Mealworm farming

[WestKnollAmy]

Amy, I recieved my mealies yesterday and out of the 1000 you sent I had ONLY 1 DEAD WORMIE!! that in itself I find amazing. Thank you so much for all your prompt attention and help. I have them in a storage bin 14"X20" w/wheat bran about 3" deep. I laid out a coupla sheets of paper with a few apple slices and 4-5 4" stalks of celery on top of the paper. Should I do anything more or different? The only drawback to my system is I keep our house at about 65* and our basement is even cooler. I'm wondering if some kind of supplemental heat would be beneficial to raise the temp in the bin itself? Any ideas from the Mealie Mob?

Some people have used the reptile ropes or some sort of heating pad for the mealies but I have never tried to heat them up other than I do have 2 young bins on my Sportsman incubator and that keeps the bottom warm but not hot. I have put young worms in my bator, as well and that helped because of heat and humidity but had to bump them out in favor of setting more eggs.
I would not use a light unless you have a red heat lamp and then I am too cautious to put that over the top of them, though aiming it at the side and letting it warm that up might keep the heat lamp from drying out the substrate.

I think you are doing well in your set up. Sounds like your colony is going to burst forth and grow like crazy!

 

[Emily1220]

I put a regular heating pad on low under my bin just to keep it a bit warmer. They reproduce waaaay faster if they are kept warmer.

 

[mychookschick]

That is a good idea! I wondered how you kept them warm, without using light (they like it to be dark)! That is such a good idea! Thank you for sharing!

 

[onafixedincome]

Considering the number of house fires every year started by heating devices, particularly heat lamps (and fans! in summer), I would be hesi....no, I just WON'T put one anywhere near a nice, fine, flammable substrate like wheat bran or grain of any kind. The smaller the particles, the faster it burns....and if you're talking grain dust, it can go BOOM!

If you *need* the heat, there are better ways to get it.... (here's a hint: Put your old wheat bread, sprinkled with water, and a handful of grass or greens in a Ziploc baggie, then press out all the air you can and seal. Let rot. There's a really cool phenomenon called the 'heat of decomposition' that works GREAT and produces quite a lot of heat....and after it 'wears out', dump the bag in the trash or on the compost heap. It usually takes about a week to get going well, so plan ahead.)

But...if you need it, and there's no other way....please, please PLEASE be super careful to minimize fire risk!

Always make sure that your heating device is on a breaker bar (power strip with breaker or fuse); Always have a smoke detector close to the area of the device, so that if something DOES go 'poof', you have maximum warning; and it never hurts to have an electrician check out the outlet and circuit before you get started. The mealies don't need heat 24/7; unplug the heating device when you are away or asleep!

Yes, I'm paranoid about fire....and that's how I plan to stay.

 

[onafixedincome]

I keep asking folks..."How many worms per square inch/foot/yard, please!?" and I keep getting "We don't know!" as an answer.

Right at the moment, I have a deeply bedded (8" or so of wheat bran) container which currently holds in the neighborhood of 2700 beetles. There are beetles at all depths and already a bunch of teensy bitsy babies, so I'm assuming that they are reasonably content. It's one of the relatively large Sterilite containers (six bucks on sale, usually runs about 9 -11 or so)....12x18" or 12x24"....my dog ate my measuring tape, so it's a guess! It stays topless for maximum air circulation.

Worms...In the typical dollar store sized shoebox plastic container, about 1,000 seem pretty happy in about 3" of bran. I usually stack them criss-cross style, without lids, to assure maximum ventilation.

Now I have my first box of bedding-with-baby-bugs, and man, is it PACKED with teensys, all the way up to smalls! I don't doubt I'll have to split off shoeboxes as they get old enough to sort out.

All my containers, BTW, are clear. The bedroom tends to stay dim, and about oh...60-65 degrees F. I started with these guys back in...oh, early November, as I recall.

 

[mychookschick]

Considering the number of house fires every year started by heating devices, particularly heat lamps (and fans! in summer), I would be hesi....no, I just WON'T put one anywhere near a nice, fine, flammable substrate like wheat bran or grain of any kind. The smaller the particles, the faster it burns....and if you're talking grain dust, it can go BOOM!

If you *need* the heat, there are better ways to get it.... (here's a hint: Put your old wheat bread, sprinkled with water, and a handful of grass or greens in a Ziploc baggie, then press out all the air you can and seal. Let rot. There's a really cool phenomenon called the 'heat of decomposition' that works GREAT and produces quite a lot of heat....and after it 'wears out', dump the bag in the trash or on the compost heap. It usually takes about a week to get going well, so plan ahead.)

But...if you need it, and there's no other way....please, please PLEASE be super careful to minimize fire risk!

Always make sure that your heating device is on a breaker bar (power strip with breaker or fuse); Always have a smoke detector close to the area of the device, so that if something DOES go 'poof', you have maximum warning; and it never hurts to have an electrician check out the outlet and circuit before you get started. The mealies don't need heat 24/7; unplug the heating device when you are away or asleep!

Yes, I'm paranoid about fire....and that's how I plan to stay.

Oh, no, no, no! I didn't say that I was going to run a heat lamp! I was just curious how most people "heated" their mealies! I wouldn't spend the money on it. I simply let nature take it's course.

I keep asking folks..."How many worms per square inch/foot/yard, please!?" and I keep getting "We don't know!" as an answer.

Right at the moment, I have a deeply bedded (8" or so of wheat bran) container which currently holds in the neighborhood of 2700 beetles. There are beetles at all depths and already a bunch of teensy bitsy babies, so I'm assuming that they are reasonably content. It's one of the relatively large Sterilite containers (six bucks on sale, usually runs about 9 -11 or so)....12x18" or 12x24"....my dog ate my measuring tape, so it's a guess! It stays topless for maximum air circulation.

Worms...In the typical dollar store sized shoebox plastic container, about 1,000 seem pretty happy in about 3" of bran. I usually stack them criss-cross style, without lids, to assure maximum ventilation.

Now I have my first box of bedding-with-baby-bugs, and man, is it PACKED with teensys, all the way up to smalls! I don't doubt I'll have to split off shoeboxes as they get old enough to sort out.

All my containers, BTW, are clear. The bedroom tends to stay dim, and about oh...60-65 degrees F. I started with these guys back in...oh, early November, as I recall.

I would say that that is more then enough room! I would probably separate the tiny mealies out as they start to grow, but I don't see any problem with your setup! Good luck!

 

[Tivona]

I have had my mealworms since the tenth of this month and the are growing really well. I ordered medium ones as the cost was good and they were guaranteed alive and organic. Today I took the time to pull out about 10-15 pupae and put them in a small container with the same food stuffs just so I can keep an eye on them for curiosities sake.

I also took the time to pull out all the dead ones. When I received them only one was dead but today I got about 1/4 of a cup of dead ones out of the 3000 that I ordered. Is it normal for more of the first batch to die? I am wondering if they got a bit damaged in shipping just enough to prevent them from surviving into the pupae stage, or if my system is a bit off. The ones that are alive look like they are thriving. They are much larger and moving around a bunch, happily munching on stuff. The ones that did die either died small and looked dry and hard or larger (longer) but died during a shedding to new skin and are a bit soft.

The smaller ones that died I think probably just didn't have enough moist foods at the start. They really went through a bunch of carrot and apple and leaves at the beginning, and the bedding was very very dry to start. The bedding (oatmeal, bread crumbs, and some oat-bran, but also a tiny bit of seaweed and some dry milk powder) I heated in the oven till good and hot but not at all browned at the start so nothing was alive in it, like mites, when I started. Then cooled and saved till they arrived. My thinking is that the small ones that died just were too dry and that is not a problem any more with the bedding absorbing moisture from the air, apples, carrots, celery and the worms themselves.

The older (larger) ones that died during a shedding of their skin are what I am more concerned about. What causes shedding deaths? It looks like they only get the top part to split then nothing and they die. The only other thing I can think of is that ants immediately found the bin and went for the apples and possibly bit a few of the worms? The ants are no more a problem as I water bathed the bin and left nutrasweet and borax in a dish in their path for them to eat (away from the mealies). So what is the most likely reason for the older worms to be dieing? Any ideas?

 

[ScottM]

Okay my wife wants me to confirm that this Rubbermaid bin will keep the beetles inside. We definitely don't want to breed beetles for inside our home

http://www.organizingla.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/rubbermaid_container.jpg

Scott

 

[hemet dennis]

Okay my wife wants me to confirm that this Rubbermaid bin will keep the beetles inside. We definitely don't want to breed beetles for inside our home

http://www.organizingla.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/rubbermaid_container.jpg
Scott

Tell her not that many will get out but they like to snuggle at night.

 

[DMRippy]

Okay my wife wants me to confirm that this Rubbermaid bin will keep the beetles inside. We definitely don't want to breed beetles for inside our home

http://www.organizingla.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/rubbermaid_container.jpg

Scott

That is WAY deeper than I use. Mine is only 5-6 inches tall... I have never had one escape that I know of...... I never even see them try and crawl up the sides... she has nothing to fear!