Mealworm farming

[dstinett]

I don't see the last post I sent you saying I tried to find your group but couldn't. Send me an invite through fb please.My name is Lynn Hill. Be sure it's my pic without sunglasses as there's an old account on there I can't get to or delete. Thanks.

there are a ton o Lynn hills. Lo . I sent you pm on byc. https://www.facebook.com/groups/MealWormFarming/

 

[mrogge]

8000 comments and nobody has found a way to eliminate mites????????

 

[aart]

8000 comments and nobody has found a way to eliminate mites????????

Did you read them all?

Best way is prevention by heat treating your bedding before using.
300F oven for 30 minutes, stirring several times.

 

[fireguy16]

This looks interesting I may have to give it a try

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

8000 comments and nobody has found a way to eliminate mites????????

First of all,

I'm not sure how many times I've addressed this issue, but I can tell you it's been quite a number. The first step is by prevention, as aart has noted, by heating the bran (or whatever substrate you're using). This will not, however, eliminate the risk of grain mites from infecting your mealworm colony. Grain mites are everywhere in the environment. The juvenile stages have specialized appendages that they use to clasp on to structures so that they can disperse to other favorable places to reproduce. Even though you've heated your substrate and eliminated any mites there, they can be brought in to the place you keep your colony on the bag of flour, chicken feed, dog food or whatever grain product you've bought at the store. This has happened to me and has been reported a number of times here on this thread. The next best thing you can do to minimize the risk of mites is proper colony management. Keep the colony dry by feeding lower moisture food and do not add water. Higher moisture in the colony leads to fungus in the substrate, on which the mites thrive.

To eliminate an existing mite population explosion, you have to use the mites' biology against them. Mites do best at 90% relative humidity and 77 degrees F. You have to manipulate the humidity and temperature to get them under control.
From this page:
Quote:
Grain mites need ambient humidities of 65% or greater to reproduce. At lower humidities they are unable to reproduce and quickly start to desiccate and die. This rate of desiccation and death will depend on the temperature, increasing with higher temperatures. The solution is to reduce the ambient humidity in the colony while maintaining a relatively high temperature (>80 degrees F). With low temperatures and higher humidities, growth is simply slowed as is the rate of desiccation. You can kill them with lower humidities (<65%) and lower temperatures (e.g. 65 degrees F), but it will take longer. So, if you have an existing mite explosion, remove all sources of moisture from the colony. The mealworms will survive just fine over a month with no vegetables added. Wipe off the outside surfaces with a soapy cloth to kill any mites that start to move out. After a month (or less if you don't see any new mites) start feeding the colony with low moisture vegetables. Feeding smaller amounts of thinly sliced vegetables (e.g. carrots or potatoes) more frequently is better than larger quantities that may increase the ambient humidity. Keeping the colony dry will greatly help reduce the risk of mite infestations in the future.

 

[aart]

I just had a grain mite event from infested chicken feed...didn't figur out if it was a store or manufacturer issue...luckily they didn't get any where near my meal worms.

~100x...snapped thru my microscope.... believe it is 'Arcus siro'.

 

[Lynn Manes]

there are a ton o Lynn hills. Lo . I sent you pm on byc. https://www.facebook.com/groups/MealWormFarming/

I got your 2nd link and joined. Awaiting to be accepted into the fb group. I don't know if you saw my last post to you about this. Thank you A lot of Lynn Hill's huh? I've never checked that out myself.Lol Getting married in the Fall so hopefully new last name will eliminate that little problem

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I just had a grain mite event from infested chicken feed...didn't figur out if it was a store or manufacturer issue...luckily they didn't get any where near my meal worms.


~100x...snapped thru my microscope.... believe it is 'Arcus siro'.

Bummer! I hate it when that happens and you usually don't figure it out until you get home with the product. It's hard to know whether they came from the manufacturer or the retailer. All it takes is favorable environmental conditions for a population explosion in the presence of any grain product. You're probably right about Acarus siro, they're the most common grain mite.

 

[aart]

Quote: Yeah, I was lucky that I didn't bring this last bag into the house or coop, second time it's happened, store is infested. Story here.

 

[Latestarter]

I got your 2nd link and joined. Awaiting to be accepted into the fb group. I don't know if you saw my last post to you about this. Thank you A lot of Lynn Hill's huh? I've never checked that out myself.Lol Getting married in the Fall so hopefully new last name will eliminate that little problem

Congrats on the impending nuptials!

Is he/she (<--must remain PC in all things...

) aware of your worm interests?

Best O' luck!