Mealworm Life Cycle

[LoveForLizards]

On a negative note, my mum threw away my last colony
Apparently they were all dead or dying, no, a few of the beetles were. Tbf they have been alive for about 4 months now.
And I even told her that some were dying so I had cleared them out and would do it again when I got home. Mums

[Dom1991]

Originally Posted by LoveForLizards

The first few beetles I put in the RUB went fine with no problems with a oats/bran substrate and a few pieces of carrot, they munched on that for a while but as more beetles hatched and I put them in, some of the older ones started to eat the younger ones; was this because of hunger or are they territorial?

Probably territorial, they will eat the substrate. When you put the beetles in are they still white or do you let them harden up and go brown/black first?

I left them in a separate tub for a day or 2 to harden so they were a reddy-brown colour, was this still too soon?

Originally Posted by LoveForLizards

Around 3 days ago, some of the beetles have started to die, so I was wondering what's a beetle's lifespan usually?

IME, anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months. The beetles that got fed fresh veggies more often didn't live as long.

So in that case, like you said below should I just stick to the bran if veg means a shorter life?

Originally Posted by LoveForLizards

Yep, fine eating the bran alone, they won't starve if they have a grain substrate.

And finally, shall I just leave them to it now seeing as I've noticed the very bottom of the substrate is finer so there's probably eggs or babies?

[Babycakes]

Update - grated fruit/veg is a HUGE no-no. Went mouldy and killed my colony

Damn

Starting again at the weekend.

[Joshh]

should i use all-bran or oats? also i feed mine apples and grated carrot is that ok?

[Esfa]

Hay is awesome for them. Plus it smells nice.

[mikemike118]

if they like tesco, wonder if they like asda?

also got 2 questions about the beetles

1. I noticed the beetles have wings, but can they fly?

2. Would you recommend the beetles for tarantulas? or are they too hard? if so i might try and breed them!

[aceboidz]

I have just made a trip to wilko, and bought a storage unit (stack)
I highly reccomend this stack, because if you are wanting to breed mealworms, tub 1 would be the mealworms, tub 2 for aliens (no substate needed)
tub 3 would be the beetles.
If your not looking to do it big scale, but then again you dont want to do it small scale, this is the way to go as they are reasonable sized tubs ( 6ltr )

[Ailsa]

How long will it take before you start seeing new worms?

[aceboidz]

About 3 months

[turpin's corner]

I'll have a go at setting this up at the weekend....

I skimmed throught this thread so apologies if its already been mentioned, but is the setup the same for breeding morio's...??

I think I'll also try to breed waxworms... (seen a separate thread for that on here)...