First attempt at mealworm farming

[Ital]

I’ve been keeping compost worms for a long time now and they definitely like their mouldy treats but just got my meal worms recently.
I plan on feeding them with a homemade gluten and oat free quail feed and extra lentils instead of bugs but I’ve not organised all the ingredients and grinder yet so they’ve been eating old stuff from the back of the cupboard, dog biscuits, and some veg bits.
I had some pasta made of lentils way past the use by date and this seems to be the favourite, some spiral and some penne shaped, they seem to enjoy crawling in and around them but they’re going mouldy near where I’ve been adding bits of potato.
I’ve been picking out the mouldy bits and giving them to the compost worms but it seems to be those that are most eaten which made me think they are probably eating the mould.
They seem healthy but I’ve not had them long, what sort of problems could potentially occur as a result of the mould?
I’ve read it can cause problems for crickets so have ordered some hydro gel for them to avoid mould growing on veg. Could be better/easier hydrating the mealys in the same way? No mouldy veg in there causing problems.

 

[Perris]

I’ve been keeping compost worms for a long time now and they definitely like their mouldy treats but just got my meal worms recently.
I plan on feeding them with a homemade gluten and oat free quail feed and extra lentils instead of bugs but I’ve not organised all the ingredients and grinder yet so they’ve been eating old stuff from the back of the cupboard, dog biscuits, and some veg bits.
I had some pasta made of lentils way past the use by date and this seems to be the favourite, some spiral and some penne shaped, they seem to enjoy crawling in and around them but they’re going mouldy near where I’ve been adding bits of potato.
I’ve been picking out the mouldy bits and giving them to the compost worms but it seems to be those that are most eaten which made me think they are probably eating the mould.
They seem healthy but I’ve not had them long, what sort of problems could potentially occur as a result of the mould?
I’ve read it can cause problems for crickets so have ordered some hydro gel for them to avoid mould growing on veg. Could be better/easier hydrating the mealys in the same way? No mouldy veg in there causing problems.

I've also found potatoes don't work very well, and I hardly ever add one for moisture; I use whatever veg trimmings I have instead - root veg tops and tails, outer leaves of greens, limp lettuce, apple cores etc. Some get sucked dry (e.g. kale leaves, carrot leaves), some consumed (e.g. lettuce, apple core).

I don't know what problems mould might create, I imagine it depends a lot on the precise type of mould that grows, but some produce toxins and almost all produce spores, which I prefer to avoid.

 

[Soujrnr]

I started to add a handful of dried dog food to the bran every now and then

What a cool idea!! I'm going to jot that idea down in my journal. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[Ital]

I noticed in the small print after ordering the hydro gel that it causes birth defects and cancer so that’ll be going straight in the bin when it arrives.
No mould since switching the potato for carrot in the mealy bucket, good info! Thanks and I’ve made a mini auto water feeder for the crickets out of a plastic vitamin bottle which will hopefully be less carcinogenic than the hydro gel, seems to work pretty well.

 

[User105877]

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