Mealworm - Cleaning?

[TonkaTrucker]

I like things to be neat and clean, so I've been hand picking all the sheds and dried out potatoes/carrots/etc. on a semi-regular basis.

If I don't clean it, how bad will it get? Is there a trick to cleaning out the sheds easier? I contemplated a vacuum from a far enough distance that the suction isn't too strong... But I don't want to risk the potential blunder that could cause XD

*How do you clean out the frass? It to me ages, and I have a separate container with all the frass because I knew there were eggs and all the tiny mealworms that had just hatched. I'm waiting for them to get big enough to re-sift and put all the worms back into the main tank. Kinda want to just dump it all back in, though... Was the down side to keeping the frass in?

Also, a sifter is the best way to separate the worms from their bedding, when I want to feed them to my chickens, right? I've just been collecting the beetles at this point, and pick them up by hand, as well...

Thank you for your time and knowledge!

 

[kerbotx]

Removing sheds - blow dryer on low, no heat setting

Frass - sounds like you've got the right idea for your setup. I haven't farmed mealworms in a couple of years, but from what I remember, heat & high humidity are the enemy, that makes grain mites more likely -- and you DO NOT want grain mites! So cleaner is better.

As for harvesting, I used this guy: https://smile.amazon.com/Cold-Life-...ords=reptile+sand+scoop&qid=1606149119&sr=8-5 It let the tiny worms fall away, so they could keep growing, but didn't filter out the oatmeal, but the chickens can eat that, too Are you feeding the beetles to your chickens? Bc you don't want to do that - they are your breeders that lay all the eggs.

 

[TonkaTrucker]

Removing sheds - blow dryer on low, no heat setting

Frass - sounds like you've got the right idea for your setup. I haven't farmed mealworms in a couple of years, but from what I remember, heat & high humidity are the enemy, that makes grain mites more likely -- and you DO NOT want grain mites! So cleaner is better.

As for harvesting, I used this guy: https://smile.amazon.com/Cold-Life-...ords=reptile+sand+scoop&qid=1606149119&sr=8-5 It let the tiny worms fall away, so they could keep growing, but didn't filter out the oatmeal, but the chickens can eat that, too Are you feeding the beetles to your chickens? Bc you don't want to do that - they are your breeders that lay all the eggs.

Thank you for your response! Give me some peace of mind <3 I live in a pocket desert so we are quite dry.

I do feed the beetles, because I've heard that if you have too many, they'll eat your worms. I'm doing the all in one tank, as trying to have different drawers for different life stages was a huge pain in the rear for me :/

 

[TonkaTrucker]

Removing sheds - blow dryer on low, no heat setting

I just did the blow dryer. Oh my gosh, thank you so much! XD Works amazingly!