Freshness of mealworms

[RoyaLoveRay]

Hi all! I've got a question about mealworms. How long does a batch of mealworms stay fresh, or suitable for feeding, without changing the substrate? I recently acquired a pair of female leos from my sister's kids. I bought about a two week supply of standard mealworms, and kept them in a substrate of oatmeal and sliced carrots, leaving them out of the fridge once or twice a week to gut load. Two weeks later, the cup they're in has gotten dusty, I'm presuming from the mealworms waste, and gives off a strong odor. Most importantly, my geckos' appetites seem to have declined, as they may flick a mealworm with their tongue without striking. Again, how long should I keep a single batch of mealworms without changing their substrate, so I know what timeframe to get a supply for on each trip to the pet shop? Thanks all...

[EasiGregory]

Honestly if the container smells I would throw them out, the chances of mold are high and you would not want to feed that to you geckos.

I used to breed my own mealworms but have stopped since I have cut back on the number of geckos I keep. But I would say that once you have kept them out and let the worms gut load for a day or two, to then keep them in the fridge. This way their metabolism slows down and they can last quite a bit longer.

If you want to keep them out full time then I would suggest changing the substrate every two or so weeks and now ever leaving gut load/carrots in for longer then a day. Put it in, let them eat, and the following day remove it.

-Greg

[Zincubus]

Separate issue but why are they so expensive !? Our local places all charge £2.50 for a tiny little tub of them or wax worms and they always look a little past their best anyways !!

[EasiGregory]

They are charging you for the convenience of being able to go to the store and buy them. It is a major rip off but they know that the "typical" buyer of reptiles such as leopard geckos are not going to know that they can buy them online for much less and in greater quantity.

Check out these guys for purchasing feeders for your geckos.

http://galoregeckos.weebly.com/ - I have tried using the "little" guys in order to support breeders other then the big guns and GG has been a great experience. Brian is a great guy to deal with and his feeders arrived fast/fresh/healthy.

http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/ - Gillian is one of the most well know providers of feeders and is quite nice to boot

-Greg