meal worms

[lilmissrazz]

Ok so Mojo AKA Hoover having eatten all the woodies that are the appropriate size for him (waiting for sum from da herp shop) I was wondering if i should grab him some mealies for a treat he is about 5 months old and approx 20cm long total length... if so how should i prep the mealies?? do i have 2 crush their head a lil or just feed it to him head first coz he chews pretty well LOL how many a day is ok for him?? also giving him woodies i dont want his diet to consist of just mealies so maybe like 1 every 2-3 days?? Plz help goin into town soon so will grab some if you guys think he's old enuff for them thanks a bunch

[Miss B]

Hmm I think small, freshly-shed mealies would be ok for him.

I feed mealworms to the adult beardies, usually only 4 or 5 per day - more as a treat than anything else. I usually try to find the freshly-shed or lighter coloured ones. I don't bother crushing the heads, they do a pretty good job of that themselves!

A tub of mealies will last forever - just put them in a big chinese food container filled with unprocessed bran (but make sure there are small holes in the lid for ventilation). You can keep them alive by storing them in the fridge for the majority of the time - it will slow their metabolism down and delay the morph into beetles. Just remove the tub from the fridge once a week (for a day or two), chuck in something for them to eat (a bit of sliced pumpkin or something) and they will last forever.

[lilmissrazz]

put in bran or sumfing as substrate or nothing??

[Miss B]

Yeah I use a big chinese food container filled almost to the top with 'Unprocessed Wheat Bran' - you can buy a 500g bag from Coles for about $1.20. The mealies will bury down into the bran, plus it's edible. I haven't fed my mealies in over a month and they are still going strong

Every now and again (like once a month or so) it's a good idea to replace the bran with fresh stuff, 'cos the bran will start to get full of shed skins and stuff.

[lilmissrazz]

ok too easy i shall grab some today if i can find some

[Dragoness]

Lilmiss, its in the cereal aisle of the supermarket (took me ages to find it when I went looking). My guys get mealies occasionally, they are all that my little guy will hunt for, so he gets a few every few days. I bought a tub of small mealies about 2 months ago, they have slowly grown and recently have started morphing into beetles. I change the bran about once a month and add slices of carrot occasionally (changed bran last night in fact and removed all the morphed/morphing beetles. Still have about 30 mealies in the container, they just seem to last forever! (and at $2.95 for a tub of them, gotta be happy!)

Cheers

[hornet]

i use a bit 50-60l plastic tub, out rolled oats on the bottom, put a hessian bag on, more rolled oats, fold it over them, another hessian bag, them homebrand allbran stuff, fold the hessian bag over. Add mealies and feed carrots, you will never run out, i only use a few every few days but its always good to have backup food supply

[Tatelina]

Originally Posted by hornet

i use a bit 50-60l plastic tub, out rolled oats on the bottom, put a hessian bag on, more rolled oats, fold it over them, another hessian bag, them homebrand allbran stuff, fold the hessian bag over. Add mealies and feed carrots, you will never run out, i only use a few every few days but its always good to have backup food supply

Do you find that anything rots or goes yuk doing it that way? Do you bother with giving them moisture?

[hornet]

carrots are for moisture, they go within a day or so