mealworm help again

[reptilenoob]

ok i have to have to many aliens how do y stop the mealworms from pupating
and my beetles strated breeding already how long till i see tiny mealworm ?

 

[Halley]

To stop them from pupating, just stick them in the fridge.

How long they take to breed, well you got me there.

 

[rcobourn]

ok i have to have to many aliens how do y stop the mealworms from pupating
and my beetles strated breeding already how long till i see tiny mealworm ?

You can't stop them from pupating... you can slow it down by refrigerating them. If not refrigerating you can also slow them down a bit if they have good moisture... they are more likely to pupate under adverse conditions.

It takes a few weeks for them to grow to usable size.. depends on what they are eating and the availability of moisture. I find some powdered milk and some flax in with the bran and/or oats serve to grow them faster, plus a heat pad to keep them around 85F. If you really want to boost them, brewer's yeast is amazing. There seems to be some debate about the quality of worms grown this way. I'm still experimenting. Brewer's yeast is a wealth of minerals and vitamins.

My bedding mixture: 70/20/10 bran/ground oats/12 grain cereal in a small sterlite drawer; then add about a 1/8 cup each of flax and powdered milk. Everything approximate by eye. Brewer's yeast... at your own discretion. I'm just using a couple teaspoons at the moment. I'm going to do some side by side testing eventually.

 

[voretaq7]

rcobourn - Just curious, what's the concern about using brewer's yeast? I use it in my gut loading bin for the reasons you mentioned (vitamins, minerals, protein) & wasn't aware there was any debate over whether it's good or bad...

 

[reptilenoob]

thank for the help everyone

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

Mealworms

As already mentioned, to stop them from turning into pupas you would have to slow their growth rate and that would be to put them into the frig.

As for how long until you see mealworms ... well that depends.

It takes 7 to 10 days for the Beetles to mature.

A couple of days to mate.

Eggs are layed and then it takes 7 to 10 days to hatch.

Then, it takes 2 to 3 weeks to be able to see them.

At least that is what I am guessing.

When you are cleaning your container of Beetles it is a good idea to keep the bedding for a couple of weeks so that you can wait to see if there are any baby mealworms remaining in the mixture.

 

[rcobourn]

rcobourn - Just curious, what's the concern about using brewer's yeast? I use it in my gut loading bin for the reasons you mentioned (vitamins, minerals, protein) & wasn't aware there was any debate over whether it's good or bad...

I've read that mealies grown too fast are less healthy looking, and perhaps contain less moisture and/or are less nutritious. Personally I doubt it, but I'm being cautious about using too much of it.

I forgot to mention that I'm also playing around with using Ensure instead of powdered milk. I guess I'll end up with vanilla flavored worms.