Alphitobius diaperinus, or lesser mealworms

[catfishrod69]

I happen to have a ton of lesser mealworms that invaded my lateralis colony. Im not sure how they got there, but best guess is on egg crates or in food. For a while now i have put off getting them out of there, and i paid the price. My lateralis colony was around 3000 strong, and now there is maybe 200. The mealworms were eating the oothecae and possibly molting roaches. Well yesterday i finally decided to rehouse the lateralis and get all of the mealworms out of there. So now i have a ton of mealworms and beetles. My dubia colony has none of these in it. But is plagued by phlorid flies. I was going to offer the mealworms to someone on here to use as feeders. Then i got to thinking. Dubia give live birth. So if the mealworms were in with the dubia, they might be a pretty good cleanup crew, and get rid of the phlorid flies. So im not sure if i want to chance sticking the mealworms in the dubia colony, and possibly having them take over the dubia colony, or not. I would like to see if anyone has suggestions, or their own experiences with this. Thanks!

 

[MrCrackerpants]

I had the same issue. They do keep the enclosure clean but they do reproduce at a great rate. I am not sure if I love them or hate them. What I do is place a small 2 inch tall deli cup (the ones with 1/8 inch air holes on the side) in the enclosure on the substrate. I do not place a lid on it and then put 4 or 5 dry dog food kibbles in it. The adult and larva beetles climb into the container (I think through the air holes on the side) and can't get out. Every few days I pull the container and throw them away. This keeps their numbers in check. Sometimes there are 20-30 beetles in the container and sometimes there are over a thousand. If I do not do this they take over the enclosure. They also climb out of enclosures and establish in other enclosures. Mine were probably in a roach substrate I received with some roaches I bought. If I could choose I would prefer to not have them in my enclosures. They are a pain. I hope this helps.

 

[catfishrod69]

Well how do they climb into the deli cup and into other enclosures? I thought they couldnt climb plastic? I havent seen any at all other than in my lateralis colony. And are yours in with lateralis or dubia? If dubia, do you notice that the roach population is dwindling down, or being they give live birth, its not being affected? Thanks

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Well how do they climb into the deli cup and into other enclosures? I thought they couldnt climb plastic? I havent seen any at all other than in my lateralis colony. And are yours in with lateralis or dubia? If dubia, do you notice that the roach population is dwindling down, or being they give live birth, its not being affected? Thanks

I am assuming they are climbing debris and frass that sticks to the walls of the enclosure and the deli container. Mine are in with lateralis, dubia and many other roach species. I have not noticed my dubia population dwindling but I also use the deli container in that enclosure to remove the living beetles. I have seen a few in my millipedes enclosures but because there is not a lot of millipede deaths, I do not see them reproducing in the millipede or tarantula enclosures. After a while I do not see them in the millipede enclosures. When the roaches die, they chow down on them and then reproduce like crazy. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

 

[catfishrod69]

I guess we are the only two people that have dealt with these things lol. Well that is good to know that your dubia are doing ok with the mealies in with them. I might just go ahead and toss them in with mine and see what happens. Worst case i can always remove them later on. Thanks for the help man!

 

[MrCrackerpants]

I guess we are the only two people that have dealt with these things lol. Well that is good to know that your dubia are doing ok with the mealies in with them. I might just go ahead and toss them in with mine and see what happens. Worst case i can always remove them later on. Thanks for the help man!

You bet! Good luck. : )