Zigzag03`
New Member
My Zilla is a 10yo YBS in a 275gal tank all to herself. She's healthy, feeds and basks regularly, and is as happy as I know how to make her. Her diet consists of meal worms, which she loves, along with sticks and dots of store bought turtle food.
Here's my problem. Meal worms can be hard to get, so I've been buying in bulk. I keep them in a small aquarium with a medium of wheat germ and oatmeal, and I hydrate them with cucumber every couple days. My problem began when I started using the wheat germ, which grows little worms into big ones in short order. Since I've started with it, I'm plagued with little moths. Their eggs must come in the stuff. When I get a new batch of worms, I dump the old, clean the tank, set up the wg and oatmeal fresh, add back the remaining old worms (hand picked from the old stuff) plus the new batch. Within 24 hours I've got little moths, lots of them! I never had this issue when I was just using oatmeal alone, so I'm assuming its the wheat germ. I freeze the stuff when I get it, then I microwave it before using it, but it clearly doesn't seem to help.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me, besides discontinuing the wheat germ? The worms love it, and grow much faster than they did in just the oatmeal. But the moth issue is a problem. To kill the moths, btw, the traps you can buy simply attract and kill the males, so the females don't breed, but since I'm apparently introducing a new crop every time I redo the worm tank, that solution won't help.
Thanks, zz03
Here's my problem. Meal worms can be hard to get, so I've been buying in bulk. I keep them in a small aquarium with a medium of wheat germ and oatmeal, and I hydrate them with cucumber every couple days. My problem began when I started using the wheat germ, which grows little worms into big ones in short order. Since I've started with it, I'm plagued with little moths. Their eggs must come in the stuff. When I get a new batch of worms, I dump the old, clean the tank, set up the wg and oatmeal fresh, add back the remaining old worms (hand picked from the old stuff) plus the new batch. Within 24 hours I've got little moths, lots of them! I never had this issue when I was just using oatmeal alone, so I'm assuming its the wheat germ. I freeze the stuff when I get it, then I microwave it before using it, but it clearly doesn't seem to help.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me, besides discontinuing the wheat germ? The worms love it, and grow much faster than they did in just the oatmeal. But the moth issue is a problem. To kill the moths, btw, the traps you can buy simply attract and kill the males, so the females don't breed, but since I'm apparently introducing a new crop every time I redo the worm tank, that solution won't help.
Thanks, zz03