'd get a head start on breeding the mealworms.

Right now I have tons of adults. I would guess around 30 adult beetles (more more) currently in my colony. I just removed nearly the same number of adult beetles that had died. I keep them on rolled oats and give them veggies every now and then for moisture. I have already removed one group of baby worms into their own container. They are several weeks old but still very small. You can see them easily now but they are about --- <that long, while my fully grown meal worms are ---------. I think the worm stage is only supposed to last 9-10 weeks, and these worms are already well over 4-5 weeks old and not getting any larger. Any thoughts? I'm also about to remove a second batch of newly hatched worms from the adult drawer. Maybe one day I'll produce enough mealworms that I can start selling them.

[sporty02]

if you got baby worms at all your doing better than me i have a bunch of dead adult bettles, live beattles, pupas and worms but havent seen any sign of baby worms yet and i had my first adult beattles 4 weeks ago. my beardies love meal worms

[Jay_Bunny]

If you only just got your first beetles 4 weeks ago, the baby worms might be too tiny to see. They start off reeeealllly tiny. I have to look really hard right now to spot the worms in my second batch but they are definitely there! I would move the substrate/food from the adult beetles to their own container and wait and see if you see any tiny worms later on. Don't throw it away. I put some in a container once and left it for a long time because I didn't see any worms. I forgot to throw it away and several weeks later checked it before I went to throw it away and I had baby worms! That was a colony I had tried to start a long time ago, but just wait. You should have baby worms soon.

[sporty02]

i hope so my beardies like them they get worms once a day and crickets once a day