Mealworm farming

[NewMomma]

Question: what is the current consensus of the best place to order mealies from? I'm starting my farm and want to start with a minimum of 1000 good stock.

I just ordered mine at the beginning of last month from Fluker's online and they are already turning into beetles. They came within a few days and they were all alive

 

[kwol]

Question: what is the current consensus of the best place to order mealies from? I'm starting my farm and want to start with a minimum of 1000 good stock.

Got mine on Craig's List, 1000 for $10. No shipping and container was 100% live worms when I got it home.

 

[Hypertay]

Odd question but when you have your house sprayed for bugs will it kill my bettles ?

The chemicals they use will absolutely kill your beetles! Take the colony outside for at least a week to allow the chemicals to get out of the air. Better yet, don't pay those killer companies to poison you and your bugs and pets. Use safer/natural means to get rid of pests like boric acid/powdered sugar mix for roaches and ants.

 

[MalMom]

I saw my first baby worms to day without having to dig through the substrate to find them. I am so excited! That is in my first bin, and my second bin had TONS of beetles. I think I counted less than 10 worms still in that bin, the rest are pupa (not many) or beetles. So I'll be getting babies there soon too. I can't wait to see how many new worms I got out of my first cycle. It's all so exciting.

 

[MalMom]

The chemicals they use will absolutely kill your beetles! Take the colony outside for at least a week to allow the chemicals to get out of the air. Better yet, don't pay those killer companies to poison you and your bugs and pets. Use safer/natural means to get rid of pests like boric acid/powdered sugar mix for roaches and ants.

Can you tell me what this mix is? I have ants (**** dog scattered cat food and drew them in the house) that I would really like to get rid of naturally. Thanks so much!

 

[Hypertay]

Can you tell me what this mix is? I have ants (**** dog scattered cat food and drew them in the house) that I would really like to get rid of naturally. Thanks so much!

Yes it's just 50/50 powdered sugar and boric acid you can get from Walmart. Make sure it is mixed up really well and sprinkle it around where they are coming in. Kills roaches and ants, they eat the sugar and get killed by the acid. We get ants coming in from the rain, and also from our parrot who is a very messy eater. He acts like a 2 year old.

 

[AletaG]

does anyone feed cooked or dry beans to their mealies? Beans are darn cheap around here... as compared to chicken feed or even oats, etc. Dunno why. And protein loading *sounds* like a good idea...

-Aleta G.

Just started our colony last night, and my 5 yr old is already asking if he can eat them. <sigh> TRYING not to make the Yew! face.

 

[southernBelle79]

I have grain moth worms and grain mites in my mealworm farm. I really don't want to throw out my whole farm bc I had to order the worms and wait for them to change, etc. I successfully went from worm to pupae to bug to egg and back to worm. I have a ton of babies and bugs in one bin with a mixture of oatmeal, wheat bran, and chicken feed. I use screening on the lid and I was separating them but it took way too much time. There's also newspaper and toilet paper rolls in there. I also think that the moths flew in while I had lid off and was separating/ sifting.

Is there any way to pull out my bugs and worms and start in a new bin with fresh wheat bran?

I did bake/ microwave all of my bedding last time. I keep bin in garage. And I live in South Louisiana where it is always hot and humid!! Mold has been a struggle as well. But I'm not ready to give up yet.

Please help

 

[MalMom]

Yes it's just 50/50 powdered sugar and boric acid you can get from Walmart. Make sure it is mixed up really well and sprinkle it around where they are coming in. Kills roaches and ants, they eat the sugar and get killed by the acid. We get ants coming in from the rain, and also from our parrot who is a very messy eater. He acts like a 2 year old.

Thank you! I'll give it a try!

 

[gaitngirl]

I didn't have moths but I did have mites. I removed the pupa and beetles, rinsed them off in a strainer, then put them into a clean batch of bran and oatmeal. I did the same with as many of the meal worms as I could sort out, too. I put the original bin in a sunny window in the basement for a few days. The mites either died off or vacated once the bedding was completely dried out. The remaining eggs hatched and grew just fine. I now have several thousand in the old bin that are big enough to see.
I don't know if this will work for you but it might be worth a try . . .

Good luck!