Mealworm farming

[sillybirds]

Does anyone know what level of humidity is needed for a mealworm colony? Now that the season is changing I seem to have a lot of dead worms and pupa in my mealworm farm which is kept in my garage. I have seen some say they mist water on a paper towel in their pupa drawer. Do any of you do this and would this help with pupa dying?

I read you're using a heating mat. Be careful you don't get them too warm. That can kill mealworms.

 

[jimmywalt]

What is the best temp to keep beetles? We had ours in the garage but it's getting way too cold out there at night, so I brought it into our house (which is in the mid 60's most of the time)

 

[LaBella]

get a kitty that's a hunter, and you should be good?

both my girl cats are ruthless.

I have 7 cats. One is 1/4 bobcat. I have her daughter, two of her grand daughters, a great grand son, a stray that my family fed for 6 years before she thought I'm getting too old for this outside life and moved in where she has it pretty good (she's also the fattest cat in the house) and a brain damaged kitty my brother rescued when he saw her being thrown into a all from a moving cat.
Only one of those cats has any kind of hunting interest, one of the 1/4 bob cats grand daughters.. not the one that is the mother of the great grand son.
Do you know who the best mouser is in the house?
My 5 lb yorkshire terrier.
Those toy terriers were bred for mousing, and they have strong mousing instincts to this day. For those that can't be bothered with the yorkie coat (and even short, it's a bother) there is the toy rat terrier, all the ratting instincts and abilities you could ever want. Plus being smart enough and small enough to get to them where a cat might not want to be bothered because hunting is so passe, lol.

 

[sillybirds]

What is the best temp to keep beetles? We had ours in the garage but it's getting way too cold out there at night, so I brought it into our house (which is in the mid 60's most of the time)

I'd venture an educated guess that the ideal temperature is in the 70-80 deg range. They can, however, survive quite cool temperature, as long as they don't freeze, but it will decrease production and increase life cycle time. Mid 60's in your house should be just fine.

 

[kwol]

What is the best temp to keep beetles? We had ours in the garage but it's getting way too cold out there at night, so I brought it into our house (which is in the mid 60's most of the time)

They will live at those temps, but the activity level seems to slow down. If you are actively trying to grow your colony and to encourage production, you may need to increase the temp into the mid to upper 70's. I noticed this when I had my colony inside in cooler winter temps, then when spring warmer temps began, the activity level increased dramatically.

 

[charlie476476]

I raise about 25 million mealworms a year. Here are my time tables for growth rate.

egg to hatch time 7-10 days worms visible

small mealworms 1/2" 6-7 weeks (from hatch time)

medium mealworms 3/4" 9-10 weeks (from hatch time)

large 3/4" - 1" 11-12 weeks (from hatch time)

beetles live between 8-12 weeks

pupa take roughly 7 days to become beetles and laying eggs about 4-7 days after turning into beetles.

All above stats are based on 80F +-2degrees we keep humidity at 50%

If you overcrowd mealworms they will not grow as uniform making the sizes vary greatly per container.

 

[CrunchyNana]

I raise about 25 million mealworms a year. Here are my time tables for growth rate.

egg to hatch time 7-10 days worms visible

small mealworms 1/2" 6-7 weeks

medium mealworms 3/4" 9-10 weeks

large 3/4" - 1" 11-12 weeks

beetles live between 8-12 weeks

pupa take roughly 7 days to become beetles and laying eggs about 4-7 days after turning into beetles.

All above stats are based on 80F +-2degrees we keep humidity at 50%

If you overcrowd mealworms they will not grow as uniform making the sizes vary greatly per container.

 

[charlie476476]

yes that is from time of hatch will edit post if possible

 

[CrunchyNana]

I wrote a few pages back that I didn't have wormies yet - but I do! They are tiny but they are there. For some reason they are growing quite slowly but they are there and I've seen a few skins so some are getting bigger. At this rate tho' it might be winter 2014 before I can feed them to my hens but...

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I raise about 25 million mealworms a year. Here are my time tables for growth rate.

egg to hatch time 7-10 days worms visible

small mealworms 1/2" 6-7 weeks (from hatch time)

medium mealworms 3/4" 9-10 weeks (from hatch time)

large 3/4" - 1" 11-12 weeks (from hatch time)

beetles live between 8-12 weeks

pupa take roughly 7 days to become beetles and laying eggs about 4-7 days after turning into beetles.

All above stats are based on 80F +-2degrees we keep humidity at 50%

If you overcrowd mealworms they will not grow as uniform making the sizes vary greatly per container.

Greetings and

Could you share how you raise mealworms? I'd very much enjoy hearing your perspective and I'm sure others would as well.