meal worms

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sun May 11, 2008 7:49 am

Does anyone know where I could order mealworms from (except Flukers)
And please do not suggest me harvesting my own.... I can barely take them from the cans.

Post by **Sally** » Sun May 11, 2008 11:30 am

I have ordered mealworms from these sources:

www.grubco.com and www.nyworms.com

I order the mini size. I just placed an order with each place to compare. The price is comparable (I ordered 10,000), but I believe the ones from NY Worms were smaller. Since I am offering these to small waxbills, I like them to be as small as possible. But both those companies are excellent. I have ordered from Fluker's in the past, but they arrived in a box with screen over the openings, and worms were escaping all over the place.

A few hints with the mealworms. When they arrive, from either place, they are in a fabric sack inside a cardboard shipping box. Inside the fabric sack are sheets of crumpled newspaper for the worms to cling to. Do not open that fabric sack just anywhere, or you will have worms everywhere! I use an empty Rubbermaid tub, open the sack carefully, and dump worms and newspaper into the tub. Then I knock off all the worms clinging to the sack. Then, very carefully open out each sheet of newspaper and knock all the worms off it. The crumpled newspaper acts like a trampoline for worms, so if you aren't careful, worms go flying thru the air (you wouldn't believe how far they can fly!). Once you have all the worms in the bottom of your tub, you can then put them in small containers like margarine tubs, with lots of holes punched in the lids. I add some wheat bran and a slice of potato or some cabbage, let them rehydrate, and then I store them in the refrigerator.

The first time I received worms in the fabric sack, I opened it in my kitchen, on the island. I had worms everywhere! I found worms for days, and no telling how many I never found! Now I not only use the Rubbermaid tub, but I do all of this on the tailgate of my truck, so no more loose worms in my house!

This will be a very wriggly mass, quite disgusting the first time, but you get used to it. Just picture RCCB babies as an incentive! Yesterday, I saw one of my RCCB fledlings in the worm dish, happily eating entire worms--yay!! On second thought, I am perpetuating their need for live food, maybe I should take those worms away from the babies.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sun May 11, 2008 2:43 pm

Thank you Sally so much for all the wonderful info. You are just a marvelous source of good information. I have a real problem with these worms...... I hate them! But my birds love them. I am going to order some from them. I had some problems with Flukers.
I think I will just pass this information on to my husband and see if he will do the dirty work. And I will enjoy watching the birds eat them. Thanks again!

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Sun May 11, 2008 6:18 pm

df,

We offer the exo terra canned meal worms. Check them out at this link. They dead cooked in the can. We do not farm them and found these to be better than freeze dried for birds that demand plump and juicy worms. Sould be interested in them contact us for bulk rates if you plan on ordering more than a couple of cans.

http://www.fairestfinches.com/catalog/i ... 267078.htm

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sun May 11, 2008 7:24 pm

Thank you. I have bought those from you and plan to buy more. My birds liked them I just wanted to give them the real deal also.]

Bonzo · Post by **Bonzo** » Sun May 11, 2008 8:50 pm

fairestfinches wrote:df,

We offer the exo terra canned meal worms. Check them out at this link. They dead cooked in the can. We do not farm them and found these to be better than freeze dried for birds that demand plump and juicy worms. Sould be interested in them contact us for bulk rates if you plan on ordering more than a couple of cans.

http://www.fairestfinches.com/catalog/i ... 267078.htm

I only have 2 Zebs an that can looks BIG, your web site says they only last up to 1 week in the fridge

Seems like it would be a waste for me

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:17 am

Aren't there any pet shops in GA where you live?
I buy little containers of them in either 50 or 100. Look in the reptile section. Most pet stores have them kept in a small frige.
I get mine at Petco for less than $3. I don't keep them cold. They seem to last longer.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:37 am

I find that by buying smaler mealworm and then keeping them in the fridge they stay small a lot longer, slows down the metabolism. at present I am using approx 500-1000 mealworm a week, so have started to breed my own have about 1000 little black bugs in a container at present so hopefully in a couple of months I'll be able to stop making someone else rich lol

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon May 12, 2008 6:24 am

[quote="atarasi"]Aren't there any pet shops in GA where you live?

We have a Pet Supply Plus. I will go there and see if they have some.
I noticed you don't have to pay shipping on these if Iorder them, but I really dont need soooo many at a time. I only have about 20 birds and 4 o-6 of those won't touch them. ]

Post by **Sally** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:34 pm

I forgot to add that when I refrigerate them, it is like they are hibernating, they grow very slowly, but you need to take them out about once a week, let them warm up and give them a slice of potato or cabbage, then refrigerate them again. They last quite a while in the refrigerator, but if you don't take them out from time to time and feed them, they will dry up and die.

Bonzo · Post by **Bonzo** » Mon May 12, 2008 5:29 pm

EWWWWWWW

Now i'm feeding Wormes

YUCKY

* I taut I shal a puddy cat * I DID I DID shal a puddy cat

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:22 am

Sally, if you keep them in the fridge try keeping them in rolled oats (unprocessed) instead of bran. I've found with the oats that they will eat it even while in the fridge eliminating the need to feed them every few days

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Tue May 13, 2008 9:58 pm

Bonzo-

We have a can half that size that we just got in and haven't got it listed on the web site yet. This can has between 1000-1250 worms per can. You could try them and see how long they last and then decide if you would want ot get the big or small cans.

Best part is there is no feeding them!

We are also getting in a couple of the Exoterra Vivicator. The Vivicator vibrates so the worms will move in the serving dish to entice birds that will only eat live food. We'll be trying a couple of them out and report on how we like them.

E-mail me for prices if your interested and in the mean time I'll try to get the new smaller can added to the web site.