Mealworm farming

[oneofseven]

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Mine was sealed once, too. A month later I had an infestation of grain mites. I freeze or cook all of my substrate material now.

 

[BeccaSmith]

Just got my meal worms today, bought them off of ebay from tastycrawlers.....I feel bad for not supporting a forum member and not buying from them, but I am addicted to ebay, what can I say? I accidently won two bids, they were both ending at the same time and I wanted to make sure I won one of the bids. I bought 1750 total. I decided I would use 1000 for starting up and the other 750 for feeding to the girls. The shipment arrived alive, although I was originally told they would be shipped Tuesday but received an email stating they would be shipped Wednesday....not that it is bad, and I am glad they have good communication! I put the worms in a plastic bin I bought today (part of a three bin system) into a mixture of wheat bran and oatmeal. I didn't freeze or bake either of the two, so hopefully I won't have any problems, next time I will remember to do that! Also gave them an apple core and the are all over it! I put in several other apple slices but they haven't touched them yet! I find it is really fun to watch them!

 

[binders]

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Sounds lik you are hooked!!

 

[oneofseven]

Sounds like a plan

 

[BeccaSmith]

Would anyone have any idea why a majority of the meal worms are all crammed in one corner of the bin?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Meal worm bin update from me....
The ExoticNutrition bin has finally proven itself. Took way longer than any of my others but maybe because they were organic?
Anyhow, we went to clean the dead beetles out to feed some chicks and as we sifted through the bran we saw thousands and thousands of little worms. They had come up to the pumpkin a week or so back but have grown a bit more now. I added some carrot and some other veggie I have no idea what it was but they swarmed it and we stood there amazed at how many came to the surface and others that were moving the substrate.

DH spent last evening (some wild Friday night!

) sifting through and pulling some out for selling and leaving some to grow and pupate. He has really gotten caught up in this meal worm farming. Especially since he doesn't have a job right now.
I was worried we were going to be running low with all the orders I get but every bin proves to have more than I anticipate. They eat well, stay warm and seem to thrive.

 

[oneofseven]

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Amy, I was pleased with my order. I wish you the the best with your mealie biz. I mention you whenever the chance comes up.

 

[oneofseven]

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Insects are very sensitive to the environment and hormones. Could be temp, humidity, light, ... They can sense minute differences. A good experiment would be to turn the tank around and see if they move after a few days.

 

[hannakat]

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Insects are very sensitive to the environment and hormones. Could be temp, humidity, light, ... They can sense minute differences. A good experiment would be to turn the tank around and see if they move after a few days.

x2

 

[hannakat]

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Yea! I love it when I see the 'earth move' in the colony! Love it when I hear it before I can see it too.

With my small colonies, if DH messed with them, he'd get his hands smacked!!

This is the only farm I can take care of myself.... thankyouverymuch.... so let me at it!! hahaaa

I'm so glad they're keeping up with demand. Any feedback about the 'designer' bags? teeheee

Might have a SMALL issue in my second drawer developing....found

mites

Under a piece of uneaten apple, I found a pile of what I thought was mold so I scooped it out into another container. I was inspecting it for any scooped wee wormies when I noticed even SMALLER things moving about in there. Yep...mites. (shhhhh...ain't saying the word out loud.) I'm thinking that because of the moisture from the apple, and the current house temps, I managed to get the right conditions for mites going. They are in the wheat bran that I had in the freezer but did not nuke.

Checked the other containers and didn't find anything else so I'm thinking it's just the one and it was moved to the oven as well....warm and dry.... we shall see... not too worried at the moment cause I couldn't find any more than what was in that 'pile'.

Glad to read where mealie farmers are getting up and running.

So many happy chickadees!