My First Winter... Nervous

[Poly]

Well actually, the website I provided a link for, ships live insects in the winter! Not sure how, I'm going to call the guy back today.

So, mealworms are similar to worms then, they have to be kept cool?

It's good to know the worms will last, because they are going to be my toads main source of food.

I think Hibernating is never really an option I have considered, if you want them to grow, can't get any better way than feeding them over the winter!

Thanks for the much needed info!

~Royce

[UncleChester]

Mealworms are the larva form of the Tenbrio molitor beetle, they like it hot. 25C-30C is ideal for breeding, but I keep mine at room temperature which is about 15C-20C. Hotter will make them grow and breed faster. I use them sparingly as they are supposed to be harder to digest, so I'm fine with a slower growth rate. They can also be stored in a fridge, but I believe you have to warm them up every few weeks and feed them to keep them alive. They are low enough maintenance that I don't see much point in keeping them chilled.

[Tori Savage]

I know I may be jumping in at the wrong time, but I do have my own colony or whatever ya want to call it of mealworms. My frogs, which I have 2 adult american green tree frogs, 1 amgtf froglet, 3 adult grey tree frogs, 1 grey tree froglet and 3 that are still unidentified. I have my mw in one of those 3 drawer containers, one of the small ones. I had to put then in my cabinet (dark and room temp), before they would pupate. I kept the pupating ones seperate from the beetles and worms (ill explain in a bit). I feed mine the orange Cricket cubes and carrot slices. Also gave my beatles a slice of apple as an experiment...... Within minutes it was covered. Within about 2 days, it was gone and just the peel was left. I use a metal strainer looking thing to shake the good "bedding/food" out, and get the sheds/dead worms out. Now, I do know that if the worms are kept in the fridge, or too cold/cool, they die faster. They say this helps keep them alive, but how can they eat if they never move or anything? It took my colony a while to esablish, BUT its paying off, mainly for my froglets and gecos. My frogs seem to love the mw compared to the crickets, or they just may be too lazy to hunt! LOL. But no joke, at one time i had almost 30 pupates, atleast the same in beatles. Heck, Ive even had the chance to catch a few doing the deed, and looked darned funny........ But all that is besides the point.......... We keep my house around 70 degrees and my mw do fine out in the open. I also read about putting a paper towel into the drawer with the beatles. Gives hiding space, and more space to lay eggs. When I open my beatle drawer they scatter to the paper towel.

On a side note, I had my own trial and error with keeping all of them together. Sometimes it was horrible, the beatles ganged up on the newly turned and still soft shelled beatles and ate them alive. Some of my beatles shells have been damaged by keeping them together like that. So wait untill the shells are atleast a tan/brown color. They go from white which is very soft, to tan which has hardened a little bit, to a reddish/brownish, which is almost completely hard shelled, then black, the final stage.

Now it does take a bit of patience for the mealworms to start producing, just have to be patient. VERY patient. I wish the best of luck to ya!

[ConVexity]

My first winter too....
I'm kinda nervous...

[Poly]

Alright Guys,

Well, this week (most likely Monday ) I am ordering 200 Canadian Nightcrawlers and 200 Meal Worms (made a mistake before, I meant mealworms, not waxworms).

I'm kinda stuck because my one toad now looooves worms and my other toad still wants grasshoppers, so I am ordering the mealworms, hoping that seeing the (sorta) quick moving meal worms, she will eat them, and then I'll mix mealworms and worms, until I can get her started on worms

Will my toads have any problems with mealworms? I plan to feed them every other day to the stubborn toad who (at the moment) won't eat worms. No crickets for me, she she's simply going to have to start eating them!

Thanks,

~Royce

P.S. I'll order waxworms for a treat, I read that there too high in fat to feed as part of a normal diet, but again, I made a mistake before.

[Tori Savage]

Royce, have you ever raised your own mealworms before??

If you haven't, (please keep in mind im no expert, but has raised mealworms before) I could give you a few pointers if you want. But I do wish you the best of luck with everything!!!

[gundam009283]

careful the temperature for earthworms since you get the canadian one, they like it cold unlike the rest. it's said their temp needs to be under 65 otherwise they die off very fast.

[Poly]

Royce, have you ever raised your own mealworms before??

If you haven't, (please keep in mind im no expert, but has raised mealworms before) I could give you a few pointers if you want. But I do wish you the best of luck with everything!!!

Hahaha! Thanks! But I'm not raising them Just keeping them in the fridge...