Separating old skins from mealworms...

[PhillyFeeders]

Hello, I was wondering if anybody here has some good techniques for cleaning out their mealworms colonies.

I have plenty of worms, mixed in of course with their bedding and all their old shed skins.

Anybody know of a good way to separate the worms from their old skins?

Thanks!

 

[LD404]

I use chopsticks and go through it by hand, but I have a very small colony...

I've heard suggestion of using metal kitty litter poop scoops, gold mining sifters, or simply putting two pieces of damp canvas on top the bedding, and waiting for the worms to crawl between (does that even work?) The poop scoop seems like the best, easiest to find option in theory - just scoop and shake the frass, bedding, and skins off the wormies.

 

[PhillyFeeders]

Thanks for the suggestions.

At the moment I've just got some carrot in there and I'm letting them climb onto it and then shaking them off in the new bin, seems to be working alright, just a slow process.

 

[Taquiq]

I have seen some people take a blow dryer and blow away all the shed. The grain and worms will stay but the shed will fly away. Just see what distance works and don't get too close. If you want to clean the bedding then you will have to sift through.

 

[PhillyFeeders]

Well, I found a way to cut the time required for this in half.... just kick over and spill your colony!

On the rug no less!

:main_lipsrsealed:

 

[acpart]

The strainer won't strain the skins through. I've found 2 techniques (besides picking them out) that seem to work: when I sift my mealworms into a shallow container for feeding, the worms frequently congregate at the sides and the skins stay in the middle. I use the blowing technique, but I blow gently myself because I think a blow dryer will move the mealworms as well as the skins.

Aliza

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I use a blow-dryer on the cool setting to blow off all the exoskeletons (outside of course) from my tub of mealworms.

 

[acpart]

I use a blow-dryer on the cool setting to blow off all the exoskeletons (outside of course) from my tub of mealworms.

Good to know. I've actually never used a blow dryer in my life for anything.

Aliza

 

[Dimidiata]

i use my hand lol

 

[lillith]

I use the vaccuum hose without attachments from about 6-8 inches away. It smells rather odd, though, I usually hafta run baking soda carpet freshener through the vaccuum afterwards. It's not horrible, but it is kinda funky. Like if you were in the worm bins too long, anyway.

Vaccuuming takes less time than blowing, at least for me.

 

[Syn]

Has anyone ever considered dumping them out on something flat and letting them crawl out into another bin (setting up a ledge and putting a bin underneath) to sort them? Yes, it would take time and the worms wouldn't always leave, but at least you could leave it unattended.

 

[Wowoklol]

I like the blowdryer method. Thanks for posting/sharing

 

[Home Grown Gecko]

I have a shop vac, hold the hose a few inches away and it won't pull up the worms but all the skin instantly flies into the vac. Works awesome and very easy, saves a ton of time!

 

[Kotori]

I did an entire colony cleaning a few days ago, and I had a bin that had a 4 inch layer of frass and a thick layer of skins. There was a gentle breeze, so I took it outside and immediately the skins blew off, but the frass wouldn't blow away on it's own, so I poured the frass and worms into a second bin, at a distance of about a foot. the wind caught the frass and blew it away, but the mealworms would land in the second bin. Took a few passes, but there was no frass left at all.