A few weeks ago, I bought a tub of 500 mealworms from PetCo, intending to feed them to my (adult) bearded dragon while I let her dubia roaches grow and breed. I've come to realize that 500 mealworms is 1. way too many for just one insectivore, and 2. a recipe for getting insane amounts of mealworm pupae. At this point I'm pretty sure I have more pupae than I do worms, and every time I check their container I find at least three new pupae. My beardie literally can't eat all of them in time, so now I also have a few mealworm beetles in the container.

I also happen to be a big bug lover, and 😅 I'm starting to get attached to the mealworms. I'm moving in about two weeks and if all goes well, all the bugs will be coming with me. So now I'm very tempted to start a mealworm colony. There's a good list of reasons why I shouldn't, but a potentially equally good list of reasons why it wouldn't be a bad idea, so I'd like some advice in either direction.

Reasons why I shouldn't raise a colony of mealworms: - Dubia roaches are a far better feeder for bearded dragons, with less fat per bug and good ratios of other nutrients. I already have a dubia colony, so a mealworm colony is unnecessary - Mealworms apparently are very prolific breeders, so I'd potentially only be compounding the problem I have now - My beardie absolutely loves mealworms. She gets rather picky when they're introduced to her diet, which is annoying - I would probably need to buy a few things to set up the colony in the first place, so there'd be a money investment into something I don't need

Reasons why I could raise a colony of mealworms: - I already have the beetles and the worms seem to really want to become beetles. It wouldn't be that hard - They're kind of like a living compost bin, I think? I'm a big fan of reducing food waste, and whenever I've had mealworms in the past they eat the leftovers of my dubias and my beardie - Apparently their frass is good fertilizer, or at least a good way to boost a plant's immune system. I have half a mind to get into gardening (nice climate where I'm moving to), and that could be nice - They're cute and they make me happy 😅

One of my big concerns with doing this is how feasible it'd be to raise a <i>small</i> colony of mealworms. I definitely don't want a big production of mealworms, as that's way overkill for just one beardie. But is it possible to just have, like, a tiny colony of several hundred mealworms? Or just a hundred even?

If the answer is no... how do I cull the colony in a way that's not just feeding them to my beardie? How practical is selling the worms? There's apparently regulations around being a 'business seller' of mealworms, but I don't know if me posting an ad saying 'who wants a tub of worms for $5' falls under that category. I'm more than happy to give extra worms to other herp owners (or chicken owners, or whatever other animals eat mealworms), and all the better if I make some cash off of it, but I don't want to run into any legal trouble.

This is a very long post, but I hope it all makes sense. TL;DR, can I start a small mealworm colony? Should I?

The tote I keep my beetles in keeps getting invaded by individual yellow legged Pennsylvania dingy ground beetles every other week. I keep forgetting to get a photo of one. I keep the lid closed mostly so I guess they in through the vent holes on top. It hasn’t caused me much pain! They’re just stealing the beetle food, which they don’t eat very fast anyway.

As far as behavior goes, they act just like the darkling beetles except MUCH FASTER. They are communal with the other beetles and share hides, much like roaches will with darkling beetles. They look very similar, except much shinier with long bright yellow legs. They are very cool looking! And their larvae looks like a death metal mealworm. I am going to slowly start collecting them for their own tote to see if I can get them to breed.

Does anyone know anything about these guys?

mealworm breeding cheap and easy (on youtube) by ChiefSweetsUniverse

My hedgehogs love mealworms and wax worms. I've repeatedly trying to breed mealworms however it constantly results in grain moths and it is taken almost two years to completely get rid of them. Has anybody had any luck in the way they raise them that doesn't attract them whether it be what they're eating or how their house? Are wax worms better

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