• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Mealworm Confusion

T

tanias16

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Sorry for another thread guys.

I have been buying the "giant mealworms" from Petco to feed my leos.
These are getting pricey so I was going to order some online. I know some people sell mealworms that have been enlarged by stereriods, and I obviously do not want these. How do I know that I'm getting the right kind? At Petco they have containers with "mealworms," "giant mealworms," and "superworms" (Zoophas). Are the giant mealworms at pet stores just older versions of their mealworms? In other words, are they both tenibrio molitar? Its been a long long time since I've fed mealworms to my other reptiles, and I've forgotten what I'm doing lol. I was looking at sunshinemealworms.com, and they have "sunshine giants" and I dont know what those are!
Help?

Tania

PS Suggestions for where to order them online would be great too.
Thanks
 
Hi Tania,
I would highly recommend American Cricket Ranch (www.americancricketranch.com) to order your feeders. They are very reasonably priced and the worms are very big and robust. I would suggest using superworms as a staple diet for your leos (zoophobas),,, they are easy to gutload, they are active and catch your leo's attention, they are big so you don't have to feed your leos as many, and they are impossible to kill (mine last for months). To vary your LG's diet a little, you can feed them regular mealies, crickets, hornworms, and roaches a few times per month. I don't know much about giant mealies but I heard that they are pumped with hormones to make them big. I am not sure if this is a myth but I personally steer clear of them. Good Luck!
 
I just now switched them over from crickets to mealworms, so I'm afraid to switch them again. Superworms seem too big for these guys right now... even though they are adults... I don't think they could eat the large ones.
I'm pretty sure the giants at Petco aren't the stereriod ones, but I could be wrong. These are about an inch long... do regular meal worms get that big?
 
Well I called American Cricket Ranch and he confirmed that the Giant Mealworms are given hormones, not stereriods, to make them larger. So... not sure what to do now.. lol. I still think adult supers are going to be too large.
 
Ive never bought giant mealies so i wouldnt know, but what ill affects could horomones have on a leo anyway?
 
some pet shops name mealworms wrong a local one I got worms from has small mealworms and large meal worms. when in fact the small mealworms were large mealworms and the large ones were them nasty giant mealworms my geckos wont eat and I dont blame them i for sure would stay away from them. as others have said order your worms from one of the many online stores. I use www.wormman.com most of the time. I also used sunshine once.
 
Has anyone ever used ebay? Its alot cheaper so I'm considering it. Outside of ebay Wormman seems to be the cheapest for mealies, I'm not sure who is for super worms.
 
reptilecity.com is the cheapest I have found for lower qunatities , I placed my first order with them this week so I can't tell about service yet.

they have 1000 supers (in any size ex small to ex large), mealies (any size) and crix (any size) for $10.80 shipped per 1000.

I normally buy 10,000 large mealies from grubco or $43 delivered so the 10,000 price would be high from reptilecity but the lower qty's are very well priced. I have emailed them for a fauna price on bulk orders to see if we can get them cheaper in bulk.
 
I buy all of my bugs from reptilefood.com....have never had any problems whatsoever with the bugs, shipping, or customer service. I have ordered crickets, Zoophobas, and regular mealies....all with success from them and I think their prices are quite reasonable. They have other items as well.

I ordered some waxies off from ebay one time just to try it out, and I wasn't really thrilled with them.....the Dragons love them (the ones that arrived alive) but the packaging and delivery left a lot to be desired....
 
I use www.nyworms.com when I buy in large quantities, And I am very pleased with both their customer service and their mealworms...they ship them in an easy to deal with bag and it is shipped on time etc.

Only had a problem with them once, and they immediately shipped out a new order, no questions asked. Turns out the post office had messed up, and had failed to ship my order to my door on time...I ended up with 2000 mealies.
 
Tania,

The "Sunshine Giants" are just a little bigger than the Petco "Giant Mealworms". Very healthy too - Sunshine keep their mealworms on large shallow trays with no bedding, just vegetables to eat. When you order them, they come straight off the feeding tray and into the container/bag for you. I've used them for a long time now, and pick up my orders from their farm. I highly recommend them (www.SunshineMealworms.com)

Regards,
Hailey
 
I get my mealworms from www.flukerfarms.com and have only ever had one shipping problem, but they resent my order without any questions for free. Great costumer service. I only buy small quantities of about 250 large in a can seeing as i only have three geckos to feed. So i can't say much for bulk, but hey check em out you may be pleased.
 
Thanks for all the responses. My only concern about the sunshine giants is that they appear to be similar to giant mealworms in that they have been treated with hormones. Does anyone else use them? What is the consensus on using these worms?
 
The ones on Sunshines site are the same as any other "Giant" mealworm, fed chemicals to keep them from morphing into beetles, therefore growing much larger. According to all the research I've done on these in the past, there is no hard scientific proof as to any adverse affect they might have on reptiles or birds. I have read many times that more testing needs to be done to find out. I've even seen sites that sell them specify that they are recommended as fish bait and not a feeder for reptiles or birds. After everything I've read on them I wouldn't chance feeding them to my Leos. If you want a large feeder worm, Superworms are great. They are better for your Leo than mealworms, easier to take care of and live for months. Like others have said you can get them in various sizes, my hatchlings eat 1/2" supers, my juvies eat the 1"+ and my adults easily tackle the large ones upto 2" or so.
 
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