Mealworm substrate alternatives?

[Linds]

I've pretty well always bred my own worms, as I find it cost virtually nothing, is hassle free, and gives me complete quality control. Well... long story made short... my house has been overtaken by moths, no thanks to a batch of grains we got from the Bulk Barn. Nonetheless, they absolutely thrive with grains, and I just cannot keep any grains in an open environement anymore (they even find their way in to certain kinds of jars and stuff :eek: ). Has anyone ever tried breeding mealworms on any other types of substrates? Beta Chip? Peat moss? Carefresh? I don't know if the mealworms would ingest this type of substrate, or be happy enough with fruits and veggies provided? Would they breed in this sort of environment? I'm really hoping I don't have to discontinue breeding them :confused:

[bighillreptiles]

If you are having a problam with the grain than put it in the frezer for two weeks and that should kill off the moths we keep all of the Parrot food there for the same reason

[Linds]

Hehehe... too late for that step though. The moths have overtaken and I really don't see them going away. We've done our best to lock away their food sources, but the moths have taken to laying their eggs in cracks in caging, behind pictures, cracks in shelving. I'm constantly running around trying to clean in places, but they are just ongoing. It's way past the point of prevention, and unfortunately due to all the animals in my house, it is impossible for us to even consider fumigation. I'm just trying to do my best not to encourage them anymore, and kill what I can find, to keep them minimized at best :/

[Tim and Julie B]

I have successfully kept them in vermiculite, and they have even bred in it. I just toss in a couple of lettuce leaves and some dry cereal once in a while.

Julie

[mice4you]

I was once told by a friend in the US that he was using saw dust for his mealworms. I have never tried it but it sounds like it would work as it would be fine enough for the mealworms to crawl through

[lostwithin]

I have also heard of people using sawdust, I never tried it because I worried about the effects the phenols in the sawdust might have on the reptiles.

Devon

[Linds]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I'm gonna go give the Beta Chip a try since I already have that and see how it works out :)

[bighillreptiles]

move all of your incets out for a few days and get a vapona no pest strip in the room for three days and thay are gone i keep one in the bird room all the time and one in the snake room and thay realy do work $12.00 at home depo

[asphyxia]

I use coconut substrate and it works well for me


Cheers
Brian

[Slannesh]

On a lighter note.

You could breed and release a gecko army to deal with the moths.
Then, you'd have a lot of geckos... but that's ok... Monitors and snakes will take care of those....

After that I think you go to tigers and bears.

Eventually you just move :)

[manville]

I use oats for the mealworms. They eat it and live on it. Ive been breeding them for a while now.

[Lindze]

i remember as a kid we had some kind of lizard (i dont really remember as it was a LONG time ago) and we kept its meal worms in rolled oats like manville said he did. The worms loved it, we added some other food periododically but from what i remember they didnt need much

[Linds]

Oats = grains = moth food and nesting material.

I've always bred my mealies in a variety of grains including rolled oats, 12 grain mix, rye flakes, pablum, etc., but now need to use something inedible.

I'm gonna give the beta chip a show since I have some leftover. Should that fail I think I will try the coconut fiber. Thanks for the replies! :)

[CARLiTO_]

the petstore i buy my feeders told me they use breadcrumbs for mealworms.