Mealworm farm and mold :(

[MamaAB]

Ok here is the deal when my worms started to change to beetles for the first time I moved them to another box so I could keep the stages separate. Well the beetle box got mold. So after I figured out that I couldn't get it to stop I got all the beetles out of that and put them ina nice 3 drawer set up.

I didn't dump the previous box out knowing there had to be lots of eggs in there but thinking I would probably have to as they would all mold and die.. WRONG I notice tonight it is INFESTED with baby worms. TONS and TONS of them... my question is.. what do I do? Should I dump them because of the mold? Should I just wait until they are big enough for me to pick out of there and move them to my 3 drawer set up? Suggestions?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I wouldn't worry too much. The presence of mold suggests that you have too little ventilation and/or too much moisture being added to the colony. The mold you see isn't immediately harmful to the mealworms, but it does indicate that you've created conditions that might promote other things detrimental to the colony (e.g. mites and other pathogens). I'd simply remove all the moist vegetable matter, keep the colony in a dry location and wait for a couple weeks before adding any more vegetables. Good luck!

 

[MamaAB]

Hmmm ok, I will just open the lid up and hope that it goes away haha

 

[BeanPie]

I was having a very similar problem! I have tiny little mealworms in my container. I have a bug tote that already has ventilation. My problem is that the carrots I put in are wetting the oats! I know what I have to do next time, but for now I’m stuck- I don’t know how to remove the current mold without taking out the worms (As they are too small to remove right now)! Any suggestion?

 

[mengtheman]

I was having a very similar problem! I have tiny little mealworms in my container. I have a bug tote that already has ventilation. My problem is that the carrots I put in are wetting the oats! I know what I have to do next time, but for now I’m stuck- I don’t know how to remove the current mold without taking out the worms (As they are too small to remove right now)! Any suggestion?

I just used my ant tweezers to throw away all of the uneaten moldy food