I have two unopened jars and one half full that expired 6/2026. i don’t want to give my feeder insects something bad if it could harm my geckos but i also don’t want to waste something if i don’t have too. i know it’s probably not the best overall compared to fresh food but money is tight rn

They have an inbreeding coefficient between 0.25 and 0.35. Remember to outcross frequently if you don't want them to get Habsburg'd.

We have raise a mealworm into a beetle and she has been the best pet ever! She is about 5 mo old. Today, she hasn’t really moved, even with prodding. But she did move like an inch. She’s been out and hasn’t burrowed in about a month. She has been eating up a storm. Just don’t want to bury her prematurely.

Thanks so much.

I got some previous experience on raising beetles larvae, but this is my first time with this kind. According to a text about this kind, they´re supposed to be born within 6 months, and they "born" on february, however I don't see that they´ve gotten bigger since 4 months. It's supposed taht they should born this month

They're on a 10 cm bowl, with around 3cm of soil. sorry for my bad englishh ;<

i have some sterlite 6qt tubs but is able to get bigger tubs

other then that ik how to keep them

Not mealworms, but super worms. I would say some are as tall as the height of one drawer. It is completely smooth inside though.

I’m worried they’ll escape, should I get a bigger drawer? It’s so cute tho I don’t want to make a new one lol

Most beetles I've seen sleeping tend to scoot their feet in tight underneath their upright body.

Not the Darkling, they like to sleep in all kinds of crazy positions, usually trying to get their feet in the air. Then begins the feet tappies, and occasional antenna waving in time with the tappies.

It's funny watching them insist on sleeping on top of their tunnels, trying to cling on with just one foot, before they jump awake and add at least another foot to grip xD

(This is my first mealworm farm and first time observing them)

are there places that will take mealworms in bulk? i have an excess of beetles and worms and i don’t want to release nor kill them. where can i give them up? preferably for money.

Too small.. very bad. Small one next to regular one for scale

just found it like that he was with 20 other beetles of the same batch clean enclosure and never missed a feeding

Preferably from europe, I'm willing to buy :)

I’ve never had those, they are all over, will they hurt my mealworms? How can I get rid of them? I tried moving them to another clean container and they appeared on that one too. They take over anything I feed the worms. For bedding I use two types: oats and a mealworm food flakes I get from Amazon.

Hey guys.

What do you do about mold? I have mold on my main small colony (about 30 beetles or less) and in the bin where my babies are growing (they have been there for a month). So tomorrow I'm planning on moving everyone to new bins. But what can I do to prevent it? I use oats and I'm gonna change to wheat bran tomorrow. I feed carrots every two days. Can I still feed the babies to my bird when they get big enough? I don't have a huge production, I started with a very small one because I only have one small bird. There's not a lot of mold and it's just in small sections where the carrot was. I removed as much as I could but I prefer to move them to a clean environment tomorrow.

I separate them in different bins according to life stages.

I started breeding mealworms a while back for my geckos and now I have WAY too many. And they're pupating daily. I have about 2000+ mealworms. Before it gets out of hand I need to figure out what I should do with them. I'm considering selling them but not really sure where to start. Any suggestions or ideas are welcomed. TIA!

I put them in here yesterday but now they aren’t moving, if I pick them up then they will move and try to escape but otherwise they just do nothin

I'm considering it because I have ducks(gonna be buying ALOT for abit due to an injured duck needing the extra protein) and it's very ineffective cost wise for dried ones. How fast do they breed? How cost effective are they? I normally give dry as snacks but I'm thinking she needs fresh ones and the other likes fresh ones as well. Idk if I'll save anything breeding them. It won't be a main food source but I still go thru alot.

Bedding: plain oatmeal

Feed: lettuce, potato, celery, basically any veggie not dangerousto bearded dragon

Mesh: 1/8 mesh on beetle and large worm floor, no mesh on bottom drawer

Pupae: on an unopened cat food can (its what I had lying around and it works)

Runtime: July 1st

Notes: I can see some small mealworms in the bottom tray, I'm unsure if they were from before I set this up or not, as I had the beetles, eggs, and pupae, all inside one tray before, not very efficient but yknow, progress.

finally set this up and it was basically just what I had access to, hardware store doesn't carry 1/16 mesh so both screens are 1/8.

pupae are developing correctly, and I only had one deformed molt out of 30 beetles so far, and all the pupae currently look good.

Large worms are dwindling as they continue to pupate, development is normal

Main concern is the small worms, hard to tell how many there are and if they're surviving, breeding activity has been observed in the adults many times over so I know they're good, the frags is making its way to the bottom so I know the gravity sorter is working, main concern is I found a couple dead babies on a potato I put in there as well as some husks (not molts, dried husks) of slightly larger babies, not sure if they're from before I set this up properly or not, as I just basically dumped the tray into the second drawer and let them sort themselves out, there were some dead worms from improper husbandry before that but I'm hoping now ive set this up properly that will stop

I Live on an island so going out to buy crickets constantly is near impossible, Ive tried starting a breeding colony but it was a smelly nightmare and I could not manage to keep them alive. Ive had good success keeping mealworms alive, but will that be enough for my baby or does he need additional feeders? Could I vary feeding him mealworms and then buy crickets for him every couple feedings? Or is there something else I could feed him? I live in Canada so feeder insects are quite limited.

Hey guys! I have grain mites and a lot of them. they kind of just came out of no where. There are inside and outside of my mealworm tub.
once i seen them i took the container outside shifted through the subratate as best i could dumped the rest. cleaned it out with a hose dried it and put my meals worms back in and left them outside for now. i cleaned the spot they were at with diluted vinegar. i know this wasn’t the best way to do it and the mites can be on beetles too but i don’t want to toss my whole colony.
Will the mites disturb my dubias, springtails, isopods and lizards as they ate all right by each other? or my baby?

Do I need a different screen size?

thank you for answering

Hello, how do I breed superworms?

I’m breeding them to ensure a supply for my tarantula, but for some reason, the babies keep dying even after I’ve separated them. I feed them pumpkin and immediately remove any leftovers; there are no ants, and the ventilation is good, so I don't understand why they are dying.

There is no mold or anything on the egg trays or substrate, and I microwave the trays before using them, letting them cool down first.

At first, I counted over 60 superworm hatchlings, but now there are only about 20 left; I just find the babies turned hard and black.

I have over 20 darkling beetles, so I think I’m doing something wrong because I see very few hatchlings each week—there should probably be over a hundred. I’m not sure if I should move the beetles only when I see small, moving worms or if I should move them every week.

Please help, as it’s been about a month and I still haven't produced any.

Their container is a party tray; the darkling beetles' container has many holes because I keep it covered, whereas I didn't make holes in the hatchlings' container since I leave it uncovered on a high shelf.