Mealworm Care Information

Mealworm Life Cycle - Mealworms (especially Giant mealworms) are not recommended as a staple in the diet of captive Bearded Dragons. If the are used, they should be considered a very occasional snack or treat as they have a hard to digest exoskeleton, are quite fatty, and have poor if any nutritional value.

Giant mealworms attain their "giant" size due to being fed growth hormones. Growth hormones interupt their normal life cycle and prevents them from pupating into their larval stage. Instead, they spend their energy on growing.

This is the only way that mealworms can attain the "Giant Mealworm" size, and when growth hormone foods is removed from the diet, the mealworm will resume its pupation cycle from the worm to the larvae to the beetle.

Kricket’s Kritters does not recommend the use of any mealworms or other food products which contain hormones due to their unknown effects on reptiles and other living organisms.


Food Source
Necessary Materials:
Dry food/gut load
"Wet" foods

Potatoes
Apples
Squash
Zucchini
Carrots
Yams
Lettuce (any type)
Vegetable Stems (from salad preparation)

In order to ensure that the mealworms are as nutritious as possible when they are consumed, their diets should include a calcium-rich gut load dry food diet, this can be the same as what you use for your crickets.

o Calcium-rich gut load dry food diet:

Kricket’s Kritters recommends making your own organic gutload using a mixture of the following ingredients: Organic multi-grain cereal, organic bran, organic oats, organic corn meal, organic kelp meal, organic bone meal as well as any other organic dry pulverized grain or vegetable that you’d like to add.


Many pet supply companies do sell insect gut loads which are widely available, however, they contain mostly non-organic ingredients and a lot of preservatives and unnecessary ingredients.

o Spoon the powder directly into the substrate.
+ It should be replenished as necessary.
+ Do not provide too much at one time to prevent mold/bacteria contamination

o Chop up a variety of "wet" foods listed above.
+ Do not provide too much at one time to prevent molding and mealworms are sensitive to too much moisture.
NOTE: On the other hand, if mealworms and superworms are Not provided with enough moisture and food they will eat each other!

If you notice this, add more veggies or feed more frequently!


Water Source (Optional)
Necessary Materials:
Thin fabric scraps made from natural fibers like cotton or hemp
Water

NOTE: Do not use paper towels or newspaper. The mealworms and superworms will eat it, even if it is not wet.

I’ve seen numerous fluorescent pink superworms after they ate through a valentine’s day ad

NOTE: These worms stayed flourescent pink for 3 months, their pupae were also pink!
You don’t want your kritters eating ink and paper via their food sources!

* Mealworms generally receive sufficient moisture as long as they are provided with fresh vegetables on a regular basis.

* If you find that you mealworms do however seem like they might need some additional moisture, you can use a thin fabric rag, or strips. Dampen the fabric with filtered water and lay it directly on the top of the substrate. Make sure that the fabric or paper towel will dry out overnight, you don’t want it to stay wet because molding will occur. The fabric should be re-wet daily, the substrate should be mixed well daily in order to ensure proper aeration and drying, and then the towel or fabric should be rinsed out well and re-placed in the worm bin.

o Remember: If mealworms and superworms are not provided with enough moisture and food they will eat each other!

If you notice this, add more veggies or feed more frequently!


Housing
Necessary Materials:
Small-medium sized plastic/rubber bin with lid
Mealworm substrate

* Put the mealworms into the bin with the substrate. Kricket’s Kritters recommends using Certified-Organic Oats and Bran as a worm substrate. Ensure that there is enough mealworm substrate in the bin to just barely cover the worms.

NOTE: Do not use paper towels or newspaper. The mealworms and superworms will eat it, even if it is not wet.

I’ve seen numerous fluorescent pink superworms after they ate through a valentine’s day ad

NOTE: These worms stayed flourescent pink for 3 months, their pupae were also pink!
You don’t want your kritters eating ink and paper via their food sources!

* Spoon a bit of gutload into the bin of substrate and mix it in. The mealworms will eat the gutload and the substrate that they live in.

* Toss in some "wet" foods.

* Place the lid on the bin. (Note: You may need to provide additional ventilation. If so, cut a large hole in the lid, and hot glue wire window/door screen to the lid. This will prevent escapes of all but the tiniest of crickets. Do not use vinyl door/window screen, the worms and crickets can chew through it!)

* Keep bin at room temperature (65-75*F) or preferably cooler. You can keep your mealworms in your refrigerator if you would like, this will prevent them from pupating and will slow down their growth rate.

o Do not keep super worms in the refrigerator, the cold temps will kill them.


Maintenance

The mealworm bin should be cleaned about once every 2 weeks or as needed.
This includes sifting all subtrate with a colander (strainer) to remove all carcasses, shed exoskeletons, old food, substrate, and waste.

The bin and lid should also be cleaned and dried out.

* Vinegar and baking soda mixed make a great cleaner and it’s safe for the environment.
o Do not use bleach or other cleaners.


The bin should be set back up according to the instructions above, and the substrate and food sources should be replaced.

This schedule keeps mealworms healthy, die-off numbers low, limits bacteria and mold, and also helps with odors.