No Mealworms...HELP

17 years ago

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered already. I scanned the questions and didn't see anything that looked like it was related.

I'm sure most of you know that there is a mealworm shortage. I have just a few left. I had started raising my own, but it takes a long time and I'm no where near having a crop. Of course I will use what I have been raising and start over when I can, but thought I should put the question out there.

Is there something else they will eat? I've heard waxworms mentioned but don't want to buy them if they won't. There are a lot of suet recipes too, but are these good for the nestlings as well?

Currently my bb pair have their second brood of the year - 4 eggs. She laid the last one on the 18th or 19th, so they should be hatching the first week of June. I've cut back on feeding, but the mockingbirds, jays, and robins are hard to keep away and they can eat sooooo many. I don't mind the smaller birds because they don't eat as much. Plus, the male bb (I call him Brad, and her Angie) gets really upset with Robins. He doesn't mind the Mockingbirds, and will only go after the jays if they get too close, but he'll chase the Robins to the next yard. I've worried several times that he would injure or kill himself. I realize that everyone has youngsters right now so I've been liberal in feeding, but with a shortage what can I do. And that's a cash shortage as well as a mealie one.

Sorry this got carried away. This is my first year with bbs and I've been so lucky. So any suggestions you experts can offer will be appreciated, as always. If I do order waxworms is there a particular size I should go for?

Thank you in advance.

tara

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Comments (9)

fairychick
Original Author
17 years ago
Sheesh....all I had to do was go to page 2 and there are all sorts of posts about no mealworms.

Forgive my impatience. I'll order some waxworms soon.

tara
michelle_4466
17 years ago
Tara,
Reptilefoods has giant meal worms.I just ordered them as my BBs have 5 babies to feed.The worms arrived in 2 days and were clean and healthy.You can order them on line.Their address is reptilefoods.com.
Michelle
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bluebars
17 years ago
The birds can survive without the mealworms. I know it's fun for us, though. The hardest time for the bluebirds is in early spring when insects are more scarce, especially if there is a cold snap or very rainy weather. But that is past now. They will be fine.
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renee_2006
17 years ago
Reptile Foods shipping charges are sky high. For my zip they charge almost the same as the price for 5,000 mealies. The last time I bought from them it cost me $39. I now get 10,000 w/shipping for just a few dollars more at a different place.
janie_may
17 years ago
You do NOT want to offer meal worms larger than "large".....giant are NOT good for them. Check out what the Sialis has to say about "Giant" meal worms. The info. is about mid way down the page and it's in green type.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sialis/meal worms
fairychick
Original Author
17 years ago
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
janie_may
17 years ago
Tara, large, if you can find them, is really the best and provides more than even the medium. These days I'm happy (and lucky) to find medium so that's what I'm feeding mine now but when available, I always buy large. Small is worthless. I got 5,000 small a few weeks ago (out of sheer desperation) and they didn't last 5 days.
renee_2006
17 years ago
Sometimes Grubco only has med. mealies availble. I just leave them out of the fridge for a few days with food and in no time they are almost large in size.
donnalovesblue
17 years ago
Renee...thanks for the info...I didn't know you could leave them out for a few days...I do feed them about once a week, but they don't seem to increase in size...mine come from Sunshine and they look small to med. small.

No Mealworms...HELP

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fairychick
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No Mealworms...HELP

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