I got baby mealworms..

[Kellyr]

Hopingforbabies, check out my thread titled "I've got pupae" in this forum if you would like to see some pics.

When the mealies go into the pupal stage.. take them out so the remaining worms do not nibble on them for food. When the pupae emerge into beetles they should be transfered into a new container so that the beetles do not feed on the remaining pupae. The beetles mature in a few days (turning from a brown color to black) and begin to lay eggs, living for a total of about 4 months. Every week or two they should be removed (beetles) from their container and placed into a new one with new bedding so that they do not eat the eggs. These critters are scavengers so they eat whatever is there.. it is best to separate all 4 stages and rotate the adults to new containers weekly or bi-weekly. Hope this helps :main_yes:

 

[hopingforbabies]

My question is,can I mix the bedding with the baby mealworms in with the bedding with 3 week old babies instead of having several bins with different size babies.

 

[ssscales]

My question is,can I mix the bedding with the baby mealworms in with the bedding with 3 week old babies instead of having several bins with different size babies.

It's fine, even if you lose a couple dozen or hundred for whatever reason, you'll be swimming in mealworms soon enough....

We usually keep them separated in 12qt tubs and as they grow cycle them up the shelf and eventually dump all the adults into what started out as one 28qt tub, but now is overflowing into two 28qt tubs. This way you have mealworms in various sizes and stages. We separate the pupae out of the adult 28qt tubs and place them in 6qt tubs to morph into beetles and toss into the beetle colony.

 

[MagicalGecko]

How many do you raise ssscales. How many do you go through a week?

 

[rubym]

We keep ours in those sterlite drawer systems. I have 24 drawers that I use. I rotate my bedding and bugs to new drawers about every 2 weeks. We keep a constant supply of them at all times. I also sell them to a local pet store and this pays for whatever other bugs I need to buy for our leos. They are so easy to raise and keep, I think it is well worth the minimal trouble.

 

[ssscales]

How many do you raise ssscales. How many do you go through a week?

I have not bothered counting, I know we have a pretty good excess for what we need. I would guess we are going through roughly 4000-5000/MO, and produce over 10,000+/MO....who knows, maybe more, maybe less.

I know it's more than we actually use and give away a couple 100 a week to a few neighborhood kids with BD's and Leos. I even add some to the bird feeders outside, birds love them! Same for Supers, we've got a 28qt tub full and 2/12qt tubs full of babies-1/4" Supers.

I'd rather have an excess than a shortage and glad I set aside a nice batch of pupae a few weeks ago to replace our aging beetles. Same for the Supers, I set aside 100 adult Supers to pupae and morph to add fresh beetles to our colony next month.

 

[MagicalGecko]

I was just curious because we're starting to raise our own and wanted see what we were looking at. We go through about 3000 a week. I'm trying to figure out space wise how it is and how many beetles could start a colony of that size.

 

[ssscales]

I was just curious because we're starting to raise our own and wanted see what we were looking at. We go through about 3000 a week. I'm trying to figure out space wise how it is and how many beetles could start a colony of that size.

Look at it this way, each female lays say about 400-500 eggs in a 4-6MO life cycle. Of course you will lose females, eggs, mealworms, but let's say 400 X's if you have even 100 female beetles producing = 40,000/5MO = 8000/MO. Even if you loss or did not produce 1/2 of that due to loss of any type = 4000/MO. Needless to say, if you set up 200-300 beetles, you'll be set and have more mealworms than you'll know what to do with based on your needs!....

P.S.
You won't need 3 tubs now, just one tubs to set up the beetles in. Right now the question is getting started, getting 200-300 mealworms to pupate and morph into beetles. Once you have 200-300 beetles in a tub with substrate, they'll do the rest!

You should be fine with 3-4 12qt tubs and cycle them around. By the time you've fed off all the mealworms in tub #1, tub #2 is ready and beetles go back to filling tub #1 and on. It's will take a few months to get going, but once your colony is set, you're set!

 

[MagicalGecko]

Thanks a lot. I think I'll prob only have a 100 as thats as many mealies as I could get before the shortage. It's good to know it's doable!

 

[ssscales]

Thanks a lot. I think I'll prob only have a 100 as thats as many mealies as I could get before the shortage. It's good to know it's doable!

Definitely doable, just set up those 100 and don't feed them off...lol
Soon they will pupate and eventually you will have beetles, the beetles will lay eggs, eggs turn to mealworms and eventually the mealies you don't feed off will also pupate. In a few months and patience your 100, could be 10,000...:main_yes:

Set aside 300 or so pupae once you have your set up going to replace your initial 100 as they die off and keep your colony going.

 

[wings2fly]

I just found baby mealworms in the ben with my beetles. They are so small, that I never even noticed them before.

Carin

 

[ssscales]

I just found baby mealworms in the ben with my beetles. They are so small, that I never even noticed them before.

Carin

Congrats, that's how it starts!...:main_thumbsup:
For over a month I did not see anything and thought I was doing something wrong. Then one day when I was tossing out the potatoes I noticed what looked like the substrate moving, it was tiny mealworms...1000's of them. As they grow, it almost seems like the whole bedding is mealworms...lol