# Freezing and Thawing Mealworms



## nessariel (Mar 3, 2010)

Winston and I will be going to live with my parents for a couple of months this summer. My mom's really not an "animal person", save cats (she's "not thrilled" about Winston living there  ) but my dad seems decently enthused and my siblings both like him, save for when he poops.

Now, here's the problem, while my mother is willing to tolerate Winston in the house, she absolutely refuses to have mealworms in her fridge. I have a tub of about 350ish mealworms that I've been keeping in the fridge for two weeks so far (taking them out once a week to warm up and eat carrots). I knew I'd have to freeze them eventually, and it seems now is the time. Is there anything specific I should do before I freeze them? Do I just throw them in, bedding and all, and leave them like that, or should I remove the mealworms from the bedding and put them in a new container? Also, when I take them out for Winston to eat, how far ahead of time should they be out thawing?

Thanks in advance!


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

I would probably take them out of the fridge for a few hours to a day, and give them a little bit of cut up carrot/apple, and let them eat it to "gut load", replace whatever has been sitting in their stomachs for a while with healthy fresh food. Once you are done letting them eat, I'd pick them all out of the wheat bran/bedding and put them in a small plastic bag by themselves, and toss them in the freezer. 

Whenever you need to feed them, you can just pull a few out and toss them straight into a dish. They should only take a few minutes to thaw, and try and get your hedgie to eat them soon after to avoid them rotting inside.


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