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Wow, your colony should be much larger by now. I have some suggestions that might help. They reproduce even faster at 100 degrees, but 80 should be just fine. I'd also use wheat bran instead of oat meal. Are you giving them fresh vegetables regularly? Fresh vegetables not only provide moisture, but are also a main food source for both the worms and beetles. Also, your method of scooping up the worms with substrate will eventually deplete the colony of the eggs and smaller worms and pupae that you need to perpetuate the colony. Try putting a freshly cut vegetable, such as a potato cut in half onto the surface. The worms will clamp on with their mouths within minutes and then you can pick up the potato with all the worms clinging to it and brush them into a bowl. I have a page describing how I raise mealworms: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=56638-how-to-raise-mealworms. I hope this was helpful!
Wow, your colony should be much larger by now. I have some suggestions that might help. They reproduce even faster at 100 degrees, but 80 should be just fine. I'd also use wheat bran instead of oat meal. Are you giving them fresh vegetables regularly? Fresh vegetables not only provide moisture, but are also a main food source for both the worms and beetles. Also, your method of scooping up the worms with substrate will eventually deplete the colony of the eggs and smaller worms and pupae that you need to perpetuate the colony. Try putting a freshly cut vegetable, such as a potato cut in half onto the surface. The worms will clamp on with their mouths within minutes and then you can pick up the potato with all the worms clinging to it and brush them into a bowl. I have a page describing how I raise mealworms: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=56638-how-to-raise-mealworms. I hope this was helpful!
