Breeding mealies is easy!

[lytlesnake]

I just kept throwing beetles in a 6 qt plastic tub with some wheat bran substrate. Every now and then I'd give them some carrot slices. It took a couple months, but now I've got thousands of little meal worms. Pretty cool. I think I'll start breeding them so I won't have to buy them as often.

 

[mcvancleave]

i got a old 5 gallon fish tank i do the same thing. In my area it is 3.98 for a box of 100 so i went out bought about 3 boxes and everynow and then i have to add another 100 just to make sure i keep it going

 

[Eriathiel]

Oh I'm glad someone posted about this - I was thinking about this the other day! And I had a couple questions...

So is there any smell that goes along with it? I mean I know all things have a smell, but some are much worse then others...
Can the beetles fly or crawl out of the tub? I'm assuming you need to keep a lid on it!
What about cleaning? Or do they just kind of keep it clean themselves?

Thanks ahead of time!
Good luck with the mealies!

 

[ssscales]

Mealworms are super easy to keep and breed. We started out with 100-150 mealworms allowed to pupate 6MO ago and adding more and growing. Now we have I would guess about 10,000 mealworms and 500 beetles.

Super worms are also fun to produce yourself. We started with 50 beetles and now have about 1000-2000 1/4 Super worms and 1000-2000 recently hatched.

The smell is not bad at all, at least for us it's not. Then again, we also keep the tubs clean and change the substrates and veggies before needed. The beetles don't fly as we keep the tubs without any lids.

 

[Leonardo]

I also have questions. I've just started keeping mealies. I have a few that have started to turn into little aliens. Since mealies eat pretty much anything, should I take those out and put them in another container so the mealies dont nibble on them?

 

[fallen_angel]

What do you do with the beetles? I always threw them away, I didn't think they were any good for the leo?

 

[lytlesnake]

These don't smell at all, and I haven't changed the tub ever. Now that I see it's working, I will change the substrate though. I just felt bad throwing the aliens and beetles in the trash, so I put them in the tub instead. To be honest I hardly payed any attention to it. If you watch everyday it might get a little frustrating, as it takes a while. Just be patient. I noticed when there were thousands of small worm casings on the top of the substrate. I looked more closely and boom, there's tons of homegrown mealies! The beetles cannot fly and will pretty much stay in the tub. I mean, this couldn't get much easier.

Cool deal on the superworms, I'll try some of those too. Then again, I hate superworms, as the dust burns my throat and eyes really bad. Their poop is highly acidic.

 

[ssscales]

I also have questions. I've just started keeping mealies. I have a few that have started to turn into little aliens. Since mealies eat pretty much anything, should I take those out and put them in another container so the mealies dont nibble on them?

Yes, move them to a separate container for them to turn into beetles. No need to add any substrate or anything while they are pupae as they need nothing during this time. Once you get beetles, place them in their own tub with same substrate/food as you use for the container with your meal worms. Add a few slices of potatoes or carrots and just give them 1-2MO and you should start to see little mealworms. Move the beetles to another container to allow the mealworms to grow and the beetles to continue the process and fill another tub with eggs.

 

[blarklark]

beetles? erm.. question why do we keep them in a fridge again?

 

[ssscales]

beetles? erm.. question why do we keep them in a fridge again?

You don't keep the beetles in the fridge. Some people keep the mealworms in the fridge a few days a week to slow their growth down. You still need to take them out every couple days to feed and drink. I don't even bother placing them in the fridge. Once you start producing your own you will soon be overrun with more meal worms than you'll know what to do with...lol

 

[blarklark]

wait feed them? what do they feed? Is there anything on here that clearly explains the cycle of Mealworms?

 

[lytlesnake]

They're easy to feed, just put some carrot slices or potatoes on top of the wheat bran every few days. You'll want to remove the old slices too. I'm gonna separate my beetles and baby meal worms and put them each in fresh wheat bran. Then I'll get an idea of how many baby meal worms I've got.

I wear a mask and painting respirator when I sift them, and obviously do it outside. As I mentioned, the meal worms don't seem too bad for me, but the super worms are downright painful to my eyes and throat.

I believe the life cycle is:

1) worm turns into pupae

2) pupae turns into beetle

3) beetles breed and lay tiny eggs (?)

4) eggs hatch into tiny meal worms

 

[ssscales]

Here are pics of the process.

Separate the pupae into a separate container. I would start off with 100-200+ for starters.

Worms turn to pupae:

Pupae turns to beetles, set up beetles into a container with the same substrate/mix used for the mealworms of bran/oats/fish flakes/wheat germ all ground up or whatever mix you choose or any pre-mixed substrate. Also add carrots or potatoes for moisture.

Beetles lay the mealworm eggs in the substrate:

Every month or so, move the beetles out of this tub and into a new tub with fresh substrate. Be careful with the old substrate as it has the mealworm eggs and babies. You'll begin to see tiny mealworms under the slices of veggies. Set up the tub on a shelf and wait for baby mealworms to hatch and grow.

Mealworm eggs hatch into mealworms:

And the process starts all over again as they grow.

 

[mynewturtle]

Wow Gerry you got your colony up and running fast. I switch my beetles around once every 3 weeks, I'm assuming you do yours more often. How often do you switch yours around?

 

[moosassah]

The last time I was overrun with mealies from my very small colony I put them up on Freecycle. I had about 6 people begging for them for everything from chickens to turtles.

In the year I've been breeding them, I've never noticed a smell.

Nice job with the pics Gerry.

 

[ssscales]

Wow Gerry you got your colony up and running fast. I switch my beetles around once every 3 weeks, I'm assuming you do yours more often. How often do you switch yours around?

It's been amazing how fast and how many are produced. I switch them around every 3-4 weeks and keep them on about 1" of substrate. I've got 1 28qt tub with all the adult mealworms that I feed off and also get fresh pupae from. I've also got 1 12qt tub with 1/2" mealies and another 12qt tub with just hatched to less than 1/8". Once the 1/2" mealies get to 1" I move them to the adult tub and move the newly 1/2" worms to a new tub. Then move the beetles to a fresh tub while stacking up the tub they were in on the shelf to hatch and grow new mealies. It's a never ending cycle and we have wayyyy more than the worms we need and it's really no trouble at all. I give away some every weekend to a few neighborhood kids that have some Bearded Dragons and Leopard Geckos. I also don't notice any smell at all, but I do replace all veggies before they start to go bad. Rather than one chunk of potato, I slice them about 1/8" thick and usually the only thing to pick up in a few days is the peel.

Have you tried breeding Superworms? Those are also easy once they get going. I've got about 50-60 beetles and another 50-60 pupae, I've had them going for about 4MO it seems and already have a 12qt tub with 1000's 1/2" superworms and another 6qt tub with 1000's of babies and eggs. As soon as I drop some fresh sliced veggies the whole ground moves. I just finished moving the beetles to this tub. Only difference between breeding mealworms and superworms is you need to individually separate each worm for them to pupate.

 

[blarklark]

Some of my worms are very dark and aren't moving.. why is that? are they turning into beetles? ;(..

 

[ssscales]

Some of my worms are very dark and aren't moving.. why is that? are they turning into beetles? ;(..

It sounds like those mealworms are dead. When they are turning into beetles first they turn into pupae, then the pupae turns into the beetles.

 

[lytlesnake]

Yeah you've gotta keep 'em moist (but not wet) or they'll dry out and die. That's why even if you're not trying to breed mealies, you want to take them out of the fridge every few days and give them some carrot or other veggie slices. This way they get some nutritional value for your geckos as well.

 

[blarklark]

ahh ok so 50 50 with in and our of cold.. and give them a slice of carrot or potatoe so they dont die. All Black worms are dead?