Recent content by snakes

  1. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Sounds similar to what I have except there's only enough tabs to come on and off 3 times per day. I looked for a simple Woods timer but the smallest interval available is 30 minutes. I think that's too long -- twelve hours of heat per day will fry them unless I stretch the off intervals to 1...
  2. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Great writeup. What model of timer are you using to run 15 minutes with a 30 minute break in between?
  3. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Has anyone had trouble with pupae dying off in large numbers? This latest round I've lost about 75% of them which amounts to well over a hundred. They look fine until about 1 week into the pupal stage when they turn black. Some are dry and some are squishy when I pick them out. They've...
  4. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    A question for those with the 3-bin Sterilite colony like we've been talking about. Could you estimate how many mealworms you get relative to the number of beetles? I've kept a very rough count of eggs and in one month, there's been maybe 800-1000 eggs total with 100-125 beetles. This seems...
  5. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Yes. I forget the exact number now but I had 100-125 beetles that "hatched" within a week of each other. The beetles are about a month old. Egg production spiked about a week later and has tapered off ever since. However, so far today approx. 25 new eggs have fallen through which is good...
  6. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Oatmeal. Emptying the bin everyday makes it very easy to see the eggs.
  7. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    I empty the contents of the drawer below the beetle bin into another container everyday. The beetle bin has screen on the bottom.
  8. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    I found one of those coffee mug warmers, essentially a hot plate, to keep the colony warm. Over the past 2+ days, they've laid less than five eggs. Today I've seen none at all. Temps in the beetle drawer have been kept at 80-85F and they have carrots and potatoes for moisture. They're...
  9. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Just to be clear, we're talking about a heating pad designed for humans and not something intended for reptiles or small animals, right?
  10. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Thanks for the advice everyone. What kind of heating pad would you recommend?
  11. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    I'm using the Sterilite three drawer bin system. The beetle drawer has a piece of window screen glued to the bottom. I keep the drawer below it empty (diverting the contents into another drawer) so I can monitor the egg production on a daily basis. The moral of the story is my egg production...
  12. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    So these probably aren't a pest that invaded my house, but more likely came with the shipment of mealworms?
  13. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Sure looks like it. Wonder how I got them?
  14. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    I'm not sure how to remove them -- other than sifting with a screen. Any ideas?
  15. snakes

    Mealworm farming

    Those aren't the beetles, those are what I thought were baby mealworms hatched from eggs. When they were smaller, they were much more brown and not hairy... Never saw these in the shipment of mealworms so I wonder if they're an oatmeal pest? I use the generic oatmeal available at Walmart.
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