The day before yesterday or so I was digging around in the meal worm cup with my forceps and I found what I think is a pupa. Dumb me left the cup at room temps for a couple of days after I got it and the mealies moulted a couple of times, which actually turned out to be a good thing because they were a tad small before, but anyway what shall I do with the pupa? Is that even the right word? Can I breed my own meal worms?

Not many people breed their own mealies. I've heard its tough to do, but I've never tried. They morph into beetles, but the beetles are a bit too hard for most small reptiles too handle.

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I've never tried to breed mealis either, whenever we get a beetle I just remove it from the tank and let it go in the compost pile.

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How long does it actually take these things to turn into beetles, I have put mine in the fridge to slow down the process, they are tan coloured at the moment.

All you have to do to breed your own mealies is be patient. I started breeding my own mealworms by accident. I simply forgot about them and one day I discovered the pupa. If this happens to you just separate the pupa from the rest of the mealies. Place them in a separate container and mist them with a little water every now and then. Eventually they turn into beetles.

When I discovered my beetles, I began putting different things like oatmeal, rice, lima beans.....they seem to eat everything. I began collecting the cork off the top of wine bottles and placing it in the containers with the beetles. I really had no clue what to feed them. They keep busy hollowing out the cork. I think this is where they put the eggs.

You have to sift through the container every now and then to take out the beetles that have died. Once there are no more beetles left, you should see tiny mealies, Hundreds of them!

I never put my mealworms in the refrigerator anymore. I just let the natural process go on and I've never had to buy mealworms since.

Here's another tip, the container that you keep your beetles in....sift out and replace the bedding every 2 weeks, the bedding is what they lay their eggs in. If you keep the sifted bedding in another container, you'll get a better success rate doing this because the bettles can sometimes disrupt/eat the eggs/small mealies.

And as for time frame, it takes a long time!!! What I do is just keep replacing the veggies I put there and all of a sudden one day you'll see some little baby worms clinging onto the veggies. It's very simple to breed mealworms, kind of a pain to keep seperating them, but I think it is well worth it.

Here's a good caresheet by shayna:
http://www.leoloverslizardlounge.com/mealworms.htm

Thanks Earthmother. That was an informative link. I did not know that carrots don't mold. I usually replace my veggies every few days to prevent molding, but I think I'm gonna try carrots.

No one told me that breeding mealies was hard. In fact, the guy that gave me some said it was easy. We visited a small zoo a couple of weeks ago, and when the owner found out that we have reptiles too, he asked if we needed mealworms. He had a bunch, so he just scooped some out & sent them home with us. They've been doing fine. He said to add cornmeal and corn every so often, and that's what we've been doing. We've got everything in there from eggs to beetles, though. I'll check out that caresheet you posted.

Thanks,
Michelle

PS--all of the reptiles we own nominally belong to someone else in the family, so I've claimed the mealies as my pets. No one else will claim them!

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http://www.******************/forums/...ead.php?t=6895

Mealworms in fact are probably the easiest feeder to breed. Next to roaches maybey... I am herpslave on that site.

Thanks for the informative link, there's lots of info there.

Michelle

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0.0.1 bearded dragon
0.2 leopard geckos
0.0.1 schneider's skink
0.0.1 painted turtle
0.0.2 firebellied toads
2. hamsters
1.1 dogs
0.2 cats
some fish