Mealworms and crickets....

Hi, I would like to ask how everyone stores their mealies?

Do you just keep them in the tub they come in and gut load them in that, or is it better to use a reuseable carton like an ice cream tub or something which can be washed out (or maybe 2 to rotate an in-use and ready cleaned one).

I know a few breed them so can feed direct from the breeder population, but I'm not planning on bredding mealies, just buying them every week or so....... which leads to next question of how long can you keep mealies before they go off?

I had some live mealies in summer which I fed to the garden birds (the blackbirds loved them!) but they somehow got a bit damp and smelly (do they sweat?) in the warm weather. Is this normal, or had they gone off a bit?


Also, I'm currently setting up a semi-aquarium to keep some fire belly toads in and will be feeding them crickets - can hogs also eat crickets, and if so do you treat them the same as mealies in terms of how many and how often to feed?

I keep mine in these:


I have one twice as deep for my fridge stock. I get them out of the fridge once a week, let them warm up, and feed them. The ones I'm breeding from, I leave out in room temperature and feed every couple of days (same with the beetles, and babies).

Room temp ones move more, turn into aliens quicker, and need feeding more. Prolonging their life, you need to stick them in the fridge. They still need to eat, just only once a week.

Ice cream tubs hould be fine. I use tesco value porridge oats, and their cheapest wheatabix mixed up together as a substrate. Sieve them when they arrive to get rid of the frass (poo), then toss them into your prepared tub.

You want to stop them getting damp - if they are active and sealed, then they'll get damp (they are living, ergo they respire). I don't normally have a lid on my room temp ones for this reason. Damp mealworms are not happy mealworms.

Assuming they are kept dry, I can't see them going 'off' as such. You'll get dead ones (black), or they'll pupate into aliens though, eventually.

As for crickets, well, for my locusts, I used a Curv'e'keepa, chin sand, half an egg carton, and lots of leafy greens. I don't breed them (too hard, mealworms are fairly DIY, with the 'yourself' bit meaning the mealworms, not us humans!), but in the tiny tubs, they didn't look happy, and it is too hard to feed them. That and crickets, I have heard, eat each other in crampt conditions, ergo the boxes they come in can't be good for that.

As for how many, here:
Live, gutloaded:
Mealworms: 33.42% fat, 53.42%, protein, 4.47% fiber
Crickets (on average): 20.00% fat, 71.00%, protein, 10.67% fiber
Black Field Cricket: 36.04% fat, 47.45% protein
Brown House Cricket: 15.02% fat, 67.58% protein

So crickets are generally much healthier than mealworms (black field being the exception there). Obviously that is an average, I've seen other numbers, but most are fairly similar to that. Bodhi went off locusts, so I haven't tried crickets yet, roaches are her favourite, but when she was eating locusts, I was giving one to three a day, in addition to her mealworm ration.

I keep my mealies in the fridge until needed,I put apple in with them when they have warmed up out the fridge and they seem to eat it,I keep the tubs crickets come in and split the mealies up into these so they have more room
I keep my large crickets in a large plastic box with egg crates and put tights over the top as they need plenty ventilation or they will stink! The smaller ones are kept in large pet pals, I feed them fresh veg,dog and cat biscuits and cereal,I give them bug gel too.
I keep locusts in pet pals also and put them in the beardie viv,they last longer lol I feed them fresh greens too.
Waxworms can be left in the tubs they come in,they die in the fridge,they don't last long enough in this house to be gut loaded But I'm sure they only eat certain things
I keep the morios in pet pals and give them apple and fresh greens.
I pick out the dead live food every day and give them a full clean out once a week.I change the veg/dry food every two days.

How high can crickets jump?

I mean, I dont want to keep them in a box and then as soon as I take the lid off they all jump out and escape, how deep a tub would I need to keep them from just jumping out when I go to get a few out for feeding?

The plastic container I use is around 12 inches in height,from my experience they don't jump very high