FINCHforum

I was wondering if someone could tell me where I could buy live mealworms or freeze-dried mealworms for my RCCB. I've been giving them some that I found at Petsmart in the reptile dept. but they are definitly not alive and they don't really like them. The brand name is Flukers. I've also read that they enjoy the bloodworms so that would work too. I think I would rather the freeze dried worms if they would eat it. Thanks for any help.

I got mine at the local feed store at first, now get them on Amazon.com. I buy the dried mealworms, and all my birds love them.

http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Hen-Treats- ... s=meaworms

You can find the freeze-dried bloodworms in the fish food department of any pet store. I order mine online, because I buy the large size container, and I really like Hikari brand. However, any brand should do.

Thanks I'll have to give them a try!

I buy mine at Walmart in a nice sized bag, made by KayTee I think, for feeding wild birds.

I just realized that you also asked for where you could buy live mealworms. I get mine at grubco.com, but have also used rainbowmealworms.net and nyworms.com. I order the mini size, that is preferred by the waxbills.

Another vote for Grubco! It's a great company doing a really good job. http://www.grubco.com/index.cfm

The live mealworms are preferred by most birds. The cordons may only eat the heads. You can gut load them by feeding carrots and kale which are great for the birds. Oatmeal is better than bran as a substrate. Raising your own colony is very cheap and easy.

I also have RCCBs. My pair won't touch dried mealworms , they prefer wiggly live ones so I buy the Timberline (live) mealworms from Petco in the small size. You can also buy them online. They are $2.99 per 100 count. I did some research and found out that bran isn't the healthiest mealworm substrate for finches, so you may want to gutload your mealworms with something healthier as Charlie mentioned above. Something new I've started is feeding my birds small Phoenix worms (i.e., black soldier fly larvae), which I buy online. They are packed with lots of calcium and my birds eat them up.

has any 1 here try the pin size crickets? thanx guys

Has anyone used the canned mini mealworms and mini crickets?

I just bought a pound of dried bloodworms on ebay here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Lb-FREEZE-DRI ... 3cd012240d

I love eBay. So easy to find things and simple to paypal.

I have not tried the canned mealworms or pin-sized crickets. I am afraid of the live crickets getting away and hiding in the house. They are so small, I am sure they would be very hard to catch. I really dislike that sound they make in the evenings and am afraid it would stop me from being able to sleep. I bought a can of dried bloodworms and it's sitting in my cupboard. When I put the dried bloodworms in with the live mealworms, my RCCB's ignore it or use their wings to swish it away and get at the "good" stuff (i.e, mealworms). I wish I knew a better way to serve the bloodworms. Maybe adding water to it would make it more appetizing for them.

My RCCB's also don't seem to care for the f/d bloodworms, but they LOVE the live mealworms (at least the heads!). I give many of my birds live mealworms (that I raise myself, it's very easy to do and then I have a large variety of sizes to offer), and I even go so far as to cut them in half for the birds (so spoiled!). They seem to appreciate that they can then just work the gooey insides out more easily! Sometimes the RCCB's eat them and sometimes not, so I always give them a separate dish with whole worms that they can then decapitate and throw the bodies around! LOL

I used to be able to find a product called Bag-o-Bugs but it seems that is no longer available anywhere. I have bought f/d crickets and ground them up, along with dried mealworms, mixed into the Quicko Goldy food, they seem to eat that fairly well. Picking out what they like best, of course! LOL