Best bug to raise?

[Laney]

I bought a 50 count of mealworms and I apparently have awful luck or did something very wrong since a lot died! I currently only have 1 beetle and a most likely dead pupa.. should I raise dubias, crickets, or stick to mealworms? I have rats and a toad so I'm not worried about having too many bugs that I won't use and I'm most likely getting another T in the near future!

 

[PanzoN88]

I bought a 50 count of mealworms and I apparently have awful luck or did something very wrong since a lot died! I currently only have 1 beetle and a most likely dead pupa.. should I raise dubias, crickets, or stick to mealworms? I have rats and a toad so I'm not worried about having too many bugs that I won't use and I'm most likely getting another T in the near future!

I would say stick to mealworms.

 

[m0lsx]

Mealworms will eventually die off, like most things. I find around a month, at most, is the most likely period to keep mealworms. So they are long life compared to crickets.

What are you feeding? Roaches would survive longer & breed if you keep them correctly, but if you are feeding slings, would be much too big. I use mealworms for all of my slings. I behead the mealworm, as like that they cannot burrow & possibly later return as a darkling beetle.

Beheading & then feeding whole mealworms. Make the mealworms soft insides easily accessible to slings & also makes them easy to spot & retrieve. Thus avoiding mold which will sometimes start after as little as 48 hours if dead food is not found & retrieved.

For me, mealworms are easy to get, cheap to buy & long lived. So make the best sling food. At end of life, I pop the mealworm container, into a bag, tie it shut & then put it in the freezer overnight to humanly dispose of any surviving mealworms, beetles, pupae. I have beheaded & fed both pupae & the darkling beetles. But as mealworms are so cheap, I tend to only feed the mealworms. Darkling beetles give off a gas when attacked, so T's tend not to eat live beetles, plus darkling beetles can bite.

 

[Laney]

I would say stick to mealworms.

Alright thanks!

 

[Laney]

Mealworms will eventually die off, like most things. I find around a month, at most, is the most likely period to keep mealworms. So they are long life compared to crickets.

What are you feeding? Roaches would survive longer & breed if you keep them correctly, but if you are feeding slings, would be much too big. I use mealworms for all of my slings. I behead the mealworm, as like that they cannot burrow & possibly later return as a darkling beetle.

Beheading & then feeding whole mealworms. Make the mealworms soft insides easily accessible to slings & also makes them easy to spot & retrieve. Thus avoiding mold which will sometimes start after as little as 48 hours if dead food is not found & retrieved.

For me, mealworms are easy to get, cheap to buy & long lived. So make the best sling food. At end of life, I pop the mealworm container, into a bag, tie it shut & then put it in the freezer overnight to humanly dispose of any surviving mealworms, beetles, pupae. I have beheaded & fed both pupae & the darkling beetles. But as mealworms are so cheap, I tend to only feed the mealworms. Darkling beetles give off a gas when attacked, so T's tend not to eat live beetles, plus darkling beetles can bite.

I'm feeding a Lasiodora parahybana! She's 3 years old but pretty small, I'm not too worried about beetles since if I'm planning to get more Ts I'll end up breeding mealies for em! Makes it easier since I have 2 rats and a toad I'll be feeding as well