Mealworm Question

I decided to start a mealworm colony and was wondering if birdseed would ba a good food source for them. Right now I have them in bran, oats, and cornmeal. Any suggestions for other foods to add?

Personally, I don't see the bird seed working for your colony....(I seriously doubt they would eat it, and I also don't see how you could sift/strain the colony if you tried to use it.)

What you have listed sounds fine..if you are looking to add something else, you could also add baby food cereal flakes, or a "chick feed"...(Personally, I bought some "chick feed" from the TSC here in town..I have to grind it up in my blender, but it seems to make a good starter base, and then I add the oat, wheat, cereal and so forth....(I'm always on the lookout for the generic wheat or cheerio type cereals when they go on sale....they work very well.)

Good luck..once you get it going, you will be so glad that you never have to buy mealworms again..

There is a mealworm caresheet that has a lot of suggestions on foods for mealworms I have had great success with starting a colony useing what it suggests Breeding Mealworms

Thanks for the suggestions Connie. It will be nice to have feeders ready at hand all the time. I ran out and was unable to get any for two days last weekend. It didn't hurt Laz any (his tail is fatter than his belly! LOL) but it stressed me out to make him go without food for two whole days.
LizardCrazyCelt, I did read through the caresheet before getting my mealworms, and again afterwards, but I'm always on the lookout for more ideas. I'll be making a trip to the feed store tomorrow to check on the grain mix suggested in the caresheet.

One more quick question: What size rubbermaid/sterilite containers do you suggest? Right now I have them (almost 500!) in a shoebox container, but I definitely do not want them to be overcrowded...

Just go to the feed store and get wheat bran. I get a 40lb bag for about 10 bucks!

As for the size container,,..I still keep mine in the shoe box size....I have 4 of them, and I just alternate the beetles into new ones every few weeks or so...(to be honest, ever since I started my Dubia colony, I have kind of been "overrun" with mealworms....I often have more than my herps can physically eat, and I have actually resorted to feeding some to the birds outside when it is time to rotate the beetles out, and I still have mealworms in the "oldest" container.)