Mealworm farming

[Sarahsdawn]

I'd maybe try to stick it under. Having it on the side probably won't do much, unless you have them covered and have a way to contain the heat. Just make sure it doesn't cover the whole bottom, so they have a way to get away if it is too warm.

 

[Sarahsdawn]

Another question:
If the life stage spent in the mealworm state is ten weeks, how many of those weeks are they at approximately full size? In other words, does it take them most of that time to get to full size and then they pupate soon after, or do they reach a good size 6 weeks or so in, and then linger for a few weeks before pupating?
My babies need to grow faster!

 

[aart]

Stage Time*
Egg Incubation 4-19 days (usually 4-7). Another source says 20-40 days
Larva 10 weeks. Visible after about a week
Pupa 6-18 (18-24?) days
Beetle and Egg Laying 8-12 weeks (followed by death). Egg laying starts 4-19 days (average 12) after emergence
* time depends on temperature, relative humidity, food, etc. Different sources report different time frames.

 

[Sarahsdawn]

Right, the larvae is 10 weeks....but how much of that 10 weeks is spent in the 1 inch long stage? (Or even 3/4-1" long)?

 

[Sarahsdawn]

These mealies need some weights and protein shake!

 

[aart]

The larvae go thru 9-20 instar stages(molting between each one) temp and food will change the speed between hatching and pupation. By the time they are 3/4-1" they are pretty close to pupation I wold imagine. I've never watched that closely to know precisely.

 

[MealWorm Farm]

Right, the larvae is 10 weeks....but how much of that 10 weeks is spent in the 1 inch long stage? (Or even 3/4-1" long)?

Best guess (for averages) is 3-4 weeks. But there are so many factors that adjust it in either direction. I use this number, and mostly support it by how long medium mealworms will last before they start to turn to pupa if you buy them from a dealer.

It is also worth noting that they will not all turn to pupa at the same time, even if they all hatched from an egg on the same day. It will be a staggered change over several weeks.

 

[evemfoster]

Right, the larvae is 10 weeks....but how much of that 10 weeks is spent in the 1 inch long stage? (Or even 3/4-1" long)?

There are so many different things that effect how quickly or slowly worms develop. Temperature it a big one. If you can keep them warm around 80 they will grow quickly and they will go through the stages fairly quickly. If you have too many worms (I wish) and you want to keep them at a stage longer you can cool them down and they will stay at that stage longer.

As a rule most of the worms will grow at relatively the same rate. BUT, some worms will grow slower than others.

As an example; Back when i first started growing meal worms i was using the drawer method with the beetles in the top drawer that had the screen in the bottom. If you haven't seen that setup the idea is the beetles lay their eggs in the bottom of the drawer and the eggs and some of the feed falls through into the drawer below. When the egg drawer would get nearly full I would change out the drawer replacing it with a empty drawer. That would happen every 2 to 3 weeks. The drawer with feed and eggs would be put into a stack of drawers to grow out the baby worms.

The idea was the drawers would have worms roughly all about the same size and i could feed out the largest worms a drawer at a time. What happened was it was roughly true the oldest drawer had the biggest worms but there was always about 10% of the worms in the drawer that were slow growers. The majority of the worms could be large enough to pupate and there were still tiny little worms in the drawer. Some so small they looked like the eggs had just set there for weeks before hatching.

I believe part of the reason some of them grew so slow was the larger worms just crowded the little ones away from the water source. So i found i needed to slice the veggies thinner and spread them out more evenly over the bedding. After i did that i got more even growth but i never got them to all grow at the same rate.

BTW, you can feed the dead worms and beetles to your chickens. They will eat them just as fast as the live ones.

 

[Sarahsdawn]

So I found a place (earthworms4sale) that had the same price as Uncle Jim's, so I ordered them on Sunday. It said they were supposed to ship out on Monday, but I didn't get an email, tracking update, nothing. I emailed on Tuesday and heard nothing back. Hubs called on Wednesday and they answered the phone as Uncle Jim's Worm farm! What?!? I double checked their website and it says nothing about Uncle Jim's on there! looked like 2 youngish boys, family business type of setup. UGGGHHH!

I can only hope they all arrive. I ordered 5,000, and I expect to receive every single one, healthy and wiggling, or they'll be hearing about it!

I found a place on ebay that has 10k mealworms for 32. They don't have much feedback, but the little that they have is 100% positive. I heard shipping is slow with them, but the weather is pretty mild right now, so it should be all right.

 

[Sarahsdawn]

Evemfoster, that is great info! I think that the only issue I have with small pieces is that they tend to "leak" more water, but that could possibly be resolved by allowing them to sit on a towel for a bit first.

Hubs and I moved them to a warmer wall, so that should keep their temp much more consistent. I think I need another heating pad on them, though.