Mealworm farming

[Bird Collector]

Quote:
It started witht the worms in the garage. I check daily and let out, kill and clean hoping to rid them before they go in. I wont bring the worms in if they are still present. I only had two tonight and no more cocoons visable. Here is hoping.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
It started witht the worms in the garage. I check daily and let out, kill and clean hoping to rid them before they go in. I wont bring the worms in if they are still present. I only had two tonight and no more cocoons visable. Here is hoping.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
Chocolate coating would be more to my liking. And popped grain what an interesting idea, wonder if the heat changes the nutritional content of the grain?

x2 what she said

 

[djennings]

Quote:
It started witht the worms in the garage. I check daily and let out, kill and clean hoping to rid them before they go in. I wont bring the worms in if they are still present. I only had two tonight and no more cocoons visable. Here is hoping.

Can you maybe put moth balls around the outside of the container

 

[oneofseven]

Quote:
It started witht the worms in the garage. I check daily and let out, kill and clean hoping to rid them before they go in. I wont bring the worms in if they are still present. I only had two tonight and no more cocoons visable. Here is hoping.

Can you maybe put moth balls around the outside of the container

Moth balls emit toxic fumes that can kill all animals, including humans.

 

[CluckyJay]

If you guys ever suffer from mites try this. A bit labor intensive but you can sift the mealies out and then wash them throughly in clean water. QUICKLY--they will drown if you're not careful. Plunk them into a clean container with toilet paper/paper towels to dry off.

I also read about using a light dusting of sulfur(?) to kill the mites and not the mealies.

 

[Gypsi]

I wonder if any of the varroa mite treatments for beehives work on mealy worm mites? naaa, that quick rinse and towel dry sounds better.

Gypsi

 

[galanie]

I found some of those moth traps a previous poster (Ipana, post #1916) mentioned at the feed store. They're by Safer and are basically a triangle with sticky and a pheromone inside. My moth population is super low in there right now (thank goodness) but unchecked, it will blossom fast. So we'll see how it goes. I have it taped up high enough that I don't think the mealies can get in there and they don't seem to be attracted to it anyway.

Costs me an extra $6 in gas to go to Heiden Feed on Steubner Airline but I'm always glad to go to a *real* old fashioned feed store that carries what I need!

 

[ipana]

Glad you're going to try the pantry moth trap, galanie. I didn't put mine directly into the bin although the way you've decribed, it would probably work. Strangely enough, by putting it near the bin, the moths do get into it and are trapped. I wonder if putting it into the bin would actually draw moths into it since the pheromone is "calling" them? Of course, if you have screening over your bin, the moths couldn't get out to get to the trap, could they? Please update us after a week or two to let us know how your method of placement is working, will you?

 

[yankeefan]

Wooo Hoooo ! !

I got my wormies this morning ! Actually, what I got was a mix of stages from WestKnollAmy. They showed up a day later than I had planned on but there doesn't seem to be too many dead beetles or worms. Thanks Amy !

I began separating the beetles and putting them in the top drawer of my 3 drawer cabinet, those little beetles can really cling to your skin! I got some of the larger worms separated and put in the bottom drawer but that wasn't as easy as I had hoped. I think I read somewhere in this thread to give them a little time with some bread and then shake them off the bread. Sounds easy, we'll see how it goes.

For food, I put a couple small pieces of carrot on some plastic yogurt lids. The kitchen is in need of restocking, hopefully I'll have some other things to try out soon.

I do have a question for y'all. If I were to separate the pupa, what's the easiest or best way to do that? Should they all be kept separate from one another or can I put a bunch of pupa together and then pluck the beetles as the form?