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Wish I could do BSF up here - it's just too cold during the winter and the summers are too short. I kept a tiny colony going for about 2 years by setting up a system outside for the summer and in my basement during the winter but it finally fizzled out. Great little composters and my red...

Once they get to the point you can see them they actually grow pretty quick. Before you. know it these will be pupating :)

After a few setbacks my 2 colonies are doing quite well. I am doing a 3 drawer system. I have 2 separate larval bins going - 1 from my original 200 locally purchased mealworms and 1 from a larger quantity purchased online. The smaller, original colony is now 2nd gen and starting to pupate. The...

Buttercup - I've never heard of any of those type of issues with the bsfl. As adults, they only live a very short time (long enough to mate and lay eggs). They have no working mouth parts to eat with and don't bite, sting, etc. If you are controlling the diet for the larva you should be good.

My chickens went nuts when I had BSFL for them. But I'm in Michigan - it was too hard keeping the colony going here. They need better weather/longer warm seasons to thrive (mine kind of limped along for a year or so until I gave up). If you get a large enough colony going and want to sell me a...

I refrigerated a few hundred towards the end just to have some at different stages. With 2 separate bins going I need not have bothered. Once the juvie bin's mealies started growing I started seeing a few pupa every day. I'm still getting pupa from my 'big' bin - probably around 30 to 40 per...

I may have just gotten a funky batch - who knows. I just lifted a carrot out of the beetle bin and the bottom of it was covered in tiny mealies. I think it's time to move the beetles to another bin and let these mealies grow up. That will give me a chance to clean out any dead beetles and feed...

Nxb - I actually had my humidity too low. And the 1st bin of locally purchased mealies had none of the mushy issues, even though they were just 3 feet away from the Rainbows. Same humidity and environment for both sets.

My second gen is going through more than the first gen, it seems. And they devour the veggies faster, too. I haven't estimated how many are in there - I'm guessing around 5000. I started with a couple hundred from local pet stores. I'm glad I kept that colony separate from the next batch I...

I think I'm going to have to refrigerate a couple thousand mealies and stage the pupation at this point. I spent over an hour last night sorting pupa from the large bin. I quit counting at 1000. And there are at least a few hundred more this morning! I'm going to take all of the remaining...

I used the BESTCUSTOMER code originally and they discounted $7.50 from my order (basically it was 1000 mealies free). My shipping was high because I'm so far away, of course (MI). It still all worked out. I just sorted another 300 plus pupa from the mealie drawer. It's going to be Beetle Fest...

Wow Chrissy - that was a great deal. I paid over $20 for shipping through them! But I should be set on meal worms for life at this point, lol.

I get dead ones now and again, too. 20 out of 3000 isn't bad, really (less than 1%). Stress from shipping (generally you get a few DOA's anyway) or they munch on each other (even when they have other food). If you are getting a lot of dead mealies daily, then I would start to worry and look for...

I haven't tried bananas or banana peels in my bins - but I definitely will now! Thanks!

This is the beetle drawer and another shot of the large mealie drawer. I've found beetles that look just like these in the feed I've been getting from the local Elevator. I seriously thought about adding them to the bin but decided to just feed them to the chickens instead. I haven't found any...

Pics of my bins. The first is a little container for the pupa that I take out of my big bin. The second is a drawer from the 3 drawer bin system I finally got around to (since it's too hot to work outside for any length of time!). It's housing a couple hundred beetles in the top drawer, several...

For outside fly/gnat issues - Go to Goodwill or Salvation Army and get a large sheer curtain. Wrap it around the bin or just drape it over and tuck it under the bottom. That will keep fruit flies and gnats out for the most part. Better yet, you could put velcro around the base and fit the...

I didn't have moths but I did have mites. I removed the pupa and beetles, rinsed them off in a strainer, then put them into a clean batch of bran and oatmeal. I did the same with as many of the meal worms as I could sort out, too. I put the original bin in a sunny window in the basement for a...

Well it sure has taken long enough but I'm finally starting to see the first generation of meal worms born in the bin. They are pretty small - about 1/8" but visible at least. I have about 80 adult beetles breeding and laying eggs. I have about 30 dead beetles, too. Very few pupa. I didn't...

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