Mealworm Breeding Question

[Chibi Alien Monster]

I plan on breeding mealworms in around a month, so I was wondering how many eggs can one mealworm beetle lay at one time?
Also, how big should the containers that'll be holding the beetles be? 100 small/medium mealworms?

 

[Chibi Alien Monster]

Bump.

 

[justin-branam]

I plan on breeding mealworms in around a month, so I was wondering how many eggs can one mealworm beetle lay at one time?
Also, how big should the containers that'll be holding the beetles be? 100 small/medium mealworms?

just started my breeding with them. got about 50-60 beetles right now.

-I am told each beetle can lay up to 500 eggs, but thats just what i heard. i would not expect all to hatch, and im sure it can be way less than that as well.

-i have mine in a sterlite shoebox container ( plastic box about 10x16x6 inches) with some mealworm bedding i bought HERE

it will help if you put the mealworms in a dish with no food or substrate, as they turn into pupae and then into beetles when they are stressed. make sure to keep those beetles fed with potato as they will be very hungry/thirsty. i am told to leave the beetles in the tub for one month, and then move them to another tub. then a month later, you should have decent sized mealworms in the first tub. take some of them and turn them into beetles. you should have a 3 month cycle going. again, i just started and have yet to transfer my beetles from their first bin, but this is what i learned doing some research.

if you end up breeding supers, the same thing works, but you have to keep the worms seperate for them to turn into pupae/beetles (im using film canisters)

Here is a good site i found that has picks and instructions for supers

Good luck!

 

[Chibi Alien Monster]

just started my breeding with them. got about 50-60 beetles right now.

-I am told each beetle can lay up to 500 eggs, but thats just what i heard. i would not expect all to hatch, and im sure it can be way less than that as well.

-i have mine in a sterlite shoebox container ( plastic box about 10x16x6 inches) with some mealworm bedding i bought HERE

it will help if you put the mealworms in a dish with no food or substrate, as they turn into pupae and then into beetles when they are stressed. make sure to keep those beetles fed with potato as they will be very hungry/thirsty. i am told to leave the beetles in the tub for one month, and then move them to another tub. then a month later, you should have decent sized mealworms in the first tub. take some of them and turn them into beetles. you should have a 3 month cycle going. again, i just started and have yet to transfer my beetles from their first bin, but this is what i learned doing some research.

if you end up breeding supers, the same thing works, but you have to keep the worms seperate for them to turn into pupae/beetles (im using film canisters)

Here is a good site i found that has picks and instructions for supers

Good luck!

Wow. Thanks. I wasn't expecting as long a post.
Do you separate the mealworms when they're pupae, or have you not gotten there yet?

 

[justin-branam]

the mealworms will pupate without having to seperate them, but the superworms must be seperated.

So far i have about 60 mealworm beetles, and 2 superworm pupae (that was a trial, but i now have more that are setup to pupate)

 

[Mack Leo Boy]

Justin I went to that website link and saw those supers in film canisters. Can you do the same thing with mealworms without feeding them? Or do you need a substrate and food.

 

[jenkznza]

You want your mealworms to be big and healthy when they pupate so keep them on bran and feed veggies for moisture. We pull our pupa from the bran and place them in trays until they morph into beetles. This prevents the Mealworms from taste testing the pupa. To remove the beetles easily we place a piece of paper towel over the pupa. When they morph the beetles will cling to the paper towel making it easy to transfer them to a new bin. Works great!

 

[Chibi Alien Monster]

At what age do mealworms pupate?

 

[jenkznza]

From the time I remove my beetles I figure that I will have pupae in about 12-13 weeks. Time varies greatly with temperature and quality of food. If you are buying 1" Mealworms it would take 2-3 weeks if you keep them warm and well fed.