Mealworm farming

[LaBella]

once they do pupate try not to fuss much (its hard lol!) lost of handling will cause them to appear deformed. most grow out of it fast tho. Now you will get TONs in just a week or so.

The poking at"them" I meant was the wormies. I don't much fuss with pupae, never did, just because I felt like the energy they expended wiggling to get away from me was better spent morphing into beetles, lol.
I don't have very many, just got one container from PetSmart to get in on the mealie action... But I will admit that if my camera were not broken I would use the macro function to see if I can tell the difference between male pupae and female pupae, since back on page 300 something, someone posted a link to a site that showed the differences in male and female beetles in pupae form. But that's all thefussing I would do with the pupae. But Larvae? They're fair game. I even tried to feed one to one of my puppies.
She picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down, picked it up put it down, picked it up, put it down, and all the while the mealie just kept wiggling and trudging on, paying her no mind, it wasn't traumatized in the least. I think if I had continued to encourage her, she might have actually eaten it. Funny as it was, I put the mealie back in the bin to get big and fat and turn into a beetle.
Since I have this idea I want to try, I was thinking of giving one female a harem (himrem??) of 4-5 males and seeing how many mealies I can get from one female. I also plan on doing a how many eggs in one 24 hour period, among other ideas I have floating in my head. Just cause it's fun.

 

[kwol]

The poking at"them" I meant was the wormies. I don't much fuss with pupae, never did, just because I felt like the energy they expended wiggling to get away from me was better spent morphing into beetles, lol.
I don't have very many, just got one container from PetSmart to get in on the mealie action... But I will admit that if my camera were not broken I would use the macro function to see if I can tell the difference between male pupae and female pupae, since back on page 300 something, someone posted a link to a site that showed the differences in male and female beetles in pupae form. But that's all thefussing I would do with the pupae. But Larvae? They're fair game. I even tried to feed one to one of my puppies.
She picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down, picked it up put it down, picked it up, put it down, and all the while the mealie just kept wiggling and trudging on, paying her no mind, it wasn't traumatized in the least. I think if I had continued to encourage her, she might have actually eaten it. Funny as it was, I put the mealie back in the bin to get big and fat and turn into a beetle.
Since I have this idea I want to try, I was thinking of giving one female a harem (himrem??) of 4-5 males and seeing how many mealies I can get from one female. I also plan on doing a how many eggs in one 24 hour period, among other ideas I have floating in my head. Just cause it's fun.

Interesting concept... a himrem. Wouldn't want one in real life though. Kind of like the TV show Sisterwives. Imagine a show Brotherhusbands!

 

[Mavrk]

Lid.... always. Why not? Keeps the predators at bay.... mice, spiders.... I am sure there are others that I have not mentioned. Mine came with a lid so I use it.

Condensation is your enemy, air circulation is your friend. So I recommend no lids if you can get away with it. Second best is a screen top. Third is to put plenty of holes in the lid.

 

[LaBella]

Interesting concept... a himrem. Wouldn't want one in real life though. Kind of like the TV show Sisterwives. Imagine a show Brotherhusbands!

I have a good friend with two "husbands" one legal, one.. well.. not. Polyandry isn't for everyone, and it's harder I suppose for males, but both her "husbands" get along quite well, and they all actually co-habitate. And her legal husband has a girlfriend...
Not exactly my cup of tea, but like they say, it takes all kinds. They all seem very happy with their situation, so who am I to judge, you know?

4 of the 5 worms I predicted would turn into pupae have morphed, so now I has NINE PUPAE!!!!

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I agree. I have LOTS of holes on the sides and in the lid with screen over them to keep anything out. Works just fine with no losses.

 

[Lacy Blues]

The poking at"them" I meant was the wormies. I don't much fuss with pupae, never did, just because I felt like the energy they expended wiggling to get away from me was better spent morphing into beetles, lol.
I don't have very many, just got one container from PetSmart to get in on the mealie action... But I will admit that if my camera were not broken I would use the macro function to see if I can tell the difference between male pupae and female pupae, since back on page 300 something, someone posted a link to a site that showed the differences in male and female beetles in pupae form. But that's all thefussing I would do with the pupae. But Larvae? They're fair game. I even tried to feed one to one of my puppies.
She picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down, picked it up put it down, picked it up, put it down, and all the while the mealie just kept wiggling and trudging on, paying her no mind, it wasn't traumatized in the least. I think if I had continued to encourage her, she might have actually eaten it. Funny as it was, I put the mealie back in the bin to get big and fat and turn into a beetle.
Since I have this idea I want to try, I was thinking of giving one female a harem (himrem??) of 4-5 males and seeing how many mealies I can get from one female. I also plan on doing a how many eggs in one 24 hour period, among other ideas I have floating in my head. Just cause it's fun.

You can SEE their eggs?

Not me. I can see lots of beetles all eating and doing their thing but I see no eggs and no wee wormies! I even bought a magnifying glass for the job.

 

[LaBella]

You can SEE their eggs?

Not me. I can see lots of beetles all eating and doing their thing but I see no eggs and no wee wormies! I even bought a magnifying glass for the job.

Well, I was going to use worm count to determine egg count, the assumption being if I get say 10 worms in that one bin where Mildred and her consorts lived for 24 hours, then I will assume she laid 10 eggs. Of course there could have been more, but the point of having 4-5 males is the study linked somewhere in the 300s that showed that females lay more eggs when bred by several different males.
I'm just going to ignore egg mortality, because I refuse to go egg hunting. If it didn't hatch and grow into a visible, countable worm, it didn't exist, lol.

 

[Mavrk]

My "worms" are almost big enough to feed out. They have definetly been growing faster with the higher heat. I say that because I separated out a good amount of beetles the same time that I increased the heat. The mealworms in the newer bin grew faster than the older bin did before the heat.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My "worms" are almost big enough to feed out. They have definetly been growing faster with the higher heat. I say that because I separated out a good amount of beetles the same time that I increased the heat. The mealworms in the newer bin grew faster than the older bin did before the heat.

Thats great news! I did the same thing, wanted proof that the heat thing is true. Sure makes a difference.

 

[kwol]

Thats great news! I did the same thing, wanted proof that the heat thing is true. Sure makes a difference.

Yes, I noticed how much more active the beetles are and I am getting less deformed beetles with the higher heat too.