mealworm breeding help

[henward]

Ok, i have a lot of mealworms im trying to turn into beetles, in the container, bran, some fish food only a little bit, and veges all sorts.
they are getting fat and huge! compared to my feeder lot, but i am wondering,d o i do anything to induce pupating? ordo i just keep feeding and it will pupate?

or do i have to stop feeding and it will start to pupate?

 

[hybrid]

i have learned over the past few months that a lil heat will speed things up! dont use alot of heat or u can kill them, but just enough to get the temps up to maybe the 80s

 

[Western Gecko]

Just hang in there, they'll pupate any day now! :main_yes:

 

[leoman5654]

it will just take time. i have my mealworms at about 68 degrees which makes them pupate a little slower but thats good for me because i only have one gecko. so basically it will just take some time fo everything to happen. it just takes patience.

 

[henward]

Do i separate pupa from the meal worms
?
or just leave the pupa and separate the beetles only?

i have the odd pupa, but i thnk thtas from the odd old worm in the batch, but when they turn to pupas, most will turn at the same time, should i take out the pupas or leave them?
leave them untill they become beetles then separate to a laying box?

 

[Hopefull Monster Geckos]

what I do is put the mealworm pupae in the container that you are going to use for beetles then when they turn into beetles you don`t have to go through a container full of pupae everyday searching for beetles. I know that alot of people say that the beetles will eat the pupae but personaly that has never happened to me and it should not happen if you keep them well fed and keep their moisture up.

 

[henward]

is there harm in keeping pupa in the tub untill they become beetles, the move them after?

 

[Hopefull Monster Geckos]

Do you mean the tub with the mealies?
If so then I wouldn`t do that because then they generaly will start to lay eggs if you don`t get them out fast enough and the mealies will eat the eggs which in turn will reduce the amount of meal worms that you will produce.

 

[williammce1]

Hey Henward, thought you saved all these complicated questions just for me?? He He! Glad to see you are doing your research. You'll soon have so many mealies you can top some of those Pizzas with them. i believe they would be best on thin crust!!

 

[henward]

yeah, i just ask everyone lol
i dont need that many yet, eventually i will, os im practicing now on how to breed them, im also raising crickets, but not breeding, i buy them cheap when tey are tiny and feed them up with pumkin, beetroot, and fish food then feed them to the geckos.

 

[htadothk]

I've seen mealworms eating a pupa when there is no other moisture available. It was from a bowl of mealworms that I just bought. For my own mealworms, I almost always keep some carrot in there and I've never seen any pupa or mealworms got eaten.

From my observation, mealworms will become still before they turn into pupa. When you touch them they would move around a bit but they can't move their legs for their legs are already "sticked together" inside the exoskeleton. If you touch a mealworm and it moves its legs, then it isn't close to pupating.

You can also see some orange / reddish marks under their exoskeleton just before pupating.

 

[henward]

thats alot of help!
thanks, they are definatley showing that lines
i will keep in mind that in need veges in there to avoid them eating the pupa

 

[bubblez825]

this is what i do to avoid anything eating anything, because the beetles WILL eat the pupae if left in the beetle bin and if they are left in the mealie bin, the beetles will hatch and dig under the bedding and be really hard to find.

Beetles in a 16qt bin with a little bedding, but enough to cover the bottom of the tub

Mealies in a 16qt tub with about 4-5" of bedding(well of course, I have like 2,000 lolz)

and hte pupae in a deli container with holes in the lid for when the beetles hatch. when they hatch i just chuck them in the beetle bin

hope i helped! :main_thumbsup:

M&M

 

[elnott]

i also use three containers. i use one of those small three drawer containers. mealworms in the bottom on 1/2" of oatmeal. middle drawer for pupae with just a paper towel, and top drawer with about 1"-2" of oatmeal for the beetles. for moisture i use those baby carrots. i cut them in half long ways and place them on a small piece of paper towel and let them do the rest.

 

[cuomop]

yeah i just bought 1000 mealies and put them in with my 35 leftovers and i have 50 pupae in less than a week, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, anyone else see this huge number of quick pupae? house is kept at 68