First attempt at mealworm farming

[ColoradoPip]

Heres the pupae pile from cleaning

And a good pic of the Tenebrio obscurus

 

[CindyinSD]

How are you sifting them?

 

[ColoradoPip]

I tried 4 different styles of strainers and colanders. What a pain. It was slow, dusty, and I didn't last long at it before thinking of otber ideas. Then made one from screen and pallet slats. The screen worked the best and made really fast work of it. Problem is the beetles could grip the screen and the wood and quickly scurried all around, then wouldn't let go when i tried to put them back in.

After watching videos, I'll cut the bottom off a flower pot, attach the screen to the bottom, and that should work. I got lucky and Ace Hardware had the perfect screen mesh size for this.

 

[rehdancer]

I just got some mealworms today so of course am searching BYC for the very best information !! There are older threads which may be useful to you - I got lots of ideas, not sure which ones I'll try. I only have a few mealworms (went to the bait shop, literally) and will put them in a plastic shoebox. I don't have a lot of any one thing for bedding, so will try a little cornmeal, a little oats, some shredded paper, and the bottom of a head of lettuce. We shall see, and will look forward to hearing how yours do also.

 

[CindyinSD]

I tried 4 different styles of strainers and colanders. What a pain. It was slow, dusty, and I didn't last long at it before thinking of otber ideas. Then made one from screen and pallet slats. The screen worked the best and made really fast work of it. Problem is the beetles could grip the screen and the wood and quickly scurried all around, then wouldn't let go when i tried to put them back in.

After watching videos, I'll cut the bottom off a flower pot, attach the screen to the bottom, and that should work. I got lucky and Ace Hardware had the perfect screen mesh size for this.

Pics?

 

[ColoradoPip]

I have no idea why I have so many of these, LoL

None of those worked well. This kicked butt and worked amazingly fast.

Closeup of the screen

 

[CindyinSD]

Those look great! Thanks for taking the pictures. Do you happen to know the mesh size? (It might be on your receipt...)

 

[ColoradoPip]

I do not know the size. It came from behind the counter at Ace Hardware where they fix your window screens so they just rang it up per sq ft. According to my tape measure it's 1/8" x 1/8" could be very slightly smaller, I'm not so good at measuring small things with large tape measures

 

[CindyinSD]

That's gotta be close, looking at your photos. I bought some window screen. I guess it has to be metal (which yours is, of course), but it's in the garage and it's cold out there. I'll measure it tomorrow.

I have a small stack of plastic drawers I bought from the dollar store... (cost more than a dollar--what's THAT all about? ) I guess I'd better get out the saw tomorrow and get busy. I will try to remember to take some pictures.

 

[ColoradoPip]

You're right, the plastic or softer material screens will not work. I had to look around for what I wanted. This roll was on the floor tucked away and I had to ask if they had any small wire mesh screen back there. Sounded like they never ever sell it, except to people like me

That's funny about the dollar store. I have some drawers but, well, like everything, wanted to go BIG!