Mealworm in a Pinch- I Think Reaper Likes It!

[Bex]

Bad weather has seriously delayed my feeders, and Reaper Man here hasn't eaten in days. Fruit flies don't seem to be cutting it for him anymore, and I ordered some bigger flies, but they won't be here for a bit. So!

Mealworms. Easily available, and they had really small ones. I was a bit worried it would be too much for him to handle, so I pulled out the smallest one I could find. I tried pre-crushing the head, but he wasn't interested at all in a dead one. A wiggling one, though? Snatched it right out of my tweezers and he is chowing down like a CHAMP!

I don't plan to make these a regular part of his diet- I'll continue mostly feeding him flies. But I'm glad he's eating. His poor little butt was looking so flat. Damn this winter weather!

 

[Firenkyo]

Same thing happened to me last month! Cilantro was MUCH more picky and eventually I had to cut one of the mealworms in half and basically shove it in her face for her to try it. Once she did, she loved it!
Flies are such a pain to get, I don't think anyone breeds them locally here. I mostly order from Josh's Frogs but it's pretty common for them to be delayed

 

[Bex]

Same thing happened to me last month! Cilantro was MUCH more picky and eventually I had to cut one of the mealworms in half and basically shove it in her face for her to try it. Once she did, she loved it!
Flies are such a pain to get, I don't think anyone breeds them locally here. I mostly order from Josh's Frogs but it's pretty common for them to be delayed

Yeah- I'm super glad he took it. I was a bit worried about it like, biting him, but he took it down like a champ.

I ordered mine from Josh's Frogs- they're shipping, but it snowed like crazy here yesterday into midday today. So I can't really blame them.

 

[TheWolven]

Yeah- I'm super glad he took it. I was a bit worried about it like, biting him, but he took it down like a champ.

I ordered mine from Josh's Frogs- they're shipping, but it snowed like crazy here yesterday into midday today. So I can't really blame them.

There are cheaper alternatives to Josh's Frogs. You can get giant blue bottle flies from Rainbow Mealworms and houseflies from spiderpharm.
The blue bottle flies come as maggots and can be kept in the fridge for 4-6 weeks! You just got set portions of them aside to hatch out. I get my flies for about $15-ish and that includes shipping.

 

[Firenkyo]

There are cheaper alternatives to Josh's Frogs. You can get giant blue bottle flies from Rainbow Mealworms and houseflies from spiderpharm.
The blue bottle flies come as maggots and can be kept in the fridge for 4-6 weeks! You just got set portions of them aside to hatch out. I get my flies for about $15-ish and that includes shipping.

Rainbow mealworms is pretty good! If you're looking to buy isopods for a cleanup crew I highly recommend them, my package got lost but after a week everybody was still alive and in good shape. I had an...incident with the blue bottle flies I ordered where several of them escaped and haunted my apartment for the next month, so I'm a little scared to order them again (not Rainbow Mealworm's fault at all, but I think I prefer smaller houseflies that they don't sell).
I'll have to check out spiderpharm!

 

[luvhannah_]

I have been wanting to feed my ghost mantids mealworms, what instar is Reaper Man?

 

[Bex]

I have been wanting to feed my ghost mantids mealworms, what instar is Reaper Man?

Hi! I believe he is L4 (my profile picture is of him before he molted so he is quite a bit bigger now). I got mini ones so the one I gave him was pretty small.