Live Mealworm Help

[jlisonbee]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to start my live mealworm far asap. I have all the things ready to go except the mealworms. I was about to purchase from a local pet shop but someone brought up an interesting issue to consider. They said not to buy the live worms unless you know exactly where and how they were grown, what they were fed, etc. The worms can have germs and harmful diseases that can be passed on to the chickens who eat them. I never really thought about that. Has anyone thought about this? I certainly don't want to get worms that are diseased or sick! Any thoughts? Where do you buy live, organic, healthy mealworms?

Thank you!

 

[rjohns39]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to start my live mealworm far asap. I have all the things ready to go except the mealworms. I was about to purchase from a local pet shop but someone brought up an interesting issue to consider. They said not to buy the live worms unless you know exactly where and how they were grown, what they were fed, etc. The worms can have germs and harmful diseases that can be passed on to the chickens who eat them. I never really thought about that. Has anyone thought about this? I certainly don't want to get worms that are diseased or sick! Any thoughts? Where do you buy live, organic, healthy mealworms?

Thank you!

Go to Youtube and search for "black soldier fly larva" I think NWRedworms will show you how to start from scratch. If memory serves he left some wet feed in the bottom of a barrel for a few weeks.

 

[azygous]

I've never heard that live meal worms can carry dangerous pathogens. As long as they're alive and squirming, I wouldn't be worried.

The myths being perpetuated about live meal worms passing on disease probably came from confusing lesser (yellow) meal worms with darkling beetle larvae. The former do thrive in contaminated feed and ground refuse. Darkling beetle larvae, as far as I've read, do not carry these pathogens.

If you were to raise darkling beetles and their larvae, and you neglected them, allowing their substrate to become moldy, they would die.

 

[jlisonbee]

Go to Youtube and search for "black soldier fly larva" I think NWRedworms will show you how to start from scratch. If memory serves he left some wet feed in the bottom of a barrel for a few weeks.

Thank you!!

 

[jlisonbee]

I've never heard that live meal worms can carry dangerous pathogens. As long as they're alive and squirming, I wouldn't be worried.

The myths being perpetuated about live meal worms passing on disease probably came from confusing lesser (yellow) meal worms with darkling beetle larvae. The former do thrive in contaminated feed and ground refuse. Darkling beetle larvae, as far as I've read, do not carry these pathogens.

If you were to raise darkling beetles and their larvae, and you neglected them, allowing their substrate to become moldy, they would die.

Thank you! This helps a lot! And makes me feel better! Have a good day!

 

[Space Coast Mealworms]

The only real issue you might want to be concerned with is if the worms have been treated with a growth hormone. regular mealworms and superworms are fine, but stay away from 'giant mealworms' or any other similar named worms.