Live Organic Lesser / Buffalo Mealworms

Lesser Mealworms, also known as Buffalo Mealworms, are a versatile feeder insect packed with protein, vitamins, and essential fatty acids, making them a nutrient-rich food source for reptiles, birds, fish, and small mammals needing a smaller-sized insect. In addition to being excellent feeder insects, these tiny, active worms also serve as an effective cleaning crew in your pet's habitat. They help break down waste and uneaten food, maintaining a cleaner, healthier environment for your pet's enclosure. With their small size and high nutritional content, Lesser/Buffalo mealworms are perfect for both feeding and habitat maintenance! Each order includes both the worms and the beetles mixed together.

BENEFITS FOR REPTILES AND HABITATS

• The Ultimate Cleaning Crew: In bioactive or naturalistic enclosures, they rapidly break down waste, mold, and uneaten food.
• Perfect for Small Insectivores: Their small size and softer exoskeleton make them incredibly easy to chew and digest for small geckos, juvenile lizards, and dart frogs.
• Two-for-One Life Stages: Orders include both larvae (worms) and adults (beetles), giving pets a variety of textures to hunt. The beetles also clean the enclosure.
• High Activity Levels: Their frantic scurrying is a powerful visual trigger that encourages natural hunting behaviors.

HOW TO SET UP A BREEDING COLONY

• Since orders arrive with worms and beetles mixed, they are ready to start reproducing immediately.
• Prepare the Enclosure: Use a plastic storage bin or glass terrarium. A lid isn't strictly necessary since they can't climb smooth sides, but if used, ensure excellent ventilation.
• Add Substrate and Food: Pour 2 to 3 inches of wheat bran, rolled oats, or a finely ground grain mixture into the bottom. This acts as both bedding and their primary food.
• Add Hides: Place pieces of cardboard, paper egg cartons, or cork bark on top of the substrate for beetles to hide under and larvae to pupate in.
• Provide Moisture: Add slices of carrots, potatoes, or apples directly on the substrate. Replace every few days before they spoil. Do not mist with water, as damp grain causes fatal mold.
• Dial In the Temperature: Maintain temperatures between 75 F and 85 F using a heat pad or a warm room. They will stop reproducing if they get too cold.

HOW TO HARVEST THE WORMS

• The Moisture Trap: Place a fresh slice of potato or carrot on the substrate. Wait a few hours for the worms to swarm underneath it, then tap the slice over your feeding cup.
• The Egg Carton Tap: Lift a piece of egg carton or cardboard from the enclosure and tap it over a container. The larvae hiding inside will fall out.
• The Light Avoidance Trick: Scoop substrate into a shallow tray and place it under a bright lamp. The worms will burrow away from the light, allowing you to gently scrape away the empty top layer of substrate until only insects remain at the bottom.

HOW TO STORE THEM

• To halt the life cycle and keep them strictly as feeders, you need to slow their metabolism.
• Temperature: Store them at 50 F to 60 F (such as in a wine cooler, cool basement, or drafty pantry). Do not use a standard kitchen refrigerator, as temperatures below 50 F will kill them.
• Bedding and Ventilation: Keep them in a shallow, well-ventilated container with an inch or two of dry substrate (wheat bran or oats) to burrow in and eat.
• Moisture Control: Place a thin slice of carrot, potato, or apple on the bedding for hydration. Replace every few days. Never mist the container with water.

SHIPPING TIPS

• Please check your weather conditions prior to ordering to make sure inclement weather delays and extreme temperatures are avoided!
• We ship with USPS in the summer and UPS in the winter. If you live in Florida or on the West Coast, we will use USPS year-round (unless you purchase UPS 2nd Day Air or Next Day Air).
• In the summertime, we HIGHLY recommend doing Hold for Pickup at your nearest Post Office. Hold for Pickup means the Post Office will hold your order until you pick it up. Under normal circumstances, the Post Office will call you to let you know it is ready for you to pick up. This option requires no extra steps from you other than your permission and your phone number. Watch your tracking carefully in case the Post Office doesn't call you - sometimes they forget!
• Please understand that when your order leaves our facility and is taken in by the Postal Service or UPS, we no longer have control over its fate. Delays and shipping issues are very common these days, and there is not much we can do to move the package forward when that happens. We do have contacts at USPS, but they can really only give us insight as to where it might be. They cannot predict when it will arrive!
• We've found that most order death occurs in the last leg of the trip, from your local Post Office or UPS hub to your door. This is why Hold for Pickup is so important for hotter or colder temperatures (80+ degrees, or 45 degrees or less).
• Most farms require Hold for Pickup no matter what, or they won't honor a live guarantee. We try to be a bit more flexible than that, but if we see your weather is too hot or cold, please take our recommendation to Hold for Pickup! We promise it's for the best!
• We will do our best to reship orders that arrive dead; please let us know ASAP when this happens. While we don't love to see photos of dead bugs, we may ask for one so we can make adjustments on how we packaged them if needed.