Questions about raising Meal Worms

[lotzahenz]

Has anyone had any trouble with the Wheat Bran hatching out "moths"? I keep my worm bins in the basement and now my house has little brown moths all over and they must of laid some eggs in my DH's chocolate candy supply, as little tiny worms were in his wrapped candy, eating away. This may be one problem with a large 50# bag of wheat bran from the feed store?

 

[jjthink]

Have had this problem with Swheat Cat Litter (ingredient is wheat) and then the moths from there got in my worm colony. What a mess. I have now switched cat litter and seem to be making progress getting rid of the moths.
JJ

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
If you've gotten a bad bag of wheat bran with moth eggs, you will have to bake it in a hot oven long enough to kill the eggs before adding it to your bin; be sure to let it cool before using. If you have a large chest freezer, you can keep it in there.

 

[feathersnuggles]

I've been doing the same thing: begging for the fall leaves from our neighbor's huge maples & trading for some eggs or honey, just to keep the raked leaves coming. I got lots! Didn't have to drive around, and they are wonderful for the chickens to dig through during the freezing weather. Worms seem to be closer to the top of the soil with a pile of leaves on top.

Boo-Boo's Mama :

I posted on FreeCycle that I needed bagged leaves...made out like a bandit! Plus my neighbor behind us has several trees and left several bags of leaves at our back gate.

I've been dumping a full bag of leaves in the chicken run. The chickens love to scratch and look through all of it which in turn mulches it and mixes with some of their poo.​

 

[viktoriacl]

I got the moths(pantry moths) from cat or dog food years back. I had to use a flea bomb or two to get rid of them! You have to throw away any open food and read all the directions on the back of the bomb. It did work though! Good luck! Oh and dont forget to get rid of the feed and open all the doors when you bomb. They hide well!

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
I have had pantry moths. When I started bring new flour in (or cereals) I put everything in the refrigerator or freezer to keep the new stuff free of bugs....they can get into anything!

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
uh oh!!! that's the litter i have been using for years... it's the best i've found so i hope i don't end up with moth eggs!

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
uh oh!!! that's the litter i have been using for years... it's the best i've found so i hope i don't end up with moth eggs!

I have not gotten pantry moths in my swheat scoop and I have been using it for a long time too! Pantry moths are a major bother!

 

[jjthink]

Quote:
uh oh!!! that's the litter i have been using for years... it's the best i've found so i hope i don't end up with moth eggs!

I have not gotten pantry moths in my swheat scoop and I have been using it for a long time too! Pantry moths are a major bother!

Been using the stuff for 9 years now and all was well till the last couple of years..then I started seeing the moths and they have pervaded the house (there are larvae on the ceilings as I type this - yuck!). I then began noticing that brand new boxes of Swheat when opened were crawling with moths so I realized there are definitely bad batches out there.....Finally have broken free and switched to what I hope will be a litter that doesn't bring moths -
JJ

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
I have not gotten pantry moths in my swheat scoop and I have been using it for a long time too! Pantry moths are a major bother!

Been using the stuff for 9 years now and all was well till the last couple of years..then I started seeing the moths and they have pervaded the house (there are larvae on the ceilings as I type this - yuck!). I then began noticing that brand new boxes of Swheat when opened were crawling with moths so I realized there are definitely bad batches out there.....Finally have broken free and switched to what I hope will be a litter that doesn't bring moths -
JJ

JJ, what have you switched to?
ginny