how to breed mealworms & care for them

[crestedgeckogirly]

I buy 50 lbs of wheat bran at a time for around $15 at my local feed mill. Best thing to do if you're breeding...saves a lot of money!

-Andrea

 

[geo4leo]

this is very helpful. im glad that you took your time and share this with us nooobies. :]

 

[Ratman667]

I keep mine in two kritter keepers. I use old fashioned oat meal and potatoes. I'll throw some kale and parsley in there for the beetles. I just harvested for the first time in four months and got about 300 with about 2x that left in there.

I will be changing to wheat bran next bedding change...

 

[kiwigecko]

Great read :main_thumbsup: I vote this should be a sticky!

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Hi there!

After reading this detailed post, I've decided that I'm starting my own mealworm colony. I just have a few questions I was hoping could be answered.

1. How often do you change your mealworm bedding?
2. How often do you change your beetle bedding?
3. What kind of bedding do you give your beetles? (And is it any different from the mealworm bedding)
4. How do you change your beetle bedding without getting rid of their eggs? (I'm assuming since you sift, the eggs all go byebye)

Thanks!

 

[charlie476]

[*]How often do you change your mealworm bedding?
supposing you use wheatbran the frass will be very fine. If you buy one of those spatter pans(think thats what they are called very fine screen) from walmart for around $5-7 the frass will fall through and the worms and good bran will still be on top.

[*]How often do you change your beetle bedding?
Beetles should be moved to fresh bedding. After around 2 weeks tops move them to another fresh container. Reason being if you leave them in one container you would have a huge size gap in worms but if you change every few weeks they will be uniform in size.

[*]What kind of bedding do you give your beetles? (And is it any different from the mealworm bedding)
Same as mealworms

[*]How do you change your beetle bedding without getting rid of their eggs? (I'm assuming since you sift, the eggs all go byebye)
Once again depending on how many beetles you have they should be moved to a new container preventing them from eating the eggs. You can either have a screen on the button just small enough where the beetles cant get through and lift it to next container after a few weeks. Or hold off on moisture for 3-4 days drop in a sliced potato and 95% will flock to it then just scoop the few others out by hand.

 

[charlie476]

Sorry forgot to add yes they will fly. But only if they are very unhappy. Things ive noticed that cause them to fly was being very over crowded, extreme low moisture source, and lastly when i wanted to kill off around 50,000 beetles outside in the sun around 95 degrees i noticed some flew out few hundred

do the beetles fly away when you open the container

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Thanks for your reply, but you kind of just told me how to sift. I already understand how to sift, but how do I change the beetle bedding, get their excrement out, AND keep the eggs? Should I just keep all of the old bedding together in a big container? With the eggs and excrement?

Additionally, should I be able to see the eggs with the naked eye? Is their excrement visible to the naked eye?

How do I keep moisture in the egg cage? Should I keep food/bedding in the egg cage?

I'm sorry, it's just there was some key stuff missing in the main post. There was only information on the beetle cage and the mealworm cage, but nothing about the egg cage. Nothing about refining bedding, changing bedding, etc. Could I get a little bit more clarification please?

 

[charlie476]

If the beetles were moved to a fresh container when they became beetles there shouldn't be much frass at all. But if there is there isn't much of a way to get it out without losing small worms and eggs. Its best to let the worms grow in size where they can be sifted without a loss. Yes you can see the eggs but are very small if you don't have a screen between the beetles and bran they most of the time will lay their eggs on the bottom and will stick to the container it self. If you gently shake the bran to one end you'll see the small clusters of eggs. I personally haven't put moisture in the cage until a few weeks after i notice worms moving around. Since moisture only makes them grow faster and not actually needed. Frass looks like sand particles. But if you wish to offer them moisture a small slice of potato will be good just not to much since they are so small they will take time to munch it and will most likely spoil before they can actually munch it away. What i do is the containers i was using are 14"w 22"L 6"H I put 1/2-3/4" of bran in it i then add x number of beetles to it. After adding the beetles i add a few slices of potatoes usually putting a few new ones in on week 2. After that i take those beetles and put them in the next fresh container and repeat. I simply leave what potatoes were in there for the beetles but don't add any new ones for 2-3 weeks. I usually notice worms moving around within 10 days of putting the beetles in there. I hope i covered most of the things. I do apologize for the wall of text. I had a very detailed list of to dos but when i clicked send i got some database error and everything i typed was lost. If there isn't something i touched on and have any questions feel free to let me know i always get ahead of myself when typing and forget to type half of what I'm thinking. Oh and forgot to add i never had to change or sift bedding the eggs were in for at least 1 month by then they are large enough that none are lost when sifting. I have to run out but feel free to remind me if i left anything off

 

[hammerhead]

so when i store my meal worms in the fridge, after about a week they really start to smell very bad. what could i be doing wrong? when i store worms i have bought i don't have that problem, just the ones i have bred.

 

[Beneath]

If the beetles were moved to a fresh container when they became beetles there shouldn't be much frass at all. But if there is there isn't much of a way to get it out without losing small worms and eggs. Its best to let the worms grow in size where they can be sifted without a loss. Yes you can see the eggs but are very small if you don't have a screen between the beetles and bran they most of the time will lay their eggs on the bottom and will stick to the container it self. If you gently shake the bran to one end you'll see the small clusters of eggs. I personally haven't put moisture in the cage until a few weeks after i notice worms moving around. Since moisture only makes them grow faster and not actually needed. Frass looks like sand particles. But if you wish to offer them moisture a small slice of potato will be good just not to much since they are so small they will take time to munch it and will most likely spoil before they can actually munch it away. What i do is the containers i was using are 14"w 22"L 6"H I put 1/2-3/4" of bran in it i then add x number of beetles to it. After adding the beetles i add a few slices of potatoes usually putting a few new ones in on week 2. After that i take those beetles and put them in the next fresh container and repeat. I simply leave what potatoes were in there for the beetles but don't add any new ones for 2-3 weeks. I usually notice worms moving around within 10 days of putting the beetles in there. I hope i covered most of the things. I do apologize for the wall of text. I had a very detailed list of to dos but when i clicked send i got some database error and everything i typed was lost. If there isn't something i touched on and have any questions feel free to let me know i always get ahead of myself when typing and forget to type half of what I'm thinking. Oh and forgot to add i never had to change or sift bedding the eggs were in for at least 1 month by then they are large enough that none are lost when sifting. I have to run out but feel free to remind me if i left anything off

What have you used for sifting?

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

How long should I leave the beetles in a tub before moving them to new bedding?

And then (assuming there are eggs and baby worms in it) what do I do with that bedding (the bedding I just used)?

Should I combine all the beetle beddings when they're done with (so I salvage all of the babies)?

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

bump

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

can anyone answer these?

 

[leoman777]

i just keep the beetles in the container with baby worms and i just make sure they have lots of food so they dont eat the babies and then when the worms are fully grown i get them out and put them in the worm bin. hope this helped

 

[snakegirl]

am going to write up a Very detail guild about mealworms and caring for them, it will be done soon and have even more photos and info with everything you need to know! ( ;

 

[GrimmyX15]

I heard they will said beetles can eat baby mealworms , I have alot of baby mealworms in another conteienr.

 

[snakegirl]

i did a New and Much more detailed post about mealworms Please see here.

http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=48848