Cricket/Mealworm/Superworm Colonies?

One thing I haven't seen much about on this site is feeder colonies for our leo's. I personally, used to breed crickets on a small scale and didn't find it that difficult, and it did seem to save on buying the lil guys every week, just didn't have enough herps to make it worth my while. I'm considering starting up again but with a mealworm colony, but first wanted to ask if anyone has tried out their own colonies of crickets/mealworms/superworms, and was it worth your while? Did it seem to save you money in the long run? I imagine at least a few of y'all have some experience in this, and would love to get your input.


Also, if this is an idea that is favorable by the more experiences members of this site, is there a section on this topic that I missed? If not, maybe it would be a good idea to educate others on the possibility of supplying their own insects for their leos, since they could control the diet and nutritional value.

UPDATE:

Of course I find a sticky with information on breeding feeders minutes after I post this.. lol But would still love to know others opinions on if it is worth it, and cost effective.

I am planning to start a mealworm colony in the next little bit. I'm just gathering info and planning where to do it. I know my mom wouldn't appreciate having it where guests/visitors could see it! LOL!

I really think it will be worth my while once I get it going. I have 3 leos, a tree frog (who LOVES his worms lol) and a golden gecko. I also want a crestie one day. It will save a lot of money for me, as mealworms near here are $3.00 for 100. and I use more than a 100 every two weeks minimum! :P

We do have a caresheet made by two members on the care and breeding of mealworms and dubai roaches. You can look at it here. Unfortunately, you can't get dubai roaches in Canada (where I am from), otherwise I'd start a colony of them as well.

Thanks for replying kathstew Yes, I found the sticky you linked to right as you posted your comment. Not sure how I missed it initially.

Is it possible to have dubai's sent to you by another member here on LGF? That could be a way to start a colony, if its something you really wish to do I would be willing to do so, if I could find some in my area. I honestly haven't looked as crickets and mealworms have always worked perfectly for me, but I am curious.

Hey there Dosercody,
I currently have a decent colony of mealies goin i have my about 100-300 itty bitty baby mealies that are actually my 2nd generation. My older mealies in the colony i have i would have to say nearly 1000 mealies now but there still not quite large enough to be feeders for all my reptiles. I also have just took on the task of trying to start my own Dubia Roach colony so we will see how that goes over the next few months. I had given up on crickets when LOL low and behold one of my Cricket tubs started hatching out little one so now i have about 100 if not more 1-1.5 week old pinheads that i am now raising :-D

No problem! haha, don't you hate when that happens? You find what you need just as someone else gives it to you? I do that ALL the time.

I wish we could do that, but dubais are actually illegal in Canada. It really sucks.

You are so kind to offer though, thank you!

Apparently leos LOVE those roaches, so I would have loved to give them, but alas, it can not be :P

haha I want to get some of those roaches.. but my mom would go crazy. She tolerates the other bugs but not roaches lol I want some pet Madagascar hissing cockroaches but she said no

Whether it's worth it or not really depends on how many pets you got that will eat them. Having your colony will save you money in the long run usually, but for people with only 1-2 pets it's really not worth it when you can buy bulk once a month or two and not have to deal with cleaning, feeding, and the noise & smell of feeders.

Nothing will make me think having a cricket colony is worth it simply because I don't have a place to lock them away so I can't hear the chirping lol. They also stink bad, they attract flies, they jump, to me they are just royal pain in the rear.

But dubia roaches on the other hand, perfect feeders to keep a colony of if your state/country allows it. They don't make noise, they don't jump, don't fly, they surprisingly don't smell either. You give them what they need, leave them alone, and they'll multiply like crazy.

Mealworms are worth it again if you have a lot of pets to feed. They are smaller in size so if you have adult geckos, they may not like mealworms as much. So that's something you want to keep in mind. They also multiply by the hundreds and thousands, so if you don't have a lot of pets to feed, there comes a time when you need to sell them off or even give them away. They are fairly easy to breed and take care of, they just stink like there's no tomorrow heh. Keep in mind it will take quite a few months for the eggs to hatch into small tiny mealworms. So it takes a bit to get them up and going.

I just started a superworm colony, not really sure why I didn't do that sooner. They are more preferred by my larger geckos, so I wish I had the colony going earlier. You treat them like you treat mealworms, pretty much the same care taking minus the refrigeration since superworms can't handle cold temperatures or they'll die.

Anyways good luck, having your own feeder colonies really can save you money in the long run. But to some people, it's not worth it because they don't have enough pets to feed them with.

@kathryn wow i didnt know that Dubias were illegal in Canada. My leos and my CWD's LOVE LOVE LOVE them roaches. The guy i got my Dubia from had a few of his dubia nymphs end up in one of his Superworm colonies (he thinks his kids did it) but he said the Dubias were thriving mixed in with his superworms soooo i could send you some superworms with a few dubia "accidentally mixed in" with the supers for you to try out lol

oooo that reminds me.. be careful if you are breeding morioworms/superworms.. some of mine escaped and now there are some massive black beetle hiding around my bedroom

Dubias are illegal in Canada and also Florida here in U.S.

@sarah LOL thats not a good thing. My morio's that i have seperated to pupate are in a small fishing tackle container actually that has an attached lid that snaps closed and i check them a few times a day to ensure i have no escapees

@mardy i did not know that actually. Im glad they arent illegal here in CO and i agree with you on the Cricket front but like i said i didnt think any of the tubs that i had cricket eggs in were any good till one day i checked it and there they all were crawling around so not gonna kill so imma raise them up till there big enough to feed off to my 2 Anoles and that will be the end of it LOL i def dont want to keep breeding them they are obnoxious little feeders lol

haha i know! :O it's scary that there are some beetle somewhere..
I used to just keep them in the plastic container that the pet store give you but they managed to escape from them somehow.. so I have them in one of those cricket keepers now.

kathstew:

Sorry about them being illegal! Strange how some things are in area... Here in California Ferrets and Hedgehogs are illegal, both of which I would love >.<

And thanks to everyone who replied! I respond to each and every one of you but mostly you're holding your own conversations so I think this will suffice lol

Yeah, weird laws. Sarah on here has some awesome African Giant Land Snails, that I wanted to buy a baby of, but they are illegal here in Canada as well. It sucks.
And then, certain things are banned just in my area. Its really weird. :/

And sorry about the private convos lol

oops sorry about that

I hope my dubai roach caresheet is useful to you

Good luck with the breeding

Please keep us posted on your progress

I have friends who breed their own live food and they say it's really easy they only have a couple of reptiles so they breed superworms and mealworms only.. but if you have loads of reptiles, dubai roaches are a really good option