Mealworm farming

[EddieJ]

Help! Quick question: my meal worms are outside, the temps have been around the mid to low 50's, they seem very slow? Should I move them inside? Or will they be okay??????

They'll be fine as long as it doesn't drop below freezing. However, they thrive best (multiply) in temperatures between 80-85....so I've read.

 

[OHhappychicks]

There's a lot of information on mealworms on this board but this might help someone.

I don't do anything fancy anymore and I raise them all in the same bin with no sorting. Its an 8 inch deep bin, 24 long and 12 wide, no lid. It doesn't smell funny like the shallow bins did at times and the beetles and worms never escape.

I add bedding by this method: I use the old fashioned whole oat oatmeal from Cosco. It has no additives. Just whole oats and nothing else. I grind it in my food processor and sift it through a round embroidery hoop with bug screen on it. Anything that doesn't sift through I grind again until if sifts through. This is so when I'm getting worms and beetles out of the bin the oatmeal will easily sift out and leave just the worms and beetles so I don't have to pick them out myself. I'm not a huge fan of actually touching creepy crawlies.

I feed my mealworms thin sliced apples, carrots and greens. And damp bread if I'm going to be gone more than a week. Nothing else. I've had bad luck with other things turning moldy. Greens like spinach and leaf lettuce just dry up and turn to dust when all the water gets sucked out of them. Carrots get consumed and the bread turns into a dry brick. Thin sliced apples turn kind of leathery. This way I don't have to keep checking for spoiled anything and I can remove that when its convenient or not at all.

I cover the oatmeal and everything else in the bin with a piece of brown paper bag. They like the dark and the bag works as an insulator but also allows air to circulate. The worms make holes in the paper venting it even further after a few days. Pretty soon it will be in tatters and I just add another piece.

When I want to feed my fish I just scoop out a bunch of the bedding and toss it on top of the bug screen hoop and sift out the oatmeal. The oatmeal, micro worms and any eggs fall through easy as pie back into the bin. I'm left with grown out worms and beetles. I do return all tan colored beetles to the bin as they are young and will lay the eggs that keep the bin cycling. The dark beetles, pupae and worms in the sifter all go in the fish tank, a jar in the freezer for feeding wild birds, or now out to the chickens!

I never change the substrate. I just add to it when it starts to look like black pepper and gets more powdery. This bin has been going for about 6 years and I've never had a problem with it.

Also I keep my worms in the garage on a shelf. I'm in Zone 7 on the plant map and they don't seem to be bothered by heat or cold.
I did have a mouse problem a while ago though. I fixed it by sifting baking soda onto the shelf and just about everywhere I didn't want a mouse. Which is everywhere I could put baking soda including the carpet for a few days lol I still have baking soda in my cupboards because I'm not sharing my food with mice! The mice have moved away. And noticeably I don't have ants invading my house this year either. While my next door neighbor is already complaining about the ant invasion lol

I've had my mw's about 2 wks, but not much going on with them. It has been a little cool so nothing has happened to much. I did check them this morning and a lot of shed skins!! I bought a 3 drawer unit, thinking I would use this system, but I'm getting lazy about it, and I think I'm going to keep them in the 1 drawer. What do you scoop them out with, and by bug screen, you mean just window screen? I like the idea of the brown paper over it. I don't have a cover on mine. Just today put a towel over the whole thing. Maybe I shouldn't do that. Thanks for the info!

 

[Jmpeters]

Hi I just stumbled on this thread. Fig ill sit down with a bowl of popcorn and start reading. But first, I've ordered worms twice and both times only bout 50 out of 2000 were alive. Anyone in central Illinois raise any that theyre willing to sell?

 

[Jmpeters]

Oh and can I put a seedling heat matt in my container to warm things up?

 

[MalMom]

I have a question and I hope it hasn't been asked before. I bought 110 mealworms today and I made them what I think is a nice mealworm home. My only concern is the temperature. The best place I have for them is in the basement and it's a bit chilly down there. I don't have a space heater and I don't like the idea of keeping one on for fire danger. I thought about a heat lamp but I don't want to fry them. I also thought about those black heating lamps for reptiles that don't emit light, but they give off heat, but they are like $25! From what I've read on here, and on other websites they cycle the best around 75-77 degrees F. What is the best way to keep them warm? Also I've read conflicting info on light vs. dark. Do they seam to like light, or dark better? I'm sorry if I missed the answer if this has already been asked. I tried to sift through the 500+ pages but couldn't read that much about meal worms.

 

[Jmpeters]

Hope someone answers those questions cuz im curious as well. I keep my house bout 60 degrees (im hot blooded) and need a way to warm their container up as well. I just started reading this thread. 9 pages down 183 to go. Lol

 

[Lacy Blues]

I have a question and I hope it hasn't been asked before. I bought 110 mealworms today and I made them what I think is a nice mealworm home. My only concern is the temperature. The best place I have for them is in the basement and it's a bit chilly down there. I don't have a space heater and I don't like the idea of keeping one on for fire danger. I thought about a heat lamp but I don't want to fry them. I also thought about those black heating lamps for reptiles that don't emit light, but they give off heat, but they are like $25! From what I've read on here, and on other websites they cycle the best around 75-77 degrees F. What is the best way to keep them warm? Also I've read conflicting info on light vs. dark. Do they seam to like light, or dark better? I'm sorry if I missed the answer if this has already been asked. I tried to sift through the 500+ pages but couldn't read that much about meal worms.

I keep mine in a big plastic dish with a flat bottom, sitting on a heating pad set on low, and all of that is set inside a paper bag on its side. It's fairly dark and quite warm and they seem to be happy!

 

[azygous]

Mystery. I've been carefully heating my oats, chick feed, and wheat bran in the oven at 250 degrees for half an hour, and in spite of this, I noticed I have a new infestation of grain mites in a new worm tray where mites have never been before.

I did notice a couple days ago that the substrate felt rather moist, not wet, more like humid, when I rummaged around in there to pick out the largest worms for the "bribe" carton I keep with me at all times.

Is there some way mite eggs can be transmitted through beetle eggs into the new worms, then hatch as castings accumulate? I'm reaching for it here. Help me out please?

 

[hannakat]

Those people using the 3 drawer system, has anyone created something to prevent the top drawer from being pulled out unless the 2nd drawer is also pulled out? If the top drawer has screen to allow baby worms to fall through, I'd hate to have my little girl open the drawer and drop 100 worms into the carpet.

It'd be REALLY great if some people could post pictures of their 3 drawer systems.

Thanks
Eddie

My page: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mealworm-fam-experiences which is listed, along with others, on the first post of this thread shows my 3-drawer setup.

I never opened the top drawer without the second drawer or without first putting a piece of paper there. Then if anything dropped out, I could put it back in.

Hope this helps.

 

[hannakat]

I have a question and I hope it hasn't been asked before. I bought 110 mealworms today and I made them what I think is a nice mealworm home. My only concern is the temperature. The best place I have for them is in the basement and it's a bit chilly down there. I don't have a space heater and I don't like the idea of keeping one on for fire danger. I thought about a heat lamp but I don't want to fry them. I also thought about those black heating lamps for reptiles that don't emit light, but they give off heat, but they are like $25! From what I've read on here, and on other websites they cycle the best around 75-77 degrees F. What is the best way to keep them warm? Also I've read conflicting info on light vs. dark. Do they seam to like light, or dark better? I'm sorry if I missed the answer if this has already been asked. I tried to sift through the 500+ pages but couldn't read that much about meal worms.

You can use an ordinary light bulb. I place foil between the bulb and mealworm container, which I have inside an old cooler. Works really well but then I can adjust the light bulb because it was my old incubator. BUT, a small bulb inside any container (even a larger bin) will raise the temperature enough to make a difference.

I still also have part of my colony in the oven with the light on 24/7. Any light, inside any container, will raise the temps. It's a pain sometimes having them in the oven but I don't bake so much anymore.

And yes.... this question has been asked a hundred times, at least, but there's always new people getting into raising the mealworms and the question needs asked again. Not a problem.