Mealworm farming

[jigfishnut]

IIRC ....that's close to the high end of what they can tolerate.
Can you put them somewhere cooler?

I could bring them inside where it's about 75, but from all the reading I have done in this thread it seemed like they did better in a warmer place.

 

[aart]

I could bring them inside where it's about 75, but from all the reading I have done in this thread it seemed like they did better in a warmer place.

I think optimal range is about 80-85...but 75 and slow to grow is better than 95 and dead.

 

[jigfishnut]

I think optimal range is about 80-85...but 75 and slow to grow is better than 95 and dead.

Right about that!

 

[tigger19687]

? .... I wanted to do this but would have to do it in the basement.
Unfinished but it gets moisture down there and no I am not putting in a dehumidifier down there ($$$ in electric bill).
I am guesing that this would not be a good place for it?

 

[Kusanar]

Kusanar why do you have mealworms and NO chickens? I thought chickens were a pre-requisite! or are you just practicing?

Lol, yeah, for normal people, but I like bugs and I was actually reading this thread (where I found out they turn into beetles actually), then I saw some beetles at the barn that looked like the pictures of darkling beetles so I caught some, fed them horse feed (what they were eating in the stall), and watched to see what would happen. All of my worms are from those original beetles and I only caught 5 of them to start, so 3-4 generations in, I have quite a few worms that all started as 5 wild caught beetles that who knows how old they were when I caught them.

 

[tigger19687]

Kusanar, I was going to do that too. Saw a beetle and it looked just like them.
Then the damn chicken ran over and ATE IT !

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I could bring them inside where it's about 75, but from all the reading I have done in this thread it seemed like they did better in a warmer place.

75 degrees would be a sweltering day at my house!

Many people don't realize that the meal worms themselves also put off body heat. And so when you have a big pile of them, may actually be even warmer than your ambient temperature.

? .... I wanted to do this but would have to do it in the basement.
Unfinished but it gets moisture down there and no I am not putting in a dehumidifier down there ($$$ in electric bill).
I am guesing that this would not be a good place for it?

Humidity is OK, moisture not so much. We are often above 80% humidity in my house during the winter, here on the coast in the PNW.

 

[Kusanar]

Kusanar, I was going to do that too. Saw a beetle and it looked just like them.
Then the damn chicken ran over and ATE IT !

If you want to trap wild ones, put some feed on the ground where the chickens can't get to it but kind of close to where you saw that one, then put some sort of cover over it, when I pick up my horses rubber feed bucket, there are probably close to 50 beetles under it on an average day, but be ready when you lift it up, they will dive back into the ground FAST!! That's why out of 50 or so I only caught 5!

 

[tigger19687]

Funny, it was under a 24"x 24" rubber mat

 

[Stacy Ann]

https://video-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t42.1790-2/20381595_769349906600741_3692352082649546752_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjc2MywicmxhIjo1MTIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoic3ZlX3NkIn0=&oh=c62450e630b08bc69f628d476c7c785e&oe=5977BBF4

I started a mealworm farm with 1100 worms on June 9th. I used a 3 drawer system in which I placed the starter worms in the bottom drawer with wheat bran
I installed a self sifting bottom into the top drawer to house/breed the beetles.

As the worms started to pupate near the end of June I placed them into the top drawer with rolled oats. I move pupae to the top drawer with the beetles which had begun to hatch in the beginning of July. As of today we have this many beetles/pupae going on. I think I can see some movement now in the bran. I'm hoping it's babies hatching, although cant really see much of anything.

QUESTION:
How long should I wait before switching out this second drawer for grow out??