It has taken almost a month for my container of 50 mealworms to turn into almost 12 beetles and 10 pupa (got two beetles today ). So I would go out and get a few containers of mealworms to start with. I hope to get another container or two next week since I'm running out of mealworms already (I've been feeding mostly crickets so that I can get as many pupa as possible (got 5 today!)

A single female will lay tons of eggs, but it takes a long time for these eggs to become the correct sized mealworm for feeding. I believe that mealworms stay worms for 8-10 weeks, if I remember right. Ok, let me see. This is what I remember as far as stages.

1-2 weeks - Egg
8-10 weeks - Larva (mealworm)
1-2 weeks - Pupa
2-4 weeks - Adult Beetle (I could be mistaken on this one)

I could be wront, but that is what I remember. I'm going to go on google to see if I can find out if I'm right.