does anyone breed their mealworms or crickets? My husband and I have decided to try and breed our mealworms ( when they turn into beetles) and crickets so we can just by pass the pet store and save money, exspecially since i want to get a panther cham eventually i figure this would save money and insure that we always have food on hand for them and know what our feeders are being fed. does anyone else produce their own food for their cham and any tips
breeding mealworms or crickets
- Thread starter Stahlzoo
- Start date
Ninkylou
New Member
If you wanted to do worms I would do Superworms over mealworms. I think that the mealworms are not as nutritious (they have a lower meat to shell ratio) and I think they are harder to gut load.
I love keeping supers I don't breed them, although I have had one or two hide and pupate.
There are a few good videos on breeding them.
I hate crickets, i think they stink and are noisy I would never breed them. Consider Dubia Roaches, they breed well and have a high meat to shell ratio. They are clean and silent. They look more like pill bugs than roaches and don't climb or fly.
I love keeping supers I don't breed them, although I have had one or two hide and pupate.
There are a few good videos on breeding them.
I hate crickets, i think they stink and are noisy I would never breed them. Consider Dubia Roaches, they breed well and have a high meat to shell ratio. They are clean and silent. They look more like pill bugs than roaches and don't climb or fly.
fluxlizard
Avid Member
I breed crickets, mealworms and superworms plus 4 species of tropical roach and I ranch soldier fly larvae in the summer months.
Tropical roaches (recommend dubia to start or maybe discoidalis) are the easiest insect to start breeding. They don't require a lot of space and are live-bearing so there is no egg incubation to deal with. Babies can be born and raised in the same container as the adults. The two species I mentioned above cannot climb smooth plastic surfaces, so raising in a 20 gallon or larger storage container is easy.
Mealworms are the next easiest thing. My way requires a good bit of space, but results in zillions of worms. I simply move all my beetles into a new 15 qt storage container each week. Their food is the substrate (it is not true they cannot be gutloaded easily- they will happily eat anything crickets eat and were found in one lab to gutload calcium better than crickets- they are a little bit higher in fat than crickets though and have less "meat" per worm than a superworm and more exoskeleton- not a big deal but should not make up the majority of the diet) plus a bit of fresh veggies or fruit. I put a paper towel on top of the food/substrate to provide a hiding place/climbing/egg laying place. In a 15 qt container you can easily have 20,000+ mealworms. If the beetles aren't moved each week, they will eat some of the eggs and baby worms. But if you don't need a zillion like me, then it's no big deal and you can stand to loose a few to cannibalism. You could probably use a shallow substrate for your beetles and move them each week and then combine all the substrate from a single month into a single container to save space. Life cycle is 12-16 weeks, so my way requires 16 of those storage tubs, if you combine to monthly tubs you would only need 3 or 4 (just keep piling eggs or baby worms into thier siblings tubs).
Crickets are a bit more work- I collect eggs daily or adults will eat eggs. Eggs have to be incubated and kept moist. I premoisten the substrate. Vermiculite or dirt) and after collecting the eggs keep them sealed. I use food storage container (rubbermaid rectangle) 2 weeks at 84 degrees.
Crickets really require quite a bit of space IMO. Partly because it takes the babies several days to hatch and another couple weeks to all jump out of the egg containers- I'm working on that now- sanding the inside of the containers so they can climb out but not back in again. a 30 gallon clear storage tub is slippery so pinheads can't climb out and large enough for 4 egg containers, then I start another. I rough the bottom and halfway up the sides with sandpaper so the crickets can grip and climb the walls part way. Crickets live 6-8 weeks- for me a new tub every 4 days, but again, if you don't need zillions you could combine and save room. They are also very noisy- I wouldn't want them in my house.
I keep the crickets on heat tape at 85 degrees. I do the same for the mealworms, but have kept those in the past at room temp- if you only have a few lizards you don't need heat tape, they will breed fast enough for a few without it. For the crickets you will need something- heat tape or a light bulb or something. I keep the tropical roaches on a heat tape set at 95. Again- in the past I kept at lizard building temp and they would breed faster when it was warm and slower or not at all during the cool months.
Tropical roaches (recommend dubia to start or maybe discoidalis) are the easiest insect to start breeding. They don't require a lot of space and are live-bearing so there is no egg incubation to deal with. Babies can be born and raised in the same container as the adults. The two species I mentioned above cannot climb smooth plastic surfaces, so raising in a 20 gallon or larger storage container is easy.
Mealworms are the next easiest thing. My way requires a good bit of space, but results in zillions of worms. I simply move all my beetles into a new 15 qt storage container each week. Their food is the substrate (it is not true they cannot be gutloaded easily- they will happily eat anything crickets eat and were found in one lab to gutload calcium better than crickets- they are a little bit higher in fat than crickets though and have less "meat" per worm than a superworm and more exoskeleton- not a big deal but should not make up the majority of the diet) plus a bit of fresh veggies or fruit. I put a paper towel on top of the food/substrate to provide a hiding place/climbing/egg laying place. In a 15 qt container you can easily have 20,000+ mealworms. If the beetles aren't moved each week, they will eat some of the eggs and baby worms. But if you don't need a zillion like me, then it's no big deal and you can stand to loose a few to cannibalism. You could probably use a shallow substrate for your beetles and move them each week and then combine all the substrate from a single month into a single container to save space. Life cycle is 12-16 weeks, so my way requires 16 of those storage tubs, if you combine to monthly tubs you would only need 3 or 4 (just keep piling eggs or baby worms into thier siblings tubs).
Crickets are a bit more work- I collect eggs daily or adults will eat eggs. Eggs have to be incubated and kept moist. I premoisten the substrate. Vermiculite or dirt) and after collecting the eggs keep them sealed. I use food storage container (rubbermaid rectangle) 2 weeks at 84 degrees.
Crickets really require quite a bit of space IMO. Partly because it takes the babies several days to hatch and another couple weeks to all jump out of the egg containers- I'm working on that now- sanding the inside of the containers so they can climb out but not back in again. a 30 gallon clear storage tub is slippery so pinheads can't climb out and large enough for 4 egg containers, then I start another. I rough the bottom and halfway up the sides with sandpaper so the crickets can grip and climb the walls part way. Crickets live 6-8 weeks- for me a new tub every 4 days, but again, if you don't need zillions you could combine and save room. They are also very noisy- I wouldn't want them in my house.
I keep the crickets on heat tape at 85 degrees. I do the same for the mealworms, but have kept those in the past at room temp- if you only have a few lizards you don't need heat tape, they will breed fast enough for a few without it. For the crickets you will need something- heat tape or a light bulb or something. I keep the tropical roaches on a heat tape set at 95. Again- in the past I kept at lizard building temp and they would breed faster when it was warm and slower or not at all during the cool months.
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thank you for all the info, sounds like its alot of work lol. I went and bought a couple dozen of adult cricket, and have started the meal worms but am keeping them at room temp which for us is about 70-75 degrees. i guess we will see how it goes, maybe i will be moving the crickets outside in the summer and see what happens
fluxlizard
Avid Member
Work isn't too bad- mostly it just takes up a lot of space and making up the dry food a couple times a week takes a bit of time.
Mealworms- if you only have a lizard or two, you really can keep things simple. I was thinking the other day that as a kid the only insect I could get was the mealworm and I had a colony in a big quaker oatmeal tub that lasted me years- most of my childhood, feeding a number of lizards and toads and things out of that single container colony that had all life stages together.
Really- you should check into the dubia or discoidalis roaches. Roaches sounds icky but these species really aren't, and they are soo easy and a very good food as a staple, compared to say mealworms which are more appropriate as a food for variety rather than a staple.
