Mealworm farming

[MalMom]

I puts banana peel in with my first colony today. That has always been a favorite at my house. They have gotten some carrots and squash but its been a while with banana. For the first time I saw hundreds of baby worms come up all over my tank. Some are still very small and some are starting to get big. It is so exciting to see. I only have a few beetles left in that one so I'm happy to see so many babies. My other colony is starting to get a smell to it. I'm going to clean it out today. I've also moved it outside where I'm hoping it will dry out. We use a swamp cooler and even though I keep the door to the worm room closed, I think some of that moisture is getting in. Here is a pic of my babies.

 

[gaitngirl]

I haven't tried bananas or banana peels in my bins - but I definitely will now! Thanks!

 

[AletaG]

Does anyone want to sell beetles instead? Anyone tried mailing them? We started our colony with 500 pretty large larvae last week, but my husband is all kinds of impatient. There were 2 beetles in the mix when they arrived and maybe 3 pupa - so will be a good long time before lotsa mealies in the picture. We fed 4 to the gerbil, but haven't fed any to the chickens, 'cause then they'll be asking for them LOL. Bad enough they want their fermented grains, by golly!

Anyway, send me a PM unless u want to advertise
-Aleta G.

 

[MalMom]

I haven't tried bananas or banana peels in my bins - but I definitely will now! Thanks!

My guys just go crazy over them. I haven't tried giving them the actual banana but they LOVE the peel! It's the best thing I've found so far. Let me know what yours think.

Does anyone want to sell beetles instead? Anyone tried mailing them? We started our colony with 500 pretty large larvae last week, but my husband is all kinds of impatient. There were 2 beetles in the mix when they arrived and maybe 3 pupa - so will be a good long time before lotsa mealies in the picture. We fed 4 to the gerbil, but haven't fed any to the chickens, 'cause then they'll be asking for them LOL. Bad enough they want their fermented grains, by golly!

Anyway, send me a PM unless u want to advertise
-Aleta G.

If my colony was a little further along I'd send you some, but I'm pretty new to this too. I have heard of people doing this so it must be possible. I don't know where you are from but where I am it is HOT! So it might be a bad time of the year to try to mail them. I'm afraid they might die. I hope it works out for you though!

 

[chrissyr]

I need some help here, if you can. Got 3000 worms thursday, and everything looked great. all seemed alive (at the time). I've been adding greens, carrots and slice thin potato (which I took out when it was left the next day). I have them in plastic bin, cracked open 1 inch(give or take a bit).
Today I sifted through and found about 20 dead larvae. Not really sure if that's normal. Doesn't sound like ALOT, but more than I saw before. Temps have been around 90, my garage stays nice. Have a fan going to circulate air.
Any ideas for why I got the dead? I'm not sure how much humidity I have, and I'm always questioning if i have too much/little of the vegetation and ventilation.
Hope someone can help

 

[gaitngirl]

I get dead ones now and again, too. 20 out of 3000 isn't bad, really (less than 1%). Stress from shipping (generally you get a few DOA's anyway) or they munch on each other (even when they have other food). If you are getting a lot of dead mealies daily, then I would start to worry and look for the cause. It sounds like you're doing everything the way you should be

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[MossyoakLane]

Just found my first baby mealies! Yay! After months of waiting it is finally paying off!

 

[kwol]

Just found my first baby mealies! Yay! After months of waiting it is finally paying off!

Hooray!

 

[AletaG]

Thanks MalMom, and am hoping someone on here will be at the right spot, I'd pay for one of those Ice pack things and a flat rate priority envelope... My husband asked me again if anyone had them available. He's so silly about this... wants to feed them to the chickens, and holding off so we can get more adults to lay eggs is making him crazy/

 

[chrissyr]

I get dead ones now and again, too. 20 out of 3000 isn't bad, really (less than 1%). Stress from shipping (generally you get a few DOA's anyway) or they munch on each other (even when they have other food). If you are getting a lot of dead mealies daily, then I would start to worry and look for the cause. It sounds like you're doing everything the way you should be

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thank you gaitngirl, I was worried that this was the start of something bad. So this is re-assuring! I just found today about 5 pupae!

My girls are LOVING their new treats. I got this batch last week. amy @ westknollfarms referred me to rainbowmealworms.net. They had great prices too, search them for online coupons! I got free shipping last week, so 3000 mealies cost me $13! I think that code has expired, but they have other coupons going on (retailmenot.com). All arrived really healthy. The few I did find dead the other day could have been transport stress, but otherwise all is looking great