Mealworm & Beetle Starter Pack

Care Instructions: As with all live food, it is essential they are kept healthy. Use with your Mealworm Growing Pods. Ensure they are kept at a regular temperature. 

Ordering live insects in cold weather:

During the cold weather we make every effort to ensure that your livefood arrives as warm and active as possible. All our delivery vans are heated, and we use a variety of packaging methods depending on the severity of the predicted weather.

This may include:
• Heat packs or
• Wrapping of livefood tubs
However, despite our best efforts, your livefood still may arrive looking lifeless.

Many of our common livefood species enter a dormant state when exposed to colder weather. As they are cold-blooded, they cannot regulate their body temperature effectively, so will slow down their body process waiting for warmer conditions – Mealworms, Morioworms, Calci worms and Crickets all do this, for example.

In order to bring the livefood around, it is important you follow a few simple steps:

1. Unpack the outer boxes and lay out all packs/tubs so that fresh air can circulate around them.
2. Leave the packs/tubs at room temperature 18⁰C-25⁰C.
3. Do not offer external heat as warming up livefood quickly will kill them. This is the most common cause of livefood deaths.
4. For bulk bags of livefood, gently agitate the bag to spread-out the insects within. Leave at room temperature and prop up in a horizontal position.
5. Livefood may take several hours to completely recover but 99% of live food will recover fully providing they are treated correctly upon arrival.

Why is temperature and humidity so important:

Temperature and humidity impacts growth rate. So, if it’s too cold it can take a long time for you to produce enough insects. If it gets too humid mould might start to form, which can kill your mealworm. High humidity can cause dust mites which naturally lie dormant in oats.

Ideal Temperture: 20-28°c (68-80 fahrenheit)

Ideal Humdity: 50-70%