Crickets: Ship Monday through Wednesday (unless shipped using 1-Day option or Saturday delivery)
FedEx 2nd Day: Ships Monday through Wednesday
FedEx Next Day: Ships Monday through Thursday
On days where we have orders in excess of 1000 we will label our USPS as shipping the following day

Do you ship to Canada?

Yes, just choose Canada as your country at checkout. We will ship the same day we receive your order before noon Pacific Time via FedEx Priority or Express. To find ship times, calculate ship times select zip code 90220 in the 'from' section on this page: FedEx Transit Times, put in any weight and box size and choose 'office equipment' as the commodity description (we already have clearance to ship insects).

Your order may be subject to importation tax. We have no control or knowledge regarding this rate or amount and it is the customer's responsibility to investigate any importation tax cost before purchase.

Do you have free shipping?

Free shipping is a great marketing tool offered by some companies. No retailer can offer true 'free' shipping, and have to include it in the cost of their product. We choose to keep the price of our feeders low and let the customer decide what method shipping they prefer. This way a customer can order multiple items and pay one low shipping fee rather than adding several items with 'free' included shipping that is cumulative.

I want to break my order up into smaller bags or boxes, can you do that?

We sure can! There is a per bag cost of $0.75 each for worms and a per box charge of $1.00 a piece for crickets.

My Butterworms arrived and there's only a dark disc in the cup!!

It is normal for Butterworms to form a doughnut shaped nest during shipping. Gently pull apart the nest to find your worms inside.

I'm trying to raise my own mealworms, why are they turning black?

When pupae die and turn black, it's usually because the worms weren't given enough moisture with carrots or potatoes at the end of the larval stage. They need to store the moisture to last through pupation and will dehydrate and die if they didn't get enough.

They are also very heat sensitive. They mustn't get any warmer than 80-85 degrees. When they are kept at a depth more than several inches or with lots of their castings, the mealworms on the bottom will rapidly overheat (even though the room may be somewhat cool). Sift them often to remove the castings and keep them at 2" or less.

If you are storing them in your refrigerator; you might have a spot that is too cold. The bottom of your refrigerator is the coldest near the crisper drawers; you may have warmer and more desirable temperatures on higher shelves near the top. A thermometer placed in your fridge is really the most accurate way to tell.

My worms smell bad, what am I doing wrong?

It's likely your substrate is too deep. When your bedding is deeper than 2" heat and moisture will accumulate in the lower levels of the bedding and mix with the worm's droppings causing bacteria and fungus to readily grow. Try changing your bedding material and then making your bin shallower.

Why don't you include bedding?

We have found that during warmer months, the mealworms will eat the bedding and increase their activity which generates more heat. The extra heat and the castings they produce will result in a percentage of your worms dying, as well as leading to mold growing on the bran. This isn't healthy for your worms or for your animals being fed.

If the mealworms get very hungry they will often nibble on the newspapers we pack them in (we only use newspapers with soy based inks). We offer our custom milled bran and will gladly ship some with your worms in a separate container.

A great benefit of not purchasing your worms in pre-packed cups from stores with bran (besides paying retail for worms that have been shelved) is that your worms can easily be shaken into a Tupperware container and refrigerated. You won't need to pick them out of the bran individually to feed them to your animals, rather grab just your worms and pop them right in the food dish.

Why don't you include a packing slip?

We want to reduce our paper use and waste; we ship out over 3000 orders per week and that would use a LOT of paper! Instead, we send you an electronic confirmation of your order.

If you prefer to have a slip, please leave us a note at checkout and we will be very happy to include one.

My worms ate the newspaper!! Can I still feed them to my animals?

We purchase soy newspaper that uses only vegetable ink; we pay a premium to buy it unused, sorted, and cut. It gives our worms lots of surface area to either move inward to keep warm or to spread out and not 'pool' together like in egg flats (which is extremely unhealthy for them), but they can also nibble on it if they get hungry on the journey to you. It is not toxic and in our 60 years find it to be the very best way to ship you the healthiest worms possible.

Are your giant mealworms GMO?

While this popular misconception is very flattering, unfortunately we didn't harness the ability to genetically modify insects in the 1950s (which is too bad, we would be rich!).

There are lots of rumors about giant mealworms, and hopefully this FAQ will put them to rest.

There are two kinds of insects, those who go through a complete metamorphosis and pupate into a different looking insect (e.g., beetles, flies, butterflies, and waxworms) and those who don't (crickets, grasshoppers, roaches, and all true bugs). The difference is that those who pupate have a rapid decline in growth hormone which forces them to pupate, while those that don't keep a constant level of growth hormone throughout their life time.

We found a way to keep mealworms from having that sharp decline in hormone as it is in insects who don't pupate (crickets and roaches for example), so they won't go through metamorphosis. The energy that they would have spent forming a pupa is now spent into growing longer and thicker. There is nothing present in a giant mealworm that isn't present in a regular growing mealworm or in insects that do not metamorphose.

While the thought of being perceived as scientific geniuses was a lot of fun, our giants are just not genetically modified. Some growers use beef growth hormone to make their mealworms grow larger, and we have never and will never do this.

What are these fuzzy caterpillars in my worms?

Dermestid beetles and larvae

These are the larvae of the Dermestid beetle. They are a harmless species that we use as a safe and biological way to keep our bins clean. We are strongly against the use of chemicals with our mealworms and so we have them hand-picked when we sort our worms for sale. Because we are all natural, we have the occasional larvae and/or beetle come with your shipment.

We assure you they are harmless and your animals can safely eat them!

We also sell them as "Cleaner crew" for your own use; they will also eat any dead insects or decaying plant matter that are in your bins for you.

Do you gut load your worms and crickets?

We have had this on the drawing board a couple of times and every time when we weigh the pros and cons the proposal is scrapped. Reptiles and birds can suffer from hyper-vitaminosis especially from vitamin A. We worry that if we are adding vitamins to our insects, and the customer adds vitamins that the cumulative amount could potentially be detrimental to your animal's health. Instead we feed our worms wheat bran and carrots that are naturally rich in vitamins. We stand by our long-time company mission to be an all-natural farm and leaving the choice of adding artificial addition of vitamins and minerals up to the customer at home.

Why is my order still in Compton?

USPS often doesn't scan in packages as they leave our hub on days when their customers drop off many thousands of packages. Instead, they send them out in a batch shipment that won't be scanned again until they reach your local sorting facility.

Because of this your package will appear to be still at our farm for several days. Rest assured it is traveling behind the scenes and is on its way to you.

Why won't my credit card process?

Errors are only generated if the credit card number was entered incorrectly or if the card has insufficient funds. The most common cause is that the billing zip code provided doesn't match what the bank has on file. If you are having trouble, please feel free to call or email Support (support@rainbowmealworms.net).

What species crickets do you sell?

We grow all natural (no added chemicals or vitamins) Banded crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus). We can ship these to all 50 states any time of year.

If your shipping address is in the state of California, we can also ship you Black Field Crickets (Gryllodes bimaculatus). This order can be placed via email at orders@rainbowmealworms.net

Why can't I see the rewards program?

If you are on a mobile device you will need to scroll to the bottom of any page and request the 'standard view"

How to switch to standard view

What is the nutritional content of your feeders?

Nutritional Content of Feeders

Question about an order? Email us at support@rainbowmealworms.net

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FAQ

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