Crewdog00
James Skar
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- 405
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- Brookfield, CT 06804
You could breed them and then sell them just to do it for fun.
Mealworm bedding/breeding
- Thread starter Taesolieroy
- Start date
You could breed them and then sell them just to do it for fun.
bubblez825
New Member
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- 2,059
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- Glendale, AZ
My pupae usually take about two weeks to hatch at around 75-80*F (room temp) 
dlefik2008
New Member
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- 71
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- Spencerville, OH.
Well, I honestly wanted to chime in on this subject as I know I worried about this too when I first started, like how to do it, if it was hard, etc. I absolutely love the idea of breeding my own worms as it saves a lot of money, if you do it right, and you know exactly what quality of worms you're getting. it's much easier than you would think too.
I started out by buying about 1000 worms from a place called rainbow mealworms off the net. It was a little pricey overall. the bulk was only like 12 bucks if I remember, but they sock you for overnight shipping which can cost almost double. It was even worse buying from a local store here as they wanted almost a dollar a dozen (not kidding), and when you do that a lot, plus cost of gas, it adds up real fast.
So when I got my initial thousand, I just used them as feeders until I got the pupae. I would take the pupae and stick them in a little plastic cup, like the disposable ones you use for teeth brushing. Real cheap, nothing fancy. I would check the cups every day for beetles, and pull them out and throw them in a sterilite drawer with about a 1-2 inch bedding of wheat bran.
Here's a pic of my beetle colony. Very simple setup. just use some egg cartons cut up for some hiding places as they tend to dislike light.
As far as hydration for the beetles goes, I use organic baby carrots. When I think I need the carrots soon, I open the bag, put them on a clean towel, wrap them up and leave them sit out wrapped up for about 24 hours, to help dry them out before using them. Helps keep the wheat bran from getting stink and mold. I learned once the hard way when I lost a whole drawer full to mold and it happens pretty quick. I wait until the outside of the carrot is completely dry, but not shriveled, before putting them right on top of the wheat bran. usually once they have a white coating over them. I don't worry about burying carrots or anything like that. The mealworms will easily make them disappear to below the top layer anyways.
Personally I like to keep 30-40 beetles per colony. While that may not sound like much, they will reproduce like rabbits once they get going. I'm not kidding either. Within 2 weeks I go through, pick out the beetles individually and place them in another drawer with a similar setup. Then the drawer I pulled them out of I will let sit for a while and kind of check it once in a while for the new mealies before adding in carrots. Pete and repeat the process about every 2 weeks. Any longer than two weeks I found you can get potentially less mealies as I believe they possibly eat the hatchlings or even the eggs too, while sifting the wheat bran. However, I have had some drawers explode into overcrowd status too when left for 3-4 weeks.
I'm not sure exactly how long the beetles will live as it varies. I've had some that would live out 1-2 months, and I've even had some live for 5-6 months, no lie. I'm still using beetles from a few months ago and they are still consistently reproducing by the hundreds.
Here's the wheat bran I use. Only one store here carries it, but it's about 1.30 a bag which is pretty reasonable. I found amazon carries this stuff too, but it's a little more than what I pay for since you have to buy in larger bulk through them rather than these little bags.
I found for me, that usually 4-5 bags of this stuff will cover about 2 weeks worth of sifting and replenishing for my beetles and mealworm colonies, just depends on how heavy you pump them out. If you're only doing one drawer at a time, 1-2 bags could even go 2 weeks.
I'm particular about the mealworms too and their waste. You will find as they are younger, they will pretty well turn the wheat bran to dust and leave boatloads of waste behind. A few times a week, I will use a cheap plastic sifter net and shake out all the waste into the trash, put them in a new container, then replenish any wheat bran that has been used.
This is the type of sifter I use. i have a small one when sifting out food bowls, and a larger one for sifting meal worm containers.
And this is the way I keep my mealworms containers. Just a simple sterilite drawer, from those little tower drawer things from walmart. watch for dead black worms from time to time. I have found over time, I've had a lot less dead ones with each new batch. Anymore, I rarely ever have any that die, on this particular setup, but it used to be pretty common when I first started.
As a side note, from a lot of experience, try and keep your beetles as separated from the pupae as possible. I found a lot of half eaten pupae laying around in the drawers before. I'm guessing them beetles and worms will eat just about anything, even each other. I've also found half eaten beetle shells in my beetle colonies, or just the heads laying around. Not very often, just once in a great while.
Some other little things about the mealies, for anyone wondering. I found two ways to tell when they are close to hitting their pupae stage. 1 - They will start to get lethargic and do like a figure nine or "c" shaped curl. 2 - I noticed a pattern, not saying this is accurate though, but I think the texture of the meal worm can also be an indication they are close to hitting pupae time. Like fresh young ones have a slick glossy texture to their skin whereas the ones I've seen hitting the pupae time tend to have more of a less glossy and slightly rougher texture to them. Just basing that on patterns though.
The pupae will be a squishy soft white when they're relatively fresh, and darken up and get a little more solid as they get close to turning to beetles. Almost like a golden brown sometimes. They will start to also squirm around a lot when they are getting to hatch. Almost like a pumping motion. you'll know when you see it and it's consistent.
Whew, that was a lot of work, but I know I searched high and low when I first started doing this, and I just thought it would be nice to share info from my experience, so others with the same questions on how to do this, could learn. Sorry if this was a little over the top though.
I started out by buying about 1000 worms from a place called rainbow mealworms off the net. It was a little pricey overall. the bulk was only like 12 bucks if I remember, but they sock you for overnight shipping which can cost almost double. It was even worse buying from a local store here as they wanted almost a dollar a dozen (not kidding), and when you do that a lot, plus cost of gas, it adds up real fast.
So when I got my initial thousand, I just used them as feeders until I got the pupae. I would take the pupae and stick them in a little plastic cup, like the disposable ones you use for teeth brushing. Real cheap, nothing fancy. I would check the cups every day for beetles, and pull them out and throw them in a sterilite drawer with about a 1-2 inch bedding of wheat bran.
Here's a pic of my beetle colony. Very simple setup. just use some egg cartons cut up for some hiding places as they tend to dislike light.
As far as hydration for the beetles goes, I use organic baby carrots. When I think I need the carrots soon, I open the bag, put them on a clean towel, wrap them up and leave them sit out wrapped up for about 24 hours, to help dry them out before using them. Helps keep the wheat bran from getting stink and mold. I learned once the hard way when I lost a whole drawer full to mold and it happens pretty quick. I wait until the outside of the carrot is completely dry, but not shriveled, before putting them right on top of the wheat bran. usually once they have a white coating over them. I don't worry about burying carrots or anything like that. The mealworms will easily make them disappear to below the top layer anyways.
Personally I like to keep 30-40 beetles per colony. While that may not sound like much, they will reproduce like rabbits once they get going. I'm not kidding either. Within 2 weeks I go through, pick out the beetles individually and place them in another drawer with a similar setup. Then the drawer I pulled them out of I will let sit for a while and kind of check it once in a while for the new mealies before adding in carrots. Pete and repeat the process about every 2 weeks. Any longer than two weeks I found you can get potentially less mealies as I believe they possibly eat the hatchlings or even the eggs too, while sifting the wheat bran. However, I have had some drawers explode into overcrowd status too when left for 3-4 weeks.
I'm not sure exactly how long the beetles will live as it varies. I've had some that would live out 1-2 months, and I've even had some live for 5-6 months, no lie. I'm still using beetles from a few months ago and they are still consistently reproducing by the hundreds.
Here's the wheat bran I use. Only one store here carries it, but it's about 1.30 a bag which is pretty reasonable. I found amazon carries this stuff too, but it's a little more than what I pay for since you have to buy in larger bulk through them rather than these little bags.
I found for me, that usually 4-5 bags of this stuff will cover about 2 weeks worth of sifting and replenishing for my beetles and mealworm colonies, just depends on how heavy you pump them out. If you're only doing one drawer at a time, 1-2 bags could even go 2 weeks.
I'm particular about the mealworms too and their waste. You will find as they are younger, they will pretty well turn the wheat bran to dust and leave boatloads of waste behind. A few times a week, I will use a cheap plastic sifter net and shake out all the waste into the trash, put them in a new container, then replenish any wheat bran that has been used.
This is the type of sifter I use. i have a small one when sifting out food bowls, and a larger one for sifting meal worm containers.
And this is the way I keep my mealworms containers. Just a simple sterilite drawer, from those little tower drawer things from walmart. watch for dead black worms from time to time. I have found over time, I've had a lot less dead ones with each new batch. Anymore, I rarely ever have any that die, on this particular setup, but it used to be pretty common when I first started.
As a side note, from a lot of experience, try and keep your beetles as separated from the pupae as possible. I found a lot of half eaten pupae laying around in the drawers before. I'm guessing them beetles and worms will eat just about anything, even each other. I've also found half eaten beetle shells in my beetle colonies, or just the heads laying around. Not very often, just once in a great while.
Some other little things about the mealies, for anyone wondering. I found two ways to tell when they are close to hitting their pupae stage. 1 - They will start to get lethargic and do like a figure nine or "c" shaped curl. 2 - I noticed a pattern, not saying this is accurate though, but I think the texture of the meal worm can also be an indication they are close to hitting pupae time. Like fresh young ones have a slick glossy texture to their skin whereas the ones I've seen hitting the pupae time tend to have more of a less glossy and slightly rougher texture to them. Just basing that on patterns though.
The pupae will be a squishy soft white when they're relatively fresh, and darken up and get a little more solid as they get close to turning to beetles. Almost like a golden brown sometimes. They will start to also squirm around a lot when they are getting to hatch. Almost like a pumping motion. you'll know when you see it and it's consistent.
Whew, that was a lot of work, but I know I searched high and low when I first started doing this, and I just thought it would be nice to share info from my experience, so others with the same questions on how to do this, could learn. Sorry if this was a little over the top though.
Taesolieroy
Freelance Artist
- Messages
- 103
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia
*keels back from big as hell post!* Haha I got caught up with work that I forgot about this post! I came back to find it still active!
@Bubblez - that makes a lot of sense there o3o
That's a lot of good information there Don! I am currently keeping my lot in two sterlite bins from a 5 pack I picked up from a local Target for $5. The bedding I'm using now is the 1-minute oatmeal mix and carrots from the rice krispies. Every day since pulling out my initial 13 pupae, I'm spot removing 1-3 from the bin and today's the third day of doing this. Something about the powder of the quick-make oatmeal absorbs and disperses water so far to keep the oats from being too soggy when I put the carrots in.
Good advice about the separation of the pupae! I'll put them in their individual cups today as the older ones are starting to brown up. A friend of mine wanted me to photograph them each day as a kind of progress log for new keepers to see exactly what stage the pupae will be, but I think once I get a colony established I'll do it with a day-old pupae.
I had started out with a 500 ct order thinking it would all be gone before reaching this phase of colony-starting, but I'm excited that after three weeks I've got pupae, and only a couple dead mealies the whole time and a good number of worms still to feed my three geckos. I know I'll need to order more soon though before my beetles are producing. Room temperature right now averages 80 degrees daily so the pupating time will be fast :3
That looks like your basic flower sifter Don, that I can pick up easily at my local grocery store. Hell since I've moved the mealies I keep finding three or four shedding to a larger size or pupating later on. Is it bad I'm this excited about starting a money saving colony that would potentially put more money into pocket when I get a big enough stock that my 10 gallon sterlite container (one I originally used to house the mealies and crickets) is getting overcrowded and time to sell off bulk.
From the sounds of the beetles, looks like I might be using up my other three bins for the beetles ^_^; Mom might not be too happy but you know what, it's a hell of a lot quieter than crickets and not as stinky >_> I kinda prefer the fragrant rice cereal and oatmeal smell over cricket stink.
@Bubblez - that makes a lot of sense there o3o
That's a lot of good information there Don! I am currently keeping my lot in two sterlite bins from a 5 pack I picked up from a local Target for $5. The bedding I'm using now is the 1-minute oatmeal mix and carrots from the rice krispies. Every day since pulling out my initial 13 pupae, I'm spot removing 1-3 from the bin and today's the third day of doing this. Something about the powder of the quick-make oatmeal absorbs and disperses water so far to keep the oats from being too soggy when I put the carrots in.
Good advice about the separation of the pupae! I'll put them in their individual cups today as the older ones are starting to brown up. A friend of mine wanted me to photograph them each day as a kind of progress log for new keepers to see exactly what stage the pupae will be, but I think once I get a colony established I'll do it with a day-old pupae.
I had started out with a 500 ct order thinking it would all be gone before reaching this phase of colony-starting, but I'm excited that after three weeks I've got pupae, and only a couple dead mealies the whole time and a good number of worms still to feed my three geckos. I know I'll need to order more soon though before my beetles are producing. Room temperature right now averages 80 degrees daily so the pupating time will be fast :3
That looks like your basic flower sifter Don, that I can pick up easily at my local grocery store. Hell since I've moved the mealies I keep finding three or four shedding to a larger size or pupating later on. Is it bad I'm this excited about starting a money saving colony that would potentially put more money into pocket when I get a big enough stock that my 10 gallon sterlite container (one I originally used to house the mealies and crickets) is getting overcrowded and time to sell off bulk.
From the sounds of the beetles, looks like I might be using up my other three bins for the beetles ^_^; Mom might not be too happy but you know what, it's a hell of a lot quieter than crickets and not as stinky >_> I kinda prefer the fragrant rice cereal and oatmeal smell over cricket stink.
Taesolieroy
Freelance Artist
- Messages
- 103
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia
Bit of an update - just got my first beetle! It's only been what... a week? Week and a half? Just molted out too from how pale it is, a couple others look real close to shedding too.
I forgot to ask, how worried should I be about these beetles trying to fly out when I open their bin?
I forgot to ask, how worried should I be about these beetles trying to fly out when I open their bin?
Last edited:
ReptileWorld
New Member
- Messages
- 208
- Location
- Hoboken
i dont use a lid on my beetle or worm bin and none seem to be getting out so i wouldnt worry much
charlie476
Member
- Messages
- 104
- Location
- Houston, texas
Beetles can fly great distances. However you will only notice them flying mostly when they are unhappy. Left with no food or moisture for a long period of time.
bubblez825
New Member
- Messages
- 2,059
- Location
- Glendale, AZ
I thought mealworms beetles couldn't fly? I've left mine for weeks without food(trying to kill my colony, I had to get rid of my colony for a while due to allergies) and never once had a beetle fly...
Taesolieroy
Freelance Artist
- Messages
- 103
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia
I was pondering that too as I've seen a few of my freshly molted beetles with wings exposed. I'll be carefully monitoring them when transferring in new beetles and checking for baby mealies, since a co-worker of mine is interested in trying the newly hatched ones with his poison frogs he breeds to see if they'll take to something other than fruit flies for variation.
charlie476
Member
- Messages
- 104
- Location
- Houston, texas
I always thought for the longest they couldnt fly. Until one day one flew past me. I thought some how a fly got into my building. About a 2 minute flight around my building it landed to discover it was a beetle. I keep about 60-70K beetles producing at a time. I hope they all dont decide they all wanna take flying lessons !!
But don't worry because it is pretty rare.
But don't worry because it is pretty rare.
Taesolieroy
Freelance Artist
- Messages
- 103
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia
Oh dear, are they as clumsy as a June beetle? XD
I accidentally left my bin open over my 20+ colony, but none appeared to have taken off, though I had to chase them around the bin to transfer them to a new one via carefully grabbing with tweezers because I spotted baby mealies squirming around finally - wheee!
In an older container I had let go to pupate and whatnot (one of those 100ct containers from the petstore) I discovered and fished out a little over a dozen baby red-worm sized mealies and thought that was the starting size, these are much tinier!
I accidentally left my bin open over my 20+ colony, but none appeared to have taken off, though I had to chase them around the bin to transfer them to a new one via carefully grabbing with tweezers because I spotted baby mealies squirming around finally - wheee!
In an older container I had let go to pupate and whatnot (one of those 100ct containers from the petstore) I discovered and fished out a little over a dozen baby red-worm sized mealies and thought that was the starting size, these are much tinier!
bubblez825
New Member
- Messages
- 2,059
- Location
- Glendale, AZ
I honestly have a hard time believing they fly lol are you sure a MEALWORM BEETLE flew past you?
Also, penguins have wings, but cannot fly.... O:
Also, penguins have wings, but cannot fly.... O:
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