Serving MealWorms?

[Sally]

Really funny mealworm stories, thanks for the laugh!!

If you are giving mealworms to waxbills, the ones from the pet store are usually way too big, they don't like that size. I get the mini mealworms. Not the mini mealworms from www.minimealworms.com, as those are a different kind of insect, extremely active, and my birds did not like them. My birds like normal mealworms, just tiny size. I order in quantity from Grubco and keep them refrigerated like Ursula said.

[kenny66]

Just some advice on storing mealworms. I order 3kg (about) 7lb at a time and all my birds eat them. There is evidence to suggest that storing mealworms in bran inhibits the uptake of calcium for the birds that eat them, causing significant calcium deficiency. I keep mine in a wheat germ and rice bran mix in a kitty litter tray in the fridge. My birds will not eat them frozen, they have to be moving, so I put them out fresh in the morning. I serve mine in shallow dishes, where they cant crawl over the side of the container. In my case the mealworms stay fresh for ages. I make sue that I dont put to much vegetable matter into the mix for moisture otherwise you will get mould. The rate is 1/4 apple to 1000 mealworms or, as I do, 2 carrot tops to 1000 mealworms. Lizards eat them as do most finches,however my gouldians take some time to get used to them. RFPF, St Helenas, RCCB and jacarinis devour them

[Ursula]

Kenny, that's interesting about the bran, although I don't think I completely understand it. Do you have links to articles about that, or where did you get this info from?

[cindy]

If you want to keep the mealies at room temps and use a substrate that is easy to pick them out of try this trick...whole wheat flour, ground to a powder pellets, you do not need much, mix together....add mealies. Come time to use them use a small loe strainer (holes small enough to let the flour though but not the mealies) and scoop up some of the mixture and pour into the strainer, jiggle it a bit and you have mealies at the bottom.

To feed them say apples and anything like lettuce, carrots, potatoes push the substrate aside and place the food on a small dish in the center of the container....it is like a swarm of mealies descend upon it. Any wet flour remove right away. You could wash your veggies, pat dry and leave out for a few minutes before serving it to them....I mainly used pellets since it it is balanced for birds. I also raised a wide variety of lizards that required cricket and mealies....it was nothing to order 2000 or each every month and set them up future use. I choose not to do mealies with my birds due to the fact not all of them eat them. Plus you need to be very careful with feeding live food that the mealies are not carrying parasites....do not use worms or grubs from bait stores.
Mealies will eat just about anything you want to give them so serve them the same veggies and even pellets you serve your birds. Just remember they are what they eat!!!

[Dayna]

Here is an article on making your own mealworm culture. You just have to change what you gut load them with because what they use in this article is for reptiles. There are also other articles on making cultures of other worms and insects.

http://www.reptileexpert.org/breeding-mealworms.php

[purplejasminevn]

Put them in a bowl with sides and set on the bottom...they will do the rest! Don't use a plate, they will crawl off!

Thanks - I will try this week - I have been feeding them dry worm as the live one just grossed me out
Q

[kenny66]

Kenny, that's interesting about the bran, although I don't think I completely understand it. Do you have links to articles about that, or where did you get this info from?

A reptile/bird/finch breeder in Australia wrote an article following his research which looked at calcium uptake in birds and reptiles. His article explains that bran contains high levels of Phylates which when ingested through maggots/mealworms binds with calcium making it unusable. Anecdotally,it appears that a number of finch/bird breeders are storing mealworms in a different medium such as wheat germ-pollard-rice bran etc. in view of this information. I have seen it discussed on several sites and wanting to be more"safe than sorry" I keep mine in wheatgerm-pollard or rice bran. I dont know if the research is definitive but it appears to have scientific merit. The only site I could find that mentions it with some authority is www.geckodan.com under finch nutrition. As there is no cost difference in keeping mealworm in a different medium, it is probably worthwhile thinking about. I will try and find the other areas where this has been discussed on the web. From memory, I think they are Australia specific.

[DanteD716]

Thanks for everything guys! I do not think I can store these in the fridge though.

[Ursula]

Thanks for the explanation, Kenny! I used wheat bran occasionally when I couldn't get oat bran. Wheat bran it is from now on!! Better safe than sorry.