Mealworm farming

[snakes]

Those aren't the beetles, those are what I thought were baby mealworms hatched from eggs. When they were smaller, they were much more brown and not hairy...

Never saw these in the shipment of mealworms so I wonder if they're an oatmeal pest? I use the generic oatmeal available at Walmart.

 

[chrissyr]

Those aren't the beetles, those are what I thought were baby mealworms hatched from eggs. When they were smaller, they were much more brown and not hairy...

Never saw these in the shipment of mealworms so I wonder if they're an oatmeal pest? I use the generic oatmeal available at Walmart.

sorry if i wasn't clear: yes they are not any stage of mealworm. So I would get them out ASAP. They could start a problem you don't want in there. You don't know how aggressive they'll be towards your mealies. If you want to start to grow those things, I'd separate them. BUT, why grow different bugs when mealworms are so easy in itself. I called my supplier and they said they can't get them all out. You can find out exactly what they are by calling yours and google about it. But I didn't want them growing in my colony

 

[snakes]

I'm not sure how to remove them -- other than sifting with a screen. Any ideas?

 

[chrissyr]

I'm not sure how to remove them -- other than sifting with a screen. Any ideas?

by hand. i only had about 3-4 at time per shipment. just got them one by one. how many are there? if there's more they could be hard. rainbowmealworms told me what came in mine are in their mealworms. SUPPOSEDLY not harmful to the colony, but they can't get them out of their worms. probably too many. they looked similar to what you have, but I'm not for sure. there's no other way to get rid of them that i know of

 

[kwol]

Thanks. The eggs I've seen so far (not many) have been on the toilet paper rolls.

Another question. When I received my shipment of mealworms a month ago, two beetles came along by accident. I put them in a separate drawer in case they were still laying eggs. Noticed movement in the corn meal a couple weeks ago and thought I had baby mealworms.

They've grown bigger and become much darker in color, not to mention hairy, and now I'm thinking these are pests. If so, what should I do about them?

Ewww!

I would not like to find one of those in my colony. Hope you are able to get them out.

 

[jimmywalt]

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After 5 long months, lots of carrots, potatoes and oatmeal I FINALLY have some decent sized mealworms in my 10 gallon all-in-one aquarium.

Many times I've considered pitching it out.......... just giving my 5 chickens whatever they could find it in.............. but finally now I have worms and beetles.

While this was a neat experiment, it sure seems like more work than it's worth IMO.

I have mine in my 60 degree basement sitting on a heating pad for the last couple months to bring the temp into the upper 70's. Wonder how much it has cost me in electric and vegetables to get these crazy worms to reproduce. Would it have been cheaper to just buy them at the pet store to feed to the chickens????

Ummm......................

 

[DHinton]

Thanks. The eggs I've seen so far (not many) have been on the toilet paper rolls.

Another question. When I received my shipment of mealworms a month ago, two beetles came along by accident. I put them in a separate drawer in case they were still laying eggs. Noticed movement in the corn meal a couple weeks ago and thought I had baby mealworms.

They've grown bigger and become much darker in color, not to mention hairy, and now I'm thinking these are pests. If so, what should I do about them?

is that a dermestid beetle larva/worm?

 

[DHinton]

http://www.thewcg.org.uk/pages/dermestidae.htm

 

[snakes]

Sure looks like it. Wonder how I got them?

 

[DHinton]

i've heard of folks using the dermestids to clean up corpses and such in crickets/mealworm farms.

i've been trying it with one of my mealworm colonies. the dermestids just don't seem to be thriving though. of course, the main dermestid colony gets actual critter corpses/skulls/etc, which could be why they seem to be doing so much better than the ones with the mealworms.