selling supers/mealies

[Ross85]

Hi,

I am starting a superworm colony now and just want to gather some info about selling them so I can decide if it is something I want to get into.
What are they usually shipped in and where would you buy them?
How do you ship them in the winter?
How do you count out the mealies(I'm assuming it's by weight)?
How much space would they need to start producing a good amount of them?


Thanks ahead of time and I'm sure I will think of more questions.

 

[clarkee_04]

Breeding mealworms is soooo much easier, and its not going to take up as much space because each worm doesn't need to be seperated. However, your still going to need a substantial amount of room to get a big colony going. I have found that if you overcrowd a tub with worms or beetles, then they will have a much shorter lifespan. Everytime I have had them shipped to me, I have recieved them in deli cups. I usually buy 10,000 every other year, and seperate it half and half, one half is for feeders, and the other half are intended to pupate and turn into beetles. Anyways though, they usually come 500 in a deli cup (in my personal experience). The place I buy mine from will only ship to bordering provinces and states in the winter, packed with a free heat pack. It is risky in to ship in the winter, but if the heat pack is positioned in the box correctly then it can be very effective at keeping the heat up.

I would also say that they are probably done by weight, it would be the most time effective way of going about it. You are also going to want to put another say 10% in to cover for what might be lost during shipping.

Sorry for writing a long post, but that should cover almost everything and if anyone has anything to add that I missed out on post away!

RC

 

[Ross85]

Thanks for the response. That is a good idea about the winter. I also saw some heat packs that last for 40 hours. Those would probably be pretty good. I think I may give it a try and sell some over ebay or something, maybe try to find some local people. Selling locally would be much easier. The only problem is I don't know any breeders around me and most of the local small pet stores are out of business due to the big chain stores. Anyone located near Plymouth ma, need mealworms or supers?

 

[Ross85]

Anyone know where to get those cloth bags the mealworms/supers get shipped in?

 

[Beneath]

I honestly don't think what you are getting into. You are going to need many, many containers to keep up with supply/demand. Better have room for it.

Check out this video of Timerberline.

 

[clarkee_04]

also did you think about a client base? I mean you don't want to go and buy 100,000 mealworms, get thousands more worms from breeding, and have no one to sell them to.

 

[Ross85]

Well my plan was to just go ahead and start breeding the supers and maybe mealworms, then just sell off excess. I was thinking of doing it through the classifieds here and on other forums or ebay. Then see how everything goes and maybe expand. I have no plans to jump right into things. I have a job that is very seasonal and is weather dependent and I am looking for something to maybe do on the side.