Mealworm farming

[S.L.Swope]

Ok I bit the bullet and joined the worm farm. I picked up around 400 of different sizes from a local woman who is growing them as part of zoological project for college course. I'm totally creeped out but think it's so funny to watch my chicks chase each other around till they realize there's a bowl full in the coop with them.

Tried picking them up but got the heebie jeebies when they moved.

 

[oneofseven]

S.L.Swope :

Ok I bit the bullet and joined the worm farm. I picked up around 400 of different sizes from a local woman who is growing them as part of zoological project for college course. I'm totally creeped out but think it's so funny to watch my chicks chase each other around till they realize there's a bowl full in the coop with them.

Tried picking them up but got the heebie jeebies when they moved.

 

[S.L.Swope]

Oops that was supposed to be a

not a

Goes to show you to preview before you post!

 

[loanwizard]

You don't let the live eat the dead?

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
I do, there are far to many dead beetles for me to pick out, I figure it is a recycled protien source for them.

 

[BeccaSmith]

I learned a hard lesson with my new colony today. I had accidentally won two bids off of eBay from the same seller, so I had one container of 1000 and one container of 750. I decided I would use the 1000 to start my colony and feed the other container of 750 to the girls so I left the the 750 worms in the orginal Styrofoam container they arrived in and put an apple in for them to munch on. Let's see....I got them last Friday so they have been in that container since then....and I fed some to the girls but really not that many. I left the container sitting on top of the 3 drawer plastic bins that I am using with the other colony....I came home late this evening only to find the worms that I left in their original container had chewed holes and many had escaped.....I spent a good 30 minutes picking them out of the carpet and moving stuff they had crawled under to get them as well. So those who are new to this and plan on maybe leaving some in the original Styrofoam container.....don't do it unless you want to spend some time picking them out of the carpet!

 

[binders]

ouch BeccaSmith, that didn't sound like fun! Sorry that happened to you. I remember reading that they will chew through Styrofoam but didn't beleive it. I guess I will now. My pet store sells them in plastic containers with little holes in the top. Sounds like that is a better way, so maybe the designer bags that people are talking about.
Good luck with the 1000 for your new colony. Have fun!

 

[LibertyChick]

Well, I was unsuccessful transfering the beetles to new substrate to get rid of the mites. Well, it seems that the beetles are ok in the container I have them in, but the substrate for the eggs, in 2 separate containers, regrew mites even after I froze the oatmeal and oat bran for several days.

Can someone tell me at what temperature kills the mites and mite eggs? I will never microwave the substrate because it is irradiating the food and then the worms would be eating DEAD IRRADIATED FOOD which is not healthy for them. I would prefer to put the substrate into the oven for a few minutes to kill the eggs that way. What temp. and for how long?

LibertyChick

 

[LibertyChick]

Quote:
If you had put the styrofoam container in the fridge you would have been ok. I have an idea on how you can make sure you get all the worms...you could bring a chicken/chick into the house with one of those diaper things on. They will clean it up really good for you.

Sorry about that one, I thought it might give you a laugh.

I actually used one of my chickens to get a bunch of earwigs out of the storage area of my coop that had started an investation. She absolutely loved it...but it wasn't my house. I think some people bring their chickens into the house to walk around with a diaper on. I could see that they would keep the kitchen floor pretty clean from any dropped crumbs.

LibertyChick

 

[oneofseven]

Quote:
This is an email response I got from an insect specialist about "grain mites":

Mites are animals that require a higher level of moisture than mealworms so you might try lowering the moisture content of the feed so that the mites will die. Most insecticides will kill both - although there are a few that are just for mites (Miticides) that normally would not affect the mealworms, but generally these require a specialized license for purchase. Good air movement and lower humidity will often lower the moisture content in and around the food that the mites will dry out. Depending on your size of the colony, you could separate the diet, heat in oven and then place mealworms back in with a very dry diet. Then the mites will be dead and the ones left on the mealworms will die in the dry diet. Mealworms can survive in very low humidity so that is the key - low enough to kill mites but not the mealworms. Makes sure you clean the surrounding area as the mites can move out of the food.

Good luck - this is a very difficult problem to correct and one that can take a long time to rectify.

Dr. Linda J. Mason
Associate Dean of the Graduate School and
Professor of Food Pest Entomology
Department of Entomology
Purdue University
West Lafayette IN 47907