Got my meal worms ready to make my farm--questions

[colowyo0809]

I tend to forget about ours since they are in the spare room with the brooder

I put a potatoe piece in there, or some rice, and forget about it. Of course, this could be why we have worms, but not beetles

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
It seems they go in cycles. One time I'll check them and it will be crawling with bugs, then I'll check them again and all the bugs are dead but the substrate is 'moving' with worms. That's usually when I pick all the aliens out and take the bin outside, much easier for the chickens to clean it out for me

 

[Terri O]

Well mine must be on a "no beetles" cycle then. I made them up about a month ago and I still have not seen a beetle or an "alien!" Maybe it is too cold in there for them...it runs right about 60*. Too cold? Terri O

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Probably, they do better in warmer temperatures, cold temps make them go dormant. I'd try to keep them at least 70 degrees.

 

[chrisarvor]

Yes i had mealworms for ages in my shed so i bought them in the house and they started
changing .
Room temp thats the key

 

[Sumatra503]

Some pictures of a newly hatch beetle.

The head and mandibles.

The wings. Eventually the wings were folded upa nd disapeared. I wonder why they don't fly.

The crysilus still attached to the body. It stayed there for a long time.

 

[Terri O]

Cool pics! I will move mine into the family room--maybe they will be happier. Thanks! Terri O

 

[chicksbestfriend]

I started my meal worm farm with approx 5000 ct. in the middle of October 2010 and I am in total awe how low maint. they are and how quickly the population grows! I use the three tray method, one for each stage of development, but I think I am going to switch to the 5 trays pretty soon. It has only taken me several months to go from the mealworm to beetle stage and I am overrun with so many mealworms and the beetles are still laying eggs like crazy! Every couple of weeks, I transfer the bettles to a new tray of bedding so I dont lose any eggs or small worms and them dump the beetle bedding into the worm bin. I have not changed out my bedding in the mealworms since I started my little farm, I just keep adding a little more at a time and I am amazed that there isnt any odor or anything of that nature. I use rolled oats, corn meal and baby rice or oatmeal cereal. They really seem to like the cornmeal the best. I have tried all different kinds of vegetable and fruits to keep them hydrated and the best seems to be celery and cabbage. No more rotten potatoes or apples or shriveled up foods to replace as the cabbage and celery just disappear!

I use to buy my mealworms from the local pet store to feed to my Oscar fish but was running me $40 a month to keep only him happy. I invested $30 to start my farm and Oscar gets to eat around 20 of the mealworms and two beetles a day and I take out a handful everyday out to the chickens. Needless to say, I have alot of happy pets.

I keep my roll away bin of worms and beetles tucked away in the corner of our living room where it is warm, but not sunny and they are thriving really well.

 

[UrbanGrower]

Very cool pics of the beetle hatching. Here's where my little colony is at after about 5 weeks.

 

[laughingdog]

i have left over golden king mealworms still from june 08, from some rescued leopard gecko girls (supposed to be true pair), that i tried them for but they didnt eat.

they actually are better composters than trying to raise earth worms or night crawlers, as i dont have to add water or anything, just dry compost into a pin and they seem to explode in numbers if just in some dirt with it too (i live in limited space apartment, and have them in compost on balcony garden, in trash can with four tiny holes for air/gas exchange in very centre top of lid). i just threw the frass out in compost with apparent eggs, as it was cleaned from my roach bins for compost. they get the water sometimes if i dont cover can from rain. they can actually do better it seems like that come to think, as they used to like crickets in vivariums to feed herps, breed and teem around heating elements and just eat cast off's of animals as well as any plant material. im trying t take thousands of beetles and raise them the best traditional way on oat meal/bran and carrots, but if they get the grain mite explosion again in summer, ill just dump them in compost, or roach bins more, or try to start one with just soil and carrots (potatoes seem to reek as their poop, and when switched back to last had traditional set up, is suddenly after a long while when the grain mites appeared again (dish soap layer around top rim will kill grain mites and keep them from getting in). when you get a ton of worms and are noticing a lot of dead/deformed not pupating out beetles, or tiny babies hatching, its because t\\you need to then put beetles and pupa in new bin, as med to large worms in big numbers like to start to taste and eat the eggs, pupa, and newly moulted adults, as space on top gets limited (also sign of mites, as all the larvae and adults will constantly stay piled on top of each other on top of grain). if you have a ton of meal worms out somewhere in a bin and have a dead animal they will be happy bugs, as they do love to eat them down to bones (ive tossed in a uneaten dead rodent, and dead birds as well as my dead roaches, and they explode in numbers even more, and if your odd like me, itll be fun to seemingly watch the carcass dance and crawl around till fully devoured from inside out).