Well yes, the hormone/chemical they use for Giants. I assumed you meant that they came in contact with a chemical in our care rather than the breeders. Misunderstanding.
So I looked in my mealworm container today and notice a few are getting to 1" and longer, how long are regular mealworms supposed to get?
Normal mealworms get about 1-1.25" in length, giants get a lot bigger and fatter, around 1.5" and longer. Generally, normal mealworms stay fairly skinny but the giants get super fat like superworms.
It took me literally about three months (if not more) to see baby mealies. Keep them at about 85 degrees and they'll hatch quickly; I kept mine at about 65 (thus the delay).
Yeah, I have a separate small container where I leave the pupae until they turn to beetles. My beetles and worms are together right now. I am planning on seperating the beetles and worms to make a feeder bin and a breeder bin when I have some time on my hand. I've just recently seen some movement in the pile of "poop pellets" where I usually place the carrots, so it looks like I've finally started getting some babies. An update on the beetles themselves. I've had a bunch more born with deformities. Several with half their shell/wing bent off to the side, a few more stuck between the pupa/beetle stage, and one that became a "beetle" but had no shell and kept its pupa tail. It had legs but its tail still wiggled when I picked it up. I even have one pupa that got its head eaten off by a beetle, but still wiggles its tail. :shock: Man, I've got a batch of screwed up mealies. I only hope the worms and future worms dont have an adverse effect on my pets.