Let everything keep going......I'm sure you got some micro-worms in there!!
Mealworm farming
- Thread starter hannakat
- Start date
I didn't find the worms in my bottom bin of dead beetles, til I put in a slice of apple and the surface kind of did a wave - they've grown very quickly since and are feeding size now..
Take care not to let anything rot or mold, you don't want too much moisture. I make sure the old fruit or veggie is either gone, or I remove it, before adding a fresh piece.
Take care not to let anything rot or mold, you don't want too much moisture. I make sure the old fruit or veggie is either gone, or I remove it, before adding a fresh piece.
I finally have worms!!! They are so tiny and very hard to see and never thought I'd be so excited to see creepy crawlers...but I am. 
I got my 5,000 worms on 6/6/12 and they all went to larva about 3 weeks ago and just beetles by two weeks ago. The probably 50-60 beetles are still moving around and eating the other dead ones and the carrots I put in there. I can find them scurrying away when I lift up the cardboard pieces.
So I'm guessing by the other posts I've read that I shouldn't even be thinking of baby worms for another couple of months at least - is that right?
So I'm guessing by the other posts I've read that I shouldn't even be thinking of baby worms for another couple of months at least - is that right?
Congrats! They are much tinier and hard to see than you would expect, aren't they? I remember thinking I didn't have any worms showing up either. Glad to hear they're in there!I finally have worms!!! They are so tiny and very hard to see and never thought I'd be so excited to see creepy crawlers...but I am.
Pretty much correct. I was gonna give up when I found all the micro-worms!!!
Yep been 2 months for me but I finally see some.
- Oct 10, 2009
- 300
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Man, it's been quiet around here! (Maybe because my big mouth has been offline? LOL!)
Okay, after four months or so of warm in the garage, here's the scoop around here....
I have several bins (I use the deep flat plastic cheapies from the dollar store and Sterilite large flat bins, about 6" deep x 23 x 11 or so) which have been beetled, laid, hatched and beetles removed, so they have THOUSANDS of worms at various ages (those bins had beetles in them for quite a while before I moved the beetles on to another bin).
I pull the largest, ready-to-pupate-I-think worms as I see them about once a week and put them in what I call 'pupational places'--the smaller flats--to finish going to pupal state. I pull pupae almost daily from the surface layers and go through the whole box about once a week or so. Each bin gets carrots-as-needed regardless of development stage....having a carrot in there seems to help them complete their shed as compared to a completely dry box.
The pupae all get put in two bins, with carrot in each for moisture; again, it seems to help them 'finish' transforming into beetle stage without sticky bits of shed or excessive malformations.
ALL bins run on un-treated, un-heated wheat bran.
To sort out worms from substrate, I take one of the flat plastic bins (they're about the size of two loaf pans side by side) and put in a couple of handfuls of substrate and worms. They get shaken to the far long side as I hold it in front of me, then I begin gently 'popping' the flat with it slightly inclined towards me. The substrate tends to stay 'uphill' and the worms come downhill for the most part. The smaller the worms, the more difficult it is--those usually just get returned to the bin to grow some more.
I always wear a mask to work mealies; between the dust and frass and bug skin bits, it's a very good idea.
Now, here's where I think I tend to differ from the rest of you guys on here
...I cull my worms, pupae and beetles! And by 'cull', I mean I feed out anything that isn't up to snuff. Worms that die or don't molt properly. Pupae that have even the slightest hint of black dots (I assume it's fungus--all I know is that it's not good and does spread.), pupae that don't shed completely on their own or that keep skin on the leg area after they are done....any deformed beetles, tiny pupae, tiny beetles are fed out.
I am starting to get really serious about this part--I want BIG WORMS for feeding and for fishbait, and keeping the tiny beetles and pupae I've been seeing just isn't going to cut it. It will be interesting to see the effects over time.
I do have something nasty going on in a couple of bins--teensy black beetles and webby areas that seem to have small greyish bugs that look kind of like fuzzy scale insects do on roses; and the bins most affected have the highest rates of dead worms, pupae, and loss overall. Ideas are welcome--they're so small they will go right through window screen, and they fly, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do on this.
The other thing is...the large flies--blowflies--seem to just love my beetle bins. Not so much the worms, but the beetles.
The beetles get moved into new substate every couple of weeks, so it shouldn't be a cleaning issue....ideas?
Photos later!
Okay, after four months or so of warm in the garage, here's the scoop around here....
I have several bins (I use the deep flat plastic cheapies from the dollar store and Sterilite large flat bins, about 6" deep x 23 x 11 or so) which have been beetled, laid, hatched and beetles removed, so they have THOUSANDS of worms at various ages (those bins had beetles in them for quite a while before I moved the beetles on to another bin).
I pull the largest, ready-to-pupate-I-think worms as I see them about once a week and put them in what I call 'pupational places'--the smaller flats--to finish going to pupal state. I pull pupae almost daily from the surface layers and go through the whole box about once a week or so. Each bin gets carrots-as-needed regardless of development stage....having a carrot in there seems to help them complete their shed as compared to a completely dry box.
The pupae all get put in two bins, with carrot in each for moisture; again, it seems to help them 'finish' transforming into beetle stage without sticky bits of shed or excessive malformations.
ALL bins run on un-treated, un-heated wheat bran.
To sort out worms from substrate, I take one of the flat plastic bins (they're about the size of two loaf pans side by side) and put in a couple of handfuls of substrate and worms. They get shaken to the far long side as I hold it in front of me, then I begin gently 'popping' the flat with it slightly inclined towards me. The substrate tends to stay 'uphill' and the worms come downhill for the most part. The smaller the worms, the more difficult it is--those usually just get returned to the bin to grow some more.
I always wear a mask to work mealies; between the dust and frass and bug skin bits, it's a very good idea.
Now, here's where I think I tend to differ from the rest of you guys on here
...I cull my worms, pupae and beetles! And by 'cull', I mean I feed out anything that isn't up to snuff. Worms that die or don't molt properly. Pupae that have even the slightest hint of black dots (I assume it's fungus--all I know is that it's not good and does spread.), pupae that don't shed completely on their own or that keep skin on the leg area after they are done....any deformed beetles, tiny pupae, tiny beetles are fed out.I am starting to get really serious about this part--I want BIG WORMS for feeding and for fishbait, and keeping the tiny beetles and pupae I've been seeing just isn't going to cut it. It will be interesting to see the effects over time.
I do have something nasty going on in a couple of bins--teensy black beetles and webby areas that seem to have small greyish bugs that look kind of like fuzzy scale insects do on roses; and the bins most affected have the highest rates of dead worms, pupae, and loss overall. Ideas are welcome--they're so small they will go right through window screen, and they fly, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do on this.
The other thing is...the large flies--blowflies--seem to just love my beetle bins. Not so much the worms, but the beetles.
The beetles get moved into new substate every couple of weeks, so it shouldn't be a cleaning issue....ideas?
Photos later!
Hi fixedincome
I guess donkeys are not the only ones that you can dangle a carrot in front of eh.
Thanks for that idea which I will use. The bug problem is easy. Bring them inside in another batch of clean bug sanitized bins and they should stay bug proof. Have an extra closet to keep the smell at bay and them warm?
I guess donkeys are not the only ones that you can dangle a carrot in front of eh.
Thanks for that idea which I will use. The bug problem is easy. Bring them inside in another batch of clean bug sanitized bins and they should stay bug proof. Have an extra closet to keep the smell at bay and them warm?
- Oct 10, 2009
- 300
- 9
- 128
Come this winter, they'll have to come in...or I'll be seating each bin in a pit surrounded by horse poo for the warmth! Not a bad idea, considering how allergic I am to the bedding and worms... 
Has anyone ever tried the 'classifying' screens they use for evaluating dirt, to sort their mealies by size? It's kind of like that old toy where you shook and shook to get all the teensy balls down to the bottom....
ETA: For debugging substrate, I'll go with Use The Sun--which means you put your bran in a black plastic bag and lay it on the back ledge of your car, with the windows closed, on a hot sunny day. Anything that survives THAT, well....it deserves to live, right? (Ave temp in my car in those circs is 140F-220F, depending on outdoor temps and sun intensity.)
Has anyone ever tried the 'classifying' screens they use for evaluating dirt, to sort their mealies by size? It's kind of like that old toy where you shook and shook to get all the teensy balls down to the bottom....
ETA: For debugging substrate, I'll go with Use The Sun--which means you put your bran in a black plastic bag and lay it on the back ledge of your car, with the windows closed, on a hot sunny day.
Anything that survives THAT, well....it deserves to live, right? (Ave temp in my car in those circs is 140F-220F, depending on outdoor temps and sun intensity.)
Last edited:
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