MealWorm Beatles

[bobgildolf]

Hi y'all
I recently bought some mealworms and completely forgot I had them, now they have all turned into beatles. Are these safe to feed to WTFs?

[Tom Highum]

I believe they are.

[Kurt]

Yes. You could always use them to start a culture.

[Jace]

That is what I'm going to do. Start my own. And I might feed some of the adults and worms to my African Bullfrogs. Spice up their diet a bit. I sometimes think my frogs eat better than I do......

[Kevin1]

I sometimes think my frogs eat better than I do......

I know what you mean.

[bobgildolf]

Yes. You could always use them to start a culture.

Yeah, I like that idea. How would I go about doing that?

[Kurt]

Get some oatmeal and/or bran, some chopped carrot or potato, and a container. The container I would use would be a critter keeper that has no ventilation on the sides. I would also place a paper towel in between the top and the rest of the keeper to prevent unwanted bugs from moving in.
Place the bran or oatmeal in the bottom of the keeper. I think you will get better results with the bran over the oatmeal, however the latter is cheaper generally. For moisture, chop a carrot or potato and place on top of the bran/oatmeal. Watch for any mold that might form on these vegetables and remove any moldy pieces. I prefer carrots for the beta-carotenes, which are good, natural source for vitamin A, necessary for many developing amphibians.
Place some mealworm beetles in the culture and wait. Eventually you will see small mealworms start to appear. If you get a magnifying glass, you may be able to swift out micro-mealworms to feed froglets and small frogs such as darts.
If you don't have any beetles, then use mealworms. This of course will take longer to get started as you wait for them to pupate and mature.

[Tom Highum]

Also adding some cereal that has lots of nutritional value I have heard is a smart move.

[Kurt]

Like Cheerios? They good for cholesterol, but then again so is oatmeal. I wouldn't recommend Trix, Captain Crunch, or Frosted Luck Charms, despite the fact that they are magically delicious.

[1beataway]

If you don't have any beetles, then use mealworms. This of course will take longer to get started as you wait for them to pupate and mature.

How long would this take? And how many mealworms is enough?

[Kurt]

I can't really tell you how long it will take. I would say ten mealworms would be a good start.

[Tropicok]

A container of small mealworms was left unused and forgotten and now I have beetles. Yippee! Also I have the one live larvae of a super mealworm which my box turtles love, so hope that one turns into a beetle as well. We raise our own mealworm, silk worms (in summer), spring tails, algae and other stuff at the Zoo so I'm getting a good education in culturing all kinds of froggie food. Mealworm containers are open plastic shoeboxes, oatmeal, a half-apple, and a paper towel covering which we spray ever so lightly when we think about it.

[1beataway]

I'm very surprised that I started the colony in December. After all the beetles died, I just gave up hope, but I was so busy with school and being sick that I forgot about the critter tote in my closet. At the end of May, right after my finals, I had a week to pack all my stuff and move. When I found the container, there were so many mealworms! Small ones. I was totally surprised. But I had no time to really think about it, and I stuck it into a box of stuff I was expecting to unpack soon.

However, moving all those boxes, that one box got lost. And I had summer classes, including an incredibly hard science class, and two jobs. Two months later, I found the box, and we took the container out, to find lots of dead beetles and lots of living small beetles. I haven't done anything to them or put in carrots in months and months.

So, in conclusion....mealworms make great pets. I can't kill them.

[Chaya]

ROFLMAO! nice to hear that you cant kill them... maybe i should start a group for my whites

[snakeboy7167]

My biology teacher in high school had a culture of mealworms, and his setup was simple, really. It was a 5 gal bucket, uncovered, filled with sawdust and whatever else he decided for substrate. The mealworms would metamorphose into beetles and to take care of them he just tossed in whatever he had left from lunch (banana peels, orange peels, leftover veggies, etc.). He also tossed in whatever dead animals he had that he wanted to skeletonize (taxidermists and scientists use the beetles to strip carcasses without doing damage to the skeletons). Dermestid beetles (mealworm beetles) will eat anything including other dead beetles/worms so keeping a culture going is the easiest thing in the world.

[froggiez]

just got some meal worms today, I may try to start a colony too Lots of great info here!!