You’re not alone. Most of the country – including reptile owners, wildlife rehabbers and hardcore bluebird trail monitors – are having a tough time finding live mealworms.

What happened? “It is because many of the larger growers had crop failures this spring and there is just not enough to go around now,” says Rita Smith of New York Worms, an online retailer. She did not answer when asked to clarify what caused the crop failure with the larger growers.

A representative with The Bug Company in Minnesota said that their California supplier, which produces 70 percent of mealworms for companies across the country, is unable to grow them. The supplier starts to grow them and then all of a sudden the mealworms die.

At this point the supplier is not sure what the cause is for the failure of the mealworms to grow, according to The Bug Company.

Is it the bran that they are grown in? Is it a virus? There is no known answer. The hope is that mealworm production should resume by early fall.