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Sugar Glider 101
Meal Worms
INTRODUCTION
Once upon a time there were 'mealworms'; that's all, no zophobas, no king
mealworms, just plain old mealworms, the larvae of the darkling beetle- a
commercial pest. You could buy them at the local hardware store.
LIFE CYCLE
In the wild, the typical life cycle of the Darkling Beetle (ova - larva - pupa -
imago) takes 12 months, although it can vary from 4 months to 24 months
depending on the climate. Each female beetle lays between 500 and 1000 eggs in
the bran or flour they infest. Don't try looking for them- they are sticky when
they're laid and immediately get covered in flour etc and look just like the
rest of the debris at the bottom of the container.
After about a week, the eggs will hatch, but the larvae are so small that the
first indication you will have is if the flakes of bran move 'by themselves' as
the minute larvae burrow around in the container. The larva will molt its skin
several times as it grows- these freshly molted 'white' larvae are nice and soft
and ideal food- even for baby Dragons. In anything from 3 months to 7 months
they will reach full size and pupate.
Normally, the pupal stage lasts 2 - 3 weeks and the beetle then emerges-
changing from a beige to red; brown and eventually back after about 2 days.
FOOD/ MEDIUM
You can use any kind of cereal bran (wheat, corn, oat etc). I buy mine either
from the local farm feed store or get wheat bran straight off the shelves of the
local supermarket- but it's cheaper from the feed store!
You can make this medium even healthier for your mealworms by adding some
alfalfa flakes, baby cereal or even poultry mash (make sure it has no steroids
or other hormones in it). For your larvae and especially for the beetles, you
should also include raw apple, potato or carrot.
Mealworms are able to absorb water from the air, so unless you live in a very
dry climate or keep your mealworms in a dry room, there is no need to mist them-
if you do, be careful not to overdo it or the bran will turn moldy very quickly.
GETTING STARTED
Mealworms are available by mail order or from your local 'herp' pet store. Some
regular pet stores also sell them as bird food. Check that they are healthy-
nice and round and with no dark brown dead and smelly ones. A lot of pet stores
just stick them in a 'fridge and don't bother to look after them- not a good
source for your breeding colony.
Once you have bought yourself some healthy mealworms- I would suggest at least
100- you are ready to set up your 'colony'. I use the 1 gallon ice cream tubs,
although you can use any flat broad container. The advantage of the ice cream
tub is that you can make breathing holes in it that are the right size and easy
to do.
Place 2 to 3 inches of bran in the bottom of the container (you can sterilize it
in the oven beforehand at 200º Fahrenheit if you want- it will kill grain mites
and flour moth eggs or larvae) and cover this with about 4 layers of newspaper
or burlap (newspaper is cheaper). If you mist your mealworms, be sure to only
mist the paper or burlap to help prevent could.
And there you have it! A mealworm colony. Change the fruit/veg if it dries up or
shows signs of could and keep the bran topped up and you mealworms will live
very happily thank-you. Some authorities say that you should keep the colony
where it can receive normal daylight/nighttime exposure- I haven't found this to
be particularly necessary. Mine live in the basement.
TEMPERATURE
No lower than 40ºF and no higher than 80ºF is the recommendation, but in a
granary, temperatures (especially in the hot South) can reach 90ºF or 100ºF .
Room temperature is fine unless you're in a hurry, in which case anything up to
80ºF is fine.
MAINTENANCE
The mealworms 'poop' is a powdery waste that collects in the bottom of the
container. From time to time it is a good idea to sift this out and just keep
the fresh bran and mealworms. HOWEVER, if you also have beetles in the
container, this 'poop' will probably also have some eggs in it, so you will need
to keep it for months just to be sure you're not throwing the babies out with
the bathwater.
TO MAKE A NEW COLONY
You can remove larvae, pupae or beetles at any time and start a new container.
REFRIGERATION
You can refrigerate your mealworms (42º - 56ºF) but I personally don't recommend
it. They're easy enough to breed, why bother keeping them on store. If you have
too many, you may well be able to sell them to the local pet store!.
DISEASE
When you put your store bought mealworms into their new home for the first time,
DON'T include any of the very dark brown dead ones, or any that look as if they
might be going that way. Choose only the really healthy wriggly ones. There is a
particular kind of disease (probably a virus) that affects mealworms, and it can
decimate the entire colony and make it stink too. A healthy colony of mealworms
smells like- well, bran! If you hate to pick them up, try tipping them out onto
a metal tray (a big baking tray works well) and as they spread out, you can pick
them up with tweezer. That way you only transfer healthy mealworms to the nice
clean environment you have prepared for them, not dead ones, and not infected
food.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Mealworms consist of the following:- Moisture 57%, Protein 24%, Carbohydrates
2.8%, Fibre 2.3%, Calcium .02% (you can increase that by supplementing the bran
with a high calcium baby food) . So you can see that they are quite rich- I
would only use then as treats, only when white and soft and at other times, only
if I had run out of crickets. Don't forget that the evidence is beginning to
show that adult Bearded Dragons eat a lot more vegetation and a lot less 'bugs'
than youngsters- with the amount of Protein in mealworms, you run the risk of
giving your BD's an unhealthy lifestyle if you rely on mealworms too heavily.
And as usual, if you find out anything useful- LET ME KNOW!
Contact us for more info
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