Mealworm farming

[bbsnooks]

what would the early signs of a might infection look like??
would they die.. or what.. ?

 

[Farm4Suncee]

Yep, the math started out with two and now it's up to 5. I can't have any more than that in our area
and 5 is already pushing what is allowed

 

[OHhappychicks]

Thank you, everyone for all your orders but please be patient with me as I try to fill them all. I send out thousands upon thousands of meal worms each week as my reputation has built up over the years. However, please do not PM or email to ask me questions unless you have purchased from me. I have awesome customer support but have only so much time each day to address questions about meal worm farming with my own stock. I can not help you with your farm purchased from someone else. Please ask the vender.
Thank you.

Received my order today! Thanks Amy! They looked good! (as much as worms can look good

) I have one question. I put some carrots in with them after I got them settled in. I put carrots on paper towels. Is there anything else I should do? They are in wheat bran.

 

[gaitngirl]

go amy !! I bet you have been very busy..
can i ask what you use to strain.. from the wheat bran?..
what i tried.. the mesh was not big enough to let the bran thru..
I dont have a microwave.. so.. i hope.. the freezer works.. wish me luck..
are all bag's infected with mites?

I got the BSFL from Phoenix worms.. and some of them.. grow fast.. I thru them in the wast basket I use for compost.. and then peeked yesterday.. and that one grew.. quite a bit..
I dont know if it's going to work.. I'm in Zone 6.. and its one zone away from what i read - from natural growing zone.
I think I have seen them around.. ( not much ) but hopefully.. if they are around.. by growing my own.. i can scent mark the yard and attract some.
..
and if I'm really lucky I can get them to reproduce.. it is just an experiment.. time will tell..
Gaitngirl... did you raise some bsfl?

They grow amazingly fast. And, yes, I did have them for a couple years. I got them to reproduce, as well. Not as well as I would have liked, but well enough to keep a small colony going. I may try again when I finish some of my current projects. There is a woman in Seattle, WA that has had really good success with them (mostly in her house, lol, but also in a small greenhouse). In fact, the company that has the BioPod for BSFL fashioned their 'Honeymoon Hotel' after one of her designs, I think.
There are a few areas in Zone 6 that BSFL have been spotted and people have had some success with colonies. Try this site . . . http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/ There is a great forum there for BSFL enthusiasts, too. And a mapping project for where BSFL have been spotted in the wild.
Best of luck! Keep us updated . . .

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Sounds like you are doing fine. They should be very happy! You will find pupae near the moisture and they will morph into beetles within 2 weeks as long as they have enough humidity to change easily. If they do not then they can not emerge very well and will dry up so I keep my pupae near the food if they are in with worms and beetles. When I have them alone I just put moist paper towels on a plastic lid beside them and they do well.

Lots of info on my website. http://www.westknollfarm.com/Meal-Worms.html

 

[azygous]

what would the early signs of a might infection look like??
would they die.. or what.. ?

Can I answer that? I've had mites, well, that is, my worm tray filled with untreated substrate of wheat bran and chick starter had them.

What it looks like at first glance with the naked eye is moisture fog on the inside of a translucent plastic container. Or maybe more like white fuzzy lint when seen on the substrate surface. If you pop a fresh baby carrot in there and come back in a couple hours, the carrot will be surrounded by this "fuzz". By next day, the carrot will be covered in the white "fuzz".

Now, this will totally gross you out, but go get a hand magnifying lens. Please tie something over your mouth and nose so you don't accidentally snort these little buggers up your nose, and you'll have to get down that close to see them in focus. You'll see they have eight legs and they are on the move. They're all busy moving and multiplying on that carrot because they crave moisture!

So, if that's what you see, get the carrot out of there fast! Get the lid off your tray of worms and move it to a very warm, dry place to dry out. If you leave it that way, the mites will slowly dry up and die. You can test with another carrot. If they pool around the carrot, the substrate needs more drying out.

Keep those worms and beetles segregated. Any new ones you want to raise, make sure you heat the wheat bran in the oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes at least. I had success fishing every larva and beetle and pupae out of the invested substrate and rinsing under warm water and replacing in cooled heat-treated new wheat bran. But it was labor intensive. There was nothing I could do about the infested tray of microscopic hatchlings but to dry out the substrate or else toss the whole thing out, but I didn't want to waste what I knew was a tray full of brand new baby worms.

So, more information that you bargained for, I'm sure, but that's my story.

 

[kwol]

Sounds like you are doing fine. They should be very happy! You will find pupae near the moisture and they will morph into beetles within 2 weeks as long as they have enough humidity to change easily. If they do not then they can not emerge very well and will dry up so I keep my pupae near the food if they are in with worms and beetles. When I have them alone I just put moist paper towels on a plastic lid beside them and they do well.

Lots of info on my website. http://www.westknollfarm.com/Meal-Worms.html

The paper towel on a plastice lid sounds like a great idea for the pupae. I have had a few dry up and wondered why. Thank you!

 

[MamaAB]

What do you all use for bedding and how much do you pay for it?

 

[bnewns]

What do you all use for bedding and how much do you pay for it?

Depends what you mean by bedding. I use Wheat bran and folded newspaper. sometime cardboard tissue rolls or egg cartoons so they can lay their eggs

 

[bilder]

After nearly 8 weeks of waiting I finally have the worms changing into.....well, whatever it is they change into before they become beetles.

Was beginning to wonder if I bought some of the sterile worms, but I guess they were waiting for the warmer weather to hit.