I give mealworms to wild lizards. I have kept them in the fridge for months when the lizards stop eating during the winter. We have a shortage here too(Australia) but it seems suspicious and I wonder if they are being described as possible human food in the face of all the movements to replace meat. Registering them as food products edible by human would make them very expensive and the big industries would be locking down the supply and possibly even killing off what they cant control. Whatever is happening shouldn't be. Meal worms are easily bred insects and should be available in massive numbers. I know I might be totally wrong but I dont think so

I'm LOL, WonderWhiskers, at "turning up their little worm noses at Red Delicious." And to think I thought we were bad by being trained by the bluebirds to ONLY feed live mealworms. ... I'm new here. Just came to post a question about helping BB's get calcium. Now .. uh-oh ... I may never get to FaceBook to catch up with folks. I'll be reading here all I can. ... So ... Q: Oats? Wheat bran? Does it matter? (Oats sounds nice, since they can easily be sifted through it. Same with wheat bran, though?) We want to start feeding ours to keep them alive longer when needed, get them bigger if that is still as nutritious for the birds, and maybe raise our own, eventually. We want to feed the birds more than we can afford to. ;) 'Currently buying our mealworms locally at $15+tax per 1000 worms. While we can, I want to support local business. Our bluebirds raised one brood and have 5 more eggs laid now. [New male in training. 1st male disappeared. Neighborhood cat or ?? Who knows. I just know that Mama-Bluebird is busy training the new young male. He won't yet feed the fledglings, but is feeding the mom, and is dutifully taking a worm to the house - again, in training? :) Love, love these little birds.] BYW, this set of bluebirds is also willing to eat the dehydrated mealworms. !! Never before! Is it okay to feed more of them than the live ones, with plenty of clean water available, of course? Please see my post asking about calcium if you have time. Thanks. Lori

I never give them anything that is bigger than medium. I ordered small ones once, but they didn't like them very much. I never realized birds could be so picky. They are as bad as my cat. For now I'm spacing out the mealies I have and will dip into my breeding box if need be for a few each day. I ordered some waxworms to try. Of course I realize that these birds were fine without me and my mealworms, and they'll be fine without me. Heck, if they could just eat a few mosquitos they'd be stuffed. They are really big this year! Thank you all of your responses. I found lots of info on later pages. I just didn't look as far as I should have. tara

Glad you got your shipments. I called and ordered another 5000 last night and discovered the price had gone up. I checked around and it appears everyone has. The shipping is expensive but I lost one shipment in this heat last year so guess I'll just have to pay. I'm afraid I'll need to cut back on the amount I feed them every day. I was putting out 200-300 mealies a day but I will have to cut back to 100-150. It is just getting too expensive. I have noticed one of the last brood is still coming to the feeder to get his share. Dad will usually try to keep him away from the meal worms as best he can so he and Mom can feed the latest brood up in the trees.