- Aug 8, 2013
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Hi, I am a mealworm breeder, and I can definitely help you on this because I have lots of experience with mealworms. I've noticed lots of people asking how to start a mealworm colony, so I decided I'd try to help you out! First, buy a large storage container (The larger the better) Put 2-3 inches of grinded oats into to the bottom, and then put in a large carrot (or several baby carrots is fine). Next, get your worms. I actually recommend getting your worms from Petsmart, due to the fact that not many people sell Giant Mealworms. PetSmart should carry Giant Mealworms which are regular mealworms that were raised in an environment with extra of their own hormones added. It makes them grow larger, and not pupate as quickly. (However, they are 100% safe to feed to animals. It's just extra of their own hormone. It will not hurt anything) Plus, by the time you buy them, those Giant Mealworms are old and big and should be ready to turn into beetles. There are many myths about Giant Mealworms, and one is that they can't have babies. WRONG, they most certainly are sterile and can have many babies. I started my whole colony off of 150 Giant Mealworms, and now I've had thousands of my own mealworms. Just to let you know, their babies will be regular mealworms and not Giant Mealworms. You'd have to buy the hormone to make their babies be Giant (Which is not neccesary). So anyway, get your storage container ready and buy 150 Giant Mealworms and dump them in. They will eat the carrot and burrow in the oats (And eat small amounts of the oats). Eventually they will turn into pupae (Small "alien" looking cacoon) and then in one week they will turn into a Darkling Beetle. Once they are a beetle they should mate and start laying eggs soon after. Each female beetle will have 35 babies. Remember that this is what works for me, and I'm sure many of you will have different opinions, but I'm just telling you what has worked for me. Hope this helps!
Good luck with your colony!
