Well no pics of the beetle. I put him on the ground to take a pic and he walked right into the heater vent that are on the ground.
Poor beetle, i opened the vent but he was long gone. So ya, on that note, lol. Now some useful info for others wanting to raise your own mealies.
Mealworms
Food: The mealworms will literally eat pretty much anything. They really like grainy type foods. Such as most cereals, wouldn't recommend sugar frosted but plain ole cereal. Like Cheerio's, Rice Krispies, Kellog's stuff like that. Baby chicken food, old bread, oat(that's what I use)-but only the old fashion kind, not the instant oats.
Water source:Apples, banana peels(they go crazy for this), potatos(Use this too), cricket gel, other fruits. Anything moist really they will utilize.
Enclosure:They can't climb plastic so any plastic bin will work. I get mine from Walmart. The substrate needs to be only a few inches. 1-3 inches ideally.
Other info:They shed their skin to grow, so their enclosure will have these skins laying around after each shed. Warmer temps will greatly enhance their growth. Nothing over 85 F, but warmer temps will speed up their growth.
Pupa:In this stage, they don't feed or do anything really, just chill and slowly change. Their called the "alien stage" by many. Look at my previous posts, they do look like some kind of alien, lol. They will wiggle if you squeeze them a bit or put them in direct sunlight. Their legs will turn a reddish color and you know then that your beetle is only a few days away!!!!!!!!
Beetle: Same as mealworms really. When they first change they will be a red color, and will turn black after a few days.
My Setup: The pics have already been posted. I use oats for food and banana peels and potatos as a water source. I have three bins setup. One for mealies,pupa, and then beetles. I will be chnaging the beetles bin every two weeks to get a good supply going. That's about it for now. peace.
