Mealworm farming - Page 438

How long did that take?  Cuz I swear they morph in NO TIME.  I would clean the bin and then a few mins later there were MORE LOTS MORE!
 

Ya! It took about 5-8 minutes tops! I was so surprised! I always knew that some morphed in a matter of a couple of hours (because when I checked the bin before, there wasn't any), but I had no idea that it happened THAT fast!
 

OMG, LOL, I just picked up my first little mealies from the post office and opened up the box to find them crawling around in a bunch of crumpled newspaper!  Now I didn't know what to expect, so I tried to carefully remove them from the newspaper and get them in the box, but I kept accidentally flinging them accross the kitchen!!!  So I had my daughter and her friend crawling all over the floor collecting them and feeding them to the chicks (especially if they got smushed when trying to pick them up as they're little buggers.  I am using a big ice cream bucket (the big plastic ones from the store) as their first home, but I can see I will need to find something much bigger soon! 

 

OMG, what an experience!  I do NOT want to EVER unpack mealieworms again! 

 

Now I know I was probably supposed to put the newspaper into the plastic container, but there really was no room!

LOL!! I know that one! :)

 

(Not having kids, I just turned chicks loose to clean up.)  It works pretty well to put a trash bag over the box opening and shake the WHOLE thing, paper and all, in the bag.  THEN shake 'em out of the paper, into the bag, and you can then check paper as it comes out, and dump the worms into the new home a lot easier.

 

I'm going to be chuckling over flinging 'em around all evening....thanks! :)

Haha - so right there with you! 

 

In the past I had only gotten freeze dried mealies in the container at TSC.  So when I opened my box of live worms from Amy I was freaked out by their moving around and almost dropped the box.  I took mine outside to transfer them just in case I dropped any and quickly shook the newspaper into the drawer.  Oogged me out!

 

 

 

I'm ready to start some new containers of beetles. How many beetles would you add to this set up:

About four inches deep of "table bran" wheat bran (from a 50 pound bag from the feed store);
In a Sterilite container that is 19(?) gallons? This is the container that walmart sells for around $5.

I have had a couple of carrots try to mold, but have never had celery do anything other than dry up. I'm sticking with celery for their moisture.

Should I start with 100 beetles? More? Less? I'm not frantic for an answer, but would love everyone's input!

Have a great day!

What kind of beetles are they?

Just came across this post so figured I would show my mealworm set up.  I am in Florida so can grow them outside year round.  The screen tops are to keep the lizards and pantry moths out.  Each leg sits in a jar with mineral oil in it to keep the ants from getting to the containers. The bottom row is 55 gallon barrels top and bottom 12".  The top[ row is a 30 gallon drum cut length wise and as I find more of them will turn them lengthwise across the bench so more can fit.  I  keep adding barrels as I come across them.  

 

 

 

 

Your set up is nice. I don't have a dedicated shelving unit (yet). The mineral oil sounds like a great idea.

 I used veggie oil for my table legs not a good idea my dogs would dart past me every chance they got to eat the oil.  I will try the mineral oil that might work better.