Mealworm farming

[crazy huhn]

No offense, but why would anybody feed dry dog or cat food if wheat bran is $ 12 for #50 at the feed store compared to $ 48 for #50 of dry dog food ( at least my dogs brand)? I buy organic wheat bran which is more pricey, but no dog or kitten kibble for my worms.

 

[Maat]

I thought to buy cheap dry dog food, nothing expensive off course.
And because I have my grains I will try to mill grains (corn, wheat, barley) and give to mealworms.

My first 500 mealworms comes on tuesday.

 

[azygous]

Talking about substrate here, the stuff you give the mealworms to live in and to eat in order to grow. Wheat bran is the favorite by far because it's cheap, the worms eat it, and it's light enough in weight so that the worms, especially the small fry, can move easily through it. Heavier grains, especially whole grains, are too dense for worms. It's true worms will eat almost anything, but why use something ten times the cost when a cheap substrate works even better?

 

[sueblack]

In regards to using paper towel and tp tubes, I put 1/2 carrot in each tube, come back the next day and the tubes are full of beetles as seen in the video a few posts back. This is probably more effective than the egg carton method as is demonstrated in the video. I usually use a combination of the two. The tubes move more beetles at a time but the egg cartons provide more surface area for breeding and hiding since they like to be in the dark.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

I don't know why but I seem to have a very low propagation rate from my mealworm farm. I've had the farm for 6months or more and have had several generations of beetles/worms but don't seem to notice any increase in the number of worms/beetles in the bin.

Originally I was doing it all in one bin but recently I tried putting some beetles in a new bin to see if it makes any difference.

I feed with rolled oats, have several layers of newspaper in there and give them a carrot or apple core now and then for moisture. We keep our house cool so I know the temps are not ideal but I would have thought that this would just make the generations grow slower and not effect the propagation rate. I've only fed worms and dead beetles a couple of times as I don't want take too many out of the bin till I get it really going. I started with 500 or 1000 worms and don't seem much beyond the original amount in the bin.

Any suggestions?

 

[Maat]

Mealworms have arrived today, about 500.
I put some rolled oats to them, and one potato.
Here is some pictures:

 

[Chickengirl1304]

I have had my mealies for about 6 months ago and I only have a ton of beetles. I can't see any worms maybe like 5. Why is that?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Yes, you can give them dried cat and dog food, but I wouldn't use it as the main substrate. The whole grains will be difficult for them to consume. Are you able to get wheat bran where you live?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Talking about substrate here, the stuff you give the mealworms to live in and to eat in order to grow. Wheat bran is the favorite by far because it's cheap, the worms eat it, and it's light enough in weight so that the worms, especially the small fry, can move easily through it. Heavier grains, especially whole grains, are too dense for worms. It's true worms will eat almost anything, but why use something ten times the cost when a cheap substrate works even better?

I completely agree on all counts. However, years ago we had an analysis done on mealworms raised with just potatoes and wheat bran vs. potatoes, wheat bran and some cat food added and the latter mixture produced mealworms that were nutritionally better (better at least for other arthropods that were eating only mealworms). So, there might be some benefit to adding cat food, but I wouldn't spend the extra money for it if I didn't already have some.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have had my mealies for about 6 months ago and I only have a ton of beetles. I can't see any worms maybe like 5. Why is that?

It would be hard to answer without a lot of other details, e.g. at what temperature are they kept, what substrate are you using, what vegetables are you feeding and how often? You also might be right at the cusp of a population explosion. Put a couple spoonfuls of substrate on a piece of paper and look carefully, you should see lots of very tiny larvae. If not, then there likely is a problem