What do mealworms turn into?

[Rick]

I have some of the regular mealworms. I feed them to my herps and sometimes to the mantids. Some of these worms have turned into a "cocoon" for lack of a better description. Do they pupate into something else like a beetle or something?

 

[Jesse]

Yes they molt into a pupae, then 2 weeks or so later they molt into an adult beetle

 

[Rick]

Oh ok. Yeah I thought it was a beetle of some sort. Thanks.

 

[herpfan]

yup, become wee flour beetles ive found that if you leave the beetlesin the tub they can become a self sustaining breeding colony for a good few months, sometimes they dont however, i havent made any specific attempts to breed them, so i guess even if you dont try it sometimes happens by luck

Kev 8)

 

[Jesse]

Not to be a pain in the ...... but "flour beetles" are actually the official common name of the beetles in the genus Tribolium, mealworms are "mealworm beetles" (Tenebrio molitor).

I've had a self sustaining mealworm colony for 3 years now.

 

[looseyfur]

jesse is 100% spot on.

loosey

 

[Rick]

How do you make a colony of them? Might save me some money.

 

[Leah]

Here is a link to raising all KINDS of different insects.

http://www.justbugs.com/index.php?option=c...21a8df37abf71ba

 

[Rick]

Thanks Leah. I started doing my own crickets awhile back and that was nice. I may give these a try as well.

 

[Leah]

Roaches are a good one too, really easy, prolific and they dont smell as bad as crickets.

 

[looseyfur]

if you go the roaches way try B.craniffer I had succes with them and they cant climb glass so theres no need to have to grease the top of the tank...

also you may want to try termites! they rock and are easy to raise. If you goto www.arachnoboards.com and got the fourm on Insects you will find sticky posts on how to raise all manner of feeders.

whoo!

loosey

:twisted:

 

[Jesse]

When it comes to mantid feeding, glass climbers(lobster roaches) are a better choice than any of the blaberus spp. because they climb up to the top where the mantid is, the blaberus either dig in the substrate or don't move around enough to attract the mantids attention. I fed termite workers(R. tibialis) to 1st and 2nd instar S. lineola and they were able to bite off the tibia of the mantids legs! M. paykullii and P. agrionina on the other hand were capable of eating the termites without getting bit.

 

[looseyfur]

ya I raised false deathheads for trantulas and scorps and didnt even have a top on their tank... but they were sure easy to raise, you are right thought I suppose they wouldnt be that great for mantids.

Doh...

loosey

 

[herpfan]

thanks jesse, i read that somewhere ages ago but obvio9usly the information was faulty, thanks for correcting me

Kev 8)