Mealworm farming

[Sidhe13]

About 250...ish...i lost count around 478..

 

[Bugseye]

I've been gone over a week and had left my crawlers a whole carrot. Just got back and threw in a quartered potato. They were on it in a flash and covered it. Poor things were so thirsty!

 

[The Hawk]

I've been gone over a week and had left my crawlers a whole carrot. Just got back and threw in a quartered potato. They were on it in a flash and covered it. Poor things were so thirsty!

They are tough little buggers, can leave them for quite a long time and they will still be happy to see you. I find my beetles really like celery and the larva go crazy over banana peals.

 

[Sidhe13]

My wormies aren't currently eating any veges...they are just laying around waiting to change to pupae. The beetles, however, are going crazy! I added a piece of potato to the nursery today...not sure if there are any babies yet but I figured it should be there in case.

 

[katatonic123]

Chicken keep away has been learned. Gave my week old chicks a pile of dead beetles and much chaos ensued.

 

[ladyearth]

I have the beetles in a seperate sterlite shoe boxed sized container. with a pc. of fiberglass screen on bottom hot glued in place
what do I do with them....? will they eat the eggs they lay? they are turning into beetles so fast I startrd out with 12 ... I would call X large sized,worms (local bought)
Then bought 500 medium then weeks later 1000 large over Ebay... dont seem to be getting any new mealworms. All I see are lots of beetles, few worms and some puppa..... so could the beetles that I dont have seperated be eating the mealworm?
I have the 3 drawer medium large platic "file type boxes" prob Sterlite brand.....
give them lots of pumpkin peeled pieces with skin on and some odds and end veggies.... so what am I DOING WRONG ????
thanks all

 

[Bugseye]

Lady, it's probably just a matter of time. All they seem to need is warmth, food (wheat bran), air and water source (veggies). Once all that is dialed in, they sort of get on a roll of cycling through life stages. Mine love huddling together in the sheets of newspaper I put in there. Do your various sizes of worms seem to be compatible? I don't know much about the large and extra-large, but others on this forum do.

 

[aart]

When the eggs hatch it can take awhile to be able to see the new larvae, they are microscopic....
...first sign I had was the wheat bran 'heaving' with movement, couldn't even see them individually.

Here's a basic timeline of development:

Stage Time*
Egg Incubation 4-19 days (usually 4-7). Another source says 20-40 days
Larva 10 weeks. Visible after about a week
Pupa 6-18 (18-24?) days
Beetle and Egg Laying 8-12 weeks (followed by death). Egg laying starts 4-19 days (average 12) after emergence
* time depends on temperature, relative humidity, food, etc. Different sources report different time frames.

 

[Sidhe13]

I have baby worms!! Yaaaaaay!!

 

[The Hawk]

I have baby worms!! Yaaaaaay!!