Gutloading Mealworms
Mealworm Food
Mealworms should be gutloaded for a minimum of 24 hours before being fed to pets.
The healthier and better fed your mealworms are, the more nutritious they become
for your pets.
Mealworms need to eat a good dry mix as well as moisture/fresh vegetable content.
Whatever you use as substrate, the worms will eat.
Gutload Mix
Use a combination of the following to make a healthy gutload mixture, and use at least 2" of the mixture in your mealworm tank:
Oats,
Grain Cereal,
Baby Rice Cereal,
Bran,
Flax Seeds,
Wheat Germ,
Alfalfa Flakes,
Spirulina,
Fish Flakes,
Dry Milk Powder.
Buy Bedding/Gutload Mixes at CricketFood.com:
Premium Blend Advanced Worm Food (1lb)
Premium Blend Superworm & Mealworm Bedding (5lb)
Moisture
Do NOT add a dish of water. This will create bacteria and kill
your mealworms, and mealworms would easily drown. Instead, use vegetables/fruits for a moisture source.
Place fresh vegetables on top of substrate every day
or two and remove old vegetables. If there is any moisture or mold on the substrate, remove it.
Good vegetables/fruits to use include:
Carrots, Apples, Potato. (These make a fairly cheap (although not the best
nutritionally) moisture source, especially if you keep large amounts of mealworms.)
Mustard, Collard, & Turnip Greens, Kale, Rapini, Watercress, Arugula, Endive,
Escarole.
Green Beans, Peas (Snap, Snow, etc.), Parsnip, Squash, Okra.
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