Giant mealworms - are they sterile?

[cpchicks]

After reading the thread about mealworms here on BYC I decided to raise some for my chickens. I bought a carton at our local feed store and put them in a plastic box with oatmeal, bran and a couple of slices of potato. They seem to be doing fine, but I just read a post on the mealworm thread that the giant ones are sterile. I checked the carton mine came in and they are giants! Has anyone had experience with the giants? If they are sterile I may as well feed them to the chickens and start over.

 

[hcppam]

Wellllll, then how do they breed? Humm?

 

[gale65]

Quote:
Maybe they're like mules? Part one breed and part another, and the result is sterile?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

It depends on whether they are Tenebrio molitor treated with Juvenile Hormone (sterile) or if they are Zophobas morio (not sterile). How big are the larvae?

 

[cpchicks]

They measure 1 to 1 1/4 inches. I've never seen the "other" mealworms. How big are they?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

While big, they don't seem giant (at least not yet). I wonder if you have regular mealworms, labeled as "giant" to stand out from the "superworms". It's just so hard to tell without the presence of pupae. Have you seen any pupae yet?

 

[cpchicks]

Quote:
Yes, I think I have a few pupae.

They are lighter in color. Is there some distinguishing characteristic?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Neither T. molitor treated with hormones, nor Z. morio will pupate at that size. You most likely have regular mealworms. Which means your colony is about to explode!

 

[cpchicks]

Quote:

Yipee! Thank you for replying to my post! Our weather is cool today so there's not much activity in the mealworm farm. I've been keeping it on a shelf in the coop. It's in the upper 50s here at night and in the mid 80s to mid 90s during the day. I don't know what I could do to improve on that, but what is ideal?

I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I read the information on your website; very interesting. I've pasted the mealworm info to my chicken folder for reference.

Thanks to BYC for making all these great minds accessible to those of us that are in need of answers.

 

[kidcody]

I also purchased the giant mealworms, that was months ago and they never changed to beetles. So I would say they are sterile!