Mealworm farming

[chickenALD]

My worms came to day I real didn't count them bc I order 5000 worms. I never Order from rainbow mealworms.net again they were just in bag and news paper and no food and found some died ones.

 

[MrsLorisChicks]

My worms came to day I real didn't count them bc I order 5000 worms. I never Order from rainbow mealworms.net again they were just in bag and news paper and no food and found some died ones.

Great... I just ordered from them! Ugh I hope enough of mine make it.. Oh well I guess...

 

[chickenALD]

Did you over night them? I just use standard 3-5 shipping I think over night might made a differences.

 

[chickenALD]

I been trying to up load a pic of my worms but it will not let me. My screen goes black and nothing posts I try again later maybe my Internet.
They kind of fun to watch

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

My worms came to day I real didn't count them bc I order 5000 worms. I never Order from rainbow mealworms.net again they were just in bag and news paper and no food and found some died ones.

It's not an uncommon way to ship them. Given that they can survive for weeks without food, adding it might create more problems than it's worth. Also, some deaths following shipping is to be expected. With 5k worms, you'll soon not miss the few that died in transit. Good luck with them, they're a lot of fun!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I am start to breed mealworms they are real for my reptiles if I produces a lot feed to my ducks and chickens. I do have some question? One will the oats attract roaches? How do a prevent corn beetles or weevils? Do I need heater or light getting mix reviews online. Is a 18 gallon tote or container to big? I people are using draws but I scary they escape. I notice on a here that some of you are trying the method where you put screen on the bottom and container on the bottom to get the waste does that work well? Also what is talc power and where do I get it? I have been think about breeding them for months now and researching them but I still have question that I am not sure on. I will have 5000 mealworms at my door on Friday so any help would be great. Thanks.

Your colony shouldn't attract roaches and I've never seen corn beetles and weevils in mine. If you see a problem, cover the colony with a screen or 1/4" hardware cloth. I recommend wheat bran instead of oats. The 18 gallon tote would be fine, but keep in mind that surface area is more important than depth. You can use drawers, the likelihood of them escaping is extremely low. If you plan to raise large numbers of them, the trays that Crazy Huhn recently posted would be good. They're also sold as mortar tubs or mixing tubs and you can find them in different sizes at relatively low prices at Home Depot. I've raised them for the better part of my life and I've never had one escape. I'm not sure where talc powder is used in raising them. If you haven't already done so, read the links in the first post of this thread. That should clear up many questions you have.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Oh, and welcome to all the new people!

 

[Arielle]

Talc powder has beome an item to avoid if a good substitute can be found.ie used to be used when diapering the babies, it caused lung problems so corn starch is prefered.

Being new to mealworms, I don't know anything about talc in relationship to mealworms.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

@Arielle did you decide on a grain? If you can get wheat bran, I'd recommend that. You can usually find it at the feed store in 50 lb bags at a relatively inexpensive price, but it's a lot for a single colony! If you can't find wheat bran, then a rolled oat (or oatmeal) product would work. As kubotafoot said earlier, it's an issue of the smaller larvae being able to consume the harder bits of the oats. Maybe you could grind some smaller for them.

 

[chickenALD]

I used rolled oats and wheat floor. I am probably have to either buy oats from Sam's club or feed store for the wheat bran or ground wheat.
I found on a web site that if buy wheat bran or ground wheat that you have to bake it to kill the grain mites which will live on the beetles and worms then infect the whole colony and then kill the colony.
That means extra work so going to stick with stuff for humans. Unless it cost more than I change.