mealworm pupa in the fridge

sammer021486

sammer021486

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Northern Ontario Canada
I have about 4-6 cups of meal worm pupa sitting in my fridge, how long can they last in that form in the fridge?

I was getting way too many pupa so I decided to cool the pupa as I have around 200 beetles right now and am good at the moment.
 
Friedbread

Friedbread

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I have a feeling they won't do well in those conditions, but I have not tried it myself. Try keeping a control group of maybe five pupae in the fridge and check on them daily. See if they wiggle when touched. Make sure they haven't turned black. If they survive this for a few days, maybe a week, let them warm up to normal room temp again and see if they still emerge as beetles. Repeat this again by increasing the amount of days they remain in the fridge.

That's how I'd go about finding out if cooling pupae is safe, although personally I wouldn't want to in the first place. I think the reason the worms can stay in the fridge so long is because they are in a growing stage. The pupae are in a stage that is meant to only last a few days. They probably aren't designed to last long as a pupae since it is their most vulnerable state in the wild. They're probably meant to get in and out of the pupae stage as quickly as possible to become mobile again.
 
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sammer021486

sammer021486

New Member
Messages
544
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Friedbread said:
I have a feeling they won't do well in those conditions, but I have not tried it myself. Try keeping a control group of maybe five pupae in the fridge and check on them daily. See if they wiggle when touched. Make sure they haven't turned black. If they survive this for a few days, maybe a week, let them warm up to normal room temp again and see if they still emerge as beetles. Repeat this again by increasing the amount of days they remain in the fridge.

That's how I'd go about finding out if cooling pupae is safe, although personally I wouldn't want to in the first place. I think the reason the worms can stay in the fridge so long is because they are in a growing stage. The pupae are in a stage that is meant to only last a few days. They probably aren't designed to last long as a pupae since it is their most vulnerable state in the wild. They're probably meant to get in and out of the pupae stage as quickly as possible to become mobile again.
Click to expand...

I have had one container in there for almost 2 weeks so far and they still wiggle when I check on them.
 
sammer021486

sammer021486

New Member
Messages
544
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
when reading an insect information page it says that Tenebrio molitor larvae can survive as cold as 23F for ~80 days and that the pupa will normally over winter and pupate in the spring.

So I guess it can be a while that they may remain in the fridge. I will have to stick my thermometer in the fridge to find out what temperature I am keeping them at.
 
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