Mealworm farming

[hmcrainey]

I'm trying my first Mealworm farm too.
All of my worms have Pupated & most are beetles, which I have in a separate container.
I have 3 questions right now.
1. I'm trying to find out if separating them is really important. I read that if you don't separate them, they will eat the pupae and/or eggs. Is this true?

2. I have 500 beetles in one container. Is that too many considering they lay so many eggs? Should I take half & put in a new container or wait until the mealworms emerge & move them?

3. Do the beetles die after laying the eggs or do they keep on eating & laying?

 

[kubotafoot]

I'm trying my first Mealworm farm too.
All of my worms have Pupated & most are beetles, which I have in a separate container.
I have 3 questions right now.
1. I'm trying to find out if separating them is really important. I read that if you don't separate them, they will eat the pupae and/or eggs. Is this true?

2. I have 500 beetles in one container. Is that too many considering they lay so many eggs? Should I take half & put in a new container or wait until the mealworms emerge & move them?

3. Do the beetles die after laying the eggs or do they keep on eating & laying?

1. Some folks say they eat the worms and pupa....others say if they have plenty of food and moisture, they do not..... I can't count thousands and really know for sure but I have tried it together and separated and find no difference.
2. It would all depend on the size of your container. Remember, depth really isn't a factor as they do not dig down more than 2-3 inches in my observation. Surface area matters, but if you look at some of the colonies in this thread, they have zillions in a fairly confined area with plenty of food and moisture and all is thriving.
3. Yes, the beetles will eventually die, but not for a very long time. They don't lay once and die....This goes on for weeks.
Hope these observations help. This is how it has worked for me. Others may have different opinions, try and experiment. Everyone is different in what satisfies their needs. I can only tell you my know here for sure!

 

[aart]

I'm trying my first Mealworm farm too.
All of my worms have Pupated & most are beetles, which I have in a separate container.
I have 3 questions right now.
1. I'm trying to find out if separating them is really important. I read that if you don't separate them, they will eat the pupae and/or eggs. Is this true?

2. I have 500 beetles in one container. Is that too many considering they lay so many eggs? Should I take half & put in a new container or wait until the mealworms emerge & move them?

3. Do the beetles die after laying the eggs or do they keep on eating & laying?

I'll try to answer some of these tho I'm pretty new at this.

Separating is not essential...cannibalism is not an issue, tho I found in removing dead beetles from the bin it certainly appeared that the newly hatched larvae were eating some of the dead beetles.

Depends on how big the container is, but I don't really know a spacing requirement.

The beetles will continue to eat and mate and lay until they die I believe. Again in cleaning out dead beetles (most of them were dead) I observed a wide range of larvae sizes, from huge (and some pupae) to barely visible.

Hope that helps....more experienced folks should be along to add to, or correct, what I've posted.

 

[beverly evans]

Quote: THX It is in constant shade. I think the problem is that it wasn't getting enough air circulation in there and the heat just builds up. I had a cover, actually a flat tub bottom, the type used to put long rolls of Christmas wrapping paper in, as a loose fitting lid on top of the screen lid. So I have removed it and I hope that fixes it. I still have a bunch of beetles so in time maybe I'll get worms again. How long to wait to see worms before I give up?? : (

 

[kubotafoot]

THX It is in constant shade. I think the problem is that it wasn't getting enough air circulation in there and the heat just builds up. I had a cover, actually a flat tub bottom, the type used to put long rolls of Christmas wrapping paper in, as a loose fitting lid on top of the screen lid. So I have removed it and I hope that fixes it. I still have a bunch of beetles so in time maybe I'll get worms again. How long to wait to see worms before I give up?? : (

Oh....don't give up. When I started, people said it was so simple....yah, right.....so simple I almost failed. Everything has to come together at the right time for it to work really well. With me in Connecticut, I needed a bit more heat for it to start going and then when I found out I was under watering and upped the moisture......Oh my.....like hitting the trifecta!
Like my chemistry professor told me, "Things here happen not always because of you, but in spite of you."
Let them have food, plenty of moisture and air flow and warmth, but not too hot. It's a life cycle....Beetle lays eggs, hatch and grow into meal worms, pupate into larva, morph into beetles, so we're dealing with a full generation here....Weeks for a full round in the best of conditions. Just monitor, but not too much to drive yourself nuts! Have fun!

 

[aart]

Quote: This website has a nice chart with time ranges of life cycles.

All my first gen beetles died off in the middle of winter, note where I live, thought it was over....warmed that bin up and after a couple weeks the wheat bran was surging with hatchlings.

 

[beverly evans]

Quote: Thanks I'll check it out.

 

[Dipstick]

Regarding the watermelon rind.....I have used it, but the outer skin is too hard for them to "eat" so it gets left in the farm but you just remove it when they are done.
The problem I have found with using watermelon is that those pesky fruit flies all go into the farm and I hate them. I try to stick with vegetables over fruits. I find I have less of a fruit fly population. Again..... (to update my last post) ....after seeing the explosion in my colony when I increased the moisture in the aquarium, I strongly urge everyone to think seriously about the possibility of your farms being under watered..... The colony was doing OK for weeks, but when I finally gave more in water foods....it exploded!!! Being new at this, I looked at pictures of colonies and saw 3 baby carrots in the container and figured 3 was good...... Carrots are one of the slowest to break down, I have found. I started adding squash and cucumbers cut up and they literally disappeared in a day. Give it a go and see what happens for you, but of course remember....over watering (water on the walls and roof) can be bad, too. Experiment and find that happy medium. WOW! What a difference in production more water for mine was.......

Yes... under watering is the biggest error... and it kills worms.

 

[Dipstick]

OK, I cannot re-locate the post that this is intended to reply to, so here goes anyway.

No, do not give up... but absolutely quit stressing over it. They are after all just insects.

That said, relax, they are easy to raise if you slow down and think.

They like you and I need food... give them wheat bran. Forget everything else.
They need water... give them something small and if it is completely gone tomorrow, then give them more next time... find the point at which they will have some, but not much left over, and then cut back a small amount.

Leave the container open to the atmosphere... solves the mold problem in almost every case. I have added liquid water to my bran with no mold results... but I controlled the volume and things were not closed up, so they could consume and the rest could dry out. I did it to prove that it could be done.

They are like the watched pot... they won't grow until you stop watching them.... and then BAMM! They explode.

 

[RenaG]

My son went to remove an old potato and there was mold on it and some of the oats. He picked out as much of it as he could. What should I do?