Hi
I bought a 1000 mini meal works for my baby turtles. Well the worms have matured and look like they are changing into beatles.

I want to care for them so that they reproduce. I want to have healthy live food for my tutrles.

I currently keeop the meal worms in a plastic container with lid. I feed them oatmeal and bran, and periodically carrots.

How do I care for beetles? Do they need a lid? Will they fly away? What type of home do they need? What do they eat? How do I get them to reproduce?

Thank you,
Dora

Have you read my page on mealworms? It's at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/worm.htm

I suggest a lid just in case they find a way to climb out or the tank gets knocked over and certainly if you have cats or dogs in the house.

The beetles have wings but they cannot fly.

They eat all sorts of grains, fruits, and vegetables. Mine never seem to eat much though.

My page has tips on breeding. I just put a shallow layer of baby oatmeal in the bottom of their 2 gallon plastic tank. Once a week, I put the beetles and oatmeal in a plastic collander. I shake it, put the beetles back with new food, and put the used oatmeal in another cage I keep. There are eggs and newborns in the oatmeal. Other grains may work better. They also like to lay eggs in cork bark.

Yes, I read the site.

I was wondering what was happening to my worms. I picked out the white Pupea and placed them in a small container, which is what my turtles were purchased in.

I put bran and oat meal in the bottom, about one inch. I have one pupea that has legs and is walking around. The others are white or pink and are just lauing there. I will look for a two gallon plastic container at Petco.

For now, I guess I leave the pupea alone in a warm space and them mother nature care for them, correct?

The one beetle still has pupea stuff on it but is crawling around. I put a piece of wet celery leaf in the container. When do I start placing wet paper towel, reptile bark substrate in with the beetle? When should I remove the remove the new beetle from the pupea container. I only have one right now.

Thank you,
Dora

The pupae take a week or two to break out and turn into beetles. The beetles are brown the first day and darken to black and harden up after that. The white pupae don't have legs; they can't walk, just wiggle. While pupae, they don't need any special care since they can't eat or move. Just keep them in a safe place with some moisture nearby (like the wet paper towel) but not touching them. Once you have beetles, if they're not fed enough, the adults may eat some of the pupae. It sounds like your first beetle is trying to come out of the pupal shell. Sometimes they don't come out easily. The highest mortality in their life cycle is when they come out of the pupal shell as adults. Many get stuck or are deformed. I'm guessing up to 20% or so may die then. They need good humidity but not too much. You can put the food, substrate, and wet paper towel in now. I don't know how much they'd like celery; I've not tried it. Keep the wet paper towel away from the food, or fungus will grow on the food. Add a new wet paper towel every few days as the other one dries. I wet the towel and roll it into a ball, wringing out most of the water. Adults may also lay eggs in the paper towels. Once you have a male and female beetle, it will take them a few weeks to mature and really begin laying.