MEALWORMS

Mealworms are probably one of the easiest insects to reproduce for your reptiles. This is a step by step guide to starting your very first mealworm colony.

STEP 1:  First you will need to purchase one of the 3 drawer Rubbermaid containers like the ones in the pictures below. We buy ours at Walmart for around $9.88.

  

STEP 2:  Next you need to take out the top drawer and cut out most of the bottom leaving only about 1/2 to 1 inch around the whole drawer. Use the hot glue gun to replace the bottom of the drawer with screen. If you bought a roll for your cricket colonies you should have plenty left over. If not you can either get a roll at Walmart for about $6 or you can use an old screen out of a window. Your top drawer should now look like the pictures below.

STEP 3:  Now you need to add your substrate. In the first two drawers of your container you need to add about half inch to an inch of regular oatmeal. You can buy a big can of it at Walmart for around $3 and it will last a while. Put the whole container in the freezer overnight before adding it to your Rubbermaid to kill any unwanted pests that might be in the oatmeal. You can also add a couple paper towel rolls like in the picture below so your beetles will have something to hide under because they like it dark. The beetles are what goes in your top drawer. The beetles will lay eggs and they will fall through the screen into the second drawer to hatch. The eggs hatch into tiny mealworms that you can barely see with your eyes. They will grow rather quickly.

STEP 4:  The final step in starting your mealworm colony is to add a batch of mealworms. You can order a batch online in a quantity of about 500 to start with. Your goal is to let the worms turn into beetles to start breeding. Add oatmeal to the bottom drawer and place your worms inside. Be sure to keep some carrots laying on top of the oatmeal. This carrots provide both food and water to your worms.

One tip that makes it easier to collect your beetles is to wait until the worms pupate. When a worm is ready to turn into a beetle it will look like the pupae in the picture below. They are a creamy off white color and will be laying on top of the oatmeal in your worm drawer. When our worms start turning we pull them out and put them in a small bowl with a lid. As they hatch out into beetles you can remove them from the bowl and place them in the top drawer of your container. Be sure to also keep carrots in with your beetles for their food and water.

And, it couldn't be any easier than that. When you see the oatmeal start moving when you open the egg drawer it is time to switch it out for a new drawer and let the worms grow. As your colony grows you can add more 3 drawer kits until you are successfully producing enough to sustain your reptiles.