How to breed mealworms
The Price of feeders such as mealworms are going up and they are often hard to find. So why not breed your own? Its pretty simple and this “how to” will show you! First you need to get your hands on some mealworms. Doesn’t matter how many but you might need a lot if you are using them as the same time as trying to help them grow.
FIRST STEP: Mealworm bin, this is the place your mealworms will be stored. A nice 3 leveled rack works well. Or just some plastic bin its really up to you on how fancy you want your worms! Some people will make sure the mealworms, pupa and beetles don’t stay with one another. Some say beetles will eat the pupa or mealworms eat the eggs…However I never seen it happen as long as you keep a good supply of food to them you should be fine, but it’s up to you if you want to keep they life stages apart
Meal worm bin with wheat bran
racks to keep mealworms in
BEDDING: what your mealworms will be stored on. Oats, wheat germ, and wheat bran are most used. I hate Oats! They will make a very fine powder on your mealworms and everything else no matter what size the oats are, and they make it very hard to clean or “shift” the worms… Its ok. But just a mess and I only use it if I have nothing else. Wheat bran is my favorite it comes in small bits to make it easy to “shift” and the worms seem to enjoy it!
FOOD: Too keep your mealworms fed and alive they need something with water, Such as carrots or potatoes. Potatoes are best! Just chop a few up and replace with new every so often as you clean out the cage.
mealworms with potatoes
TAKING THEM OUT FROM THE BIN: Hate picking one by one out of the bin? This can take LOTS of time, In order to shorten your time. Buy a strainer….I think it’s called. They’re pretty cheap and you can find it almost any place. Place a handful in and shake it over the bin and “Shift” them. Note: if your bedding is to large this could be too hard, try switching to another smaller bedding like wheat bran. its helpful it have another bin to drop the mealworms in, within a few more time you can have lots of mealworms ready to be used.
shifting the mealworms from the bedding
only 3 try's and there is a ton of mealworms ready!
PUPA: after lots of time you will notice mealworms slowing down or not even moving sometimes.. (Tip; if you only have one group of mealworms take some out at the size you use and store them in the fridge before they turn in to pupa)the other mealworms will soon will turn in to pupa. These creepy little things can’t hurt you. And within a week or so they will be beetles!
BEETLES: Oh the last step! Months and months of mealworms now pay off. And your pupa will start moving and brake open in to a white looking beetle after 48 hours they turn black and will start to breed and lay eggs. Keep them like you did with the mealworms, by tossing in potatoes. Now it’s a long waiting game. This can take weeks or months before you see little baby mealworms. Am Not kidding..It’s a LONG WAIT before you will see anything.
Beetles ready to mate and lay eggs
BABY MEALWORMS: they hatch very small about the size of this – and it takes weeks before they get any bigger. Remember that tip about putting some of your mealworms in the fridge? Use them now! This will help you feed your reptiles. As your new baby mealworms are growing.
after months in the beetle bin, you can see mealworms!
THAT’S IT! You did it, The whole thing of mealworms and how to breed your own. Pm me if you need any help or more info!
The Price of feeders such as mealworms are going up and they are often hard to find. So why not breed your own? Its pretty simple and this “how to” will show you! First you need to get your hands on some mealworms. Doesn’t matter how many but you might need a lot if you are using them as the same time as trying to help them grow.
FIRST STEP: Mealworm bin, this is the place your mealworms will be stored. A nice 3 leveled rack works well. Or just some plastic bin its really up to you on how fancy you want your worms! Some people will make sure the mealworms, pupa and beetles don’t stay with one another. Some say beetles will eat the pupa or mealworms eat the eggs…However I never seen it happen as long as you keep a good supply of food to them you should be fine, but it’s up to you if you want to keep they life stages apart
Meal worm bin with wheat bran
racks to keep mealworms in
BEDDING: what your mealworms will be stored on. Oats, wheat germ, and wheat bran are most used. I hate Oats! They will make a very fine powder on your mealworms and everything else no matter what size the oats are, and they make it very hard to clean or “shift” the worms… Its ok. But just a mess and I only use it if I have nothing else. Wheat bran is my favorite it comes in small bits to make it easy to “shift” and the worms seem to enjoy it!
FOOD: Too keep your mealworms fed and alive they need something with water, Such as carrots or potatoes. Potatoes are best! Just chop a few up and replace with new every so often as you clean out the cage.
mealworms with potatoes
TAKING THEM OUT FROM THE BIN: Hate picking one by one out of the bin? This can take LOTS of time, In order to shorten your time. Buy a strainer….I think it’s called. They’re pretty cheap and you can find it almost any place. Place a handful in and shake it over the bin and “Shift” them. Note: if your bedding is to large this could be too hard, try switching to another smaller bedding like wheat bran. its helpful it have another bin to drop the mealworms in, within a few more time you can have lots of mealworms ready to be used.
shifting the mealworms from the bedding
only 3 try's and there is a ton of mealworms ready!
PUPA: after lots of time you will notice mealworms slowing down or not even moving sometimes.. (Tip; if you only have one group of mealworms take some out at the size you use and store them in the fridge before they turn in to pupa)the other mealworms will soon will turn in to pupa. These creepy little things can’t hurt you. And within a week or so they will be beetles!
BEETLES: Oh the last step! Months and months of mealworms now pay off. And your pupa will start moving and brake open in to a white looking beetle after 48 hours they turn black and will start to breed and lay eggs. Keep them like you did with the mealworms, by tossing in potatoes. Now it’s a long waiting game. This can take weeks or months before you see little baby mealworms. Am Not kidding..It’s a LONG WAIT before you will see anything.
Beetles ready to mate and lay eggs
BABY MEALWORMS: they hatch very small about the size of this – and it takes weeks before they get any bigger. Remember that tip about putting some of your mealworms in the fridge? Use them now! This will help you feed your reptiles. As your new baby mealworms are growing.
after months in the beetle bin, you can see mealworms!
THAT’S IT! You did it, The whole thing of mealworms and how to breed your own. Pm me if you need any help or more info!
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