Mealworm farming

[OwensMom]

Quote:
Gallo, There are beetles of all different colors-red, black, brown and tan with red heads. I think that the tan/red heads are the new beetles and the others are assorted ages. Haven't seen and worms yet but I haven't looked either. I down use the 3 bin method. Basically have 2 bins of assorted stages growing. Maybe the dead pupae are just expected losses?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Gallo, There are beetles of all different colors-red, black, brown and tan with red heads. I think that the tan/red heads are the new beetles and the others are assorted ages. Haven't seen and worms yet but I haven't looked either. I down use the 3 bin method. Basically have 2 bins of assorted stages growing. Maybe the dead pupae are just expected losses?

Well, you certainly can expect some losses, but I would wonder about the cause. So, the color distribution suggests that you haven't had any microbial infections and they're not too crowded. What strikes me is that you have mortality in a class of individuals, pupae, which sounds like a problem with completing metamorphosis. My memory of these things is bad, but I seem to recall reading a paper about the early days of scientific inquiry to T. molitor, where they had problems with partial development and then they would die. They figured out that they need folic acid and other B vitamins to complete their development. Maybe you have some issues with your substrate? What are you using?

 

[sadies chicks]

HOLD THE PHONE!!!!! Did I just find a little wormie???????

It was totally by accident, I was looking around my bin (which I do on an all too often regular basis) and pushed some wheat germ aside and saw a very small movement. I scooped up the surrounding wheat and saw a tiny worm looking thing!!!! It was so small I had to take a picture of it and zoom in. I THINK it is a little wormie and REALLY HOPE it is not some weird parasite thingy

Can someone confirm??

 

[msbee]

This is a great thread. I love reading so much about mealworms, but omgosh, I must be the laziest mealworm farmer on the planet. I bought 2 containers of 100 mealworms each at the pet store 6 months ago - one large, one extra large. I threw each container into separate large storage tubs (66qt) with a bunch of oatmeal (probably 3-4 inches) and some apple halves. I threw in some shaped cardboard that came with some new mixing bowls that form a cave which they seem to enjoy. I keep the tubs on the upper shelf of a large closet and forget about them quite often.

When I remember them, the apple pieces look petrified with pieces of oatmeal stuck to them. I clean them out and add new vegetation. When I do that, the surface of the oatmeal quakes as beetles and worms come to the surface for a bite.

Each morning, I take a scoop of the oatmeal, beetles, worms, and all, and mix it with yogurt. The worms hightail it to the surface for air. The girls rejoice and go nuts for breakfast.

My plan is to empty one tub, and buy a fresh batch of worms while I use up the other tub. I'm almost through the first tub, and the second tub is teeming with worms and beetles.

It's easy, and lazy, but it works for me and my girls.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Okay, I have put 2 big bags of wheat bran in the freezer to try and kill out anything that may be in there before the new mealies arrive.

DD and I had a moment of clarity last night where we remembered putting the fines from her Guinea Pig pellets in the meal worm bin(s). We can't remember which one(s) but now wonder if it wasn't the original that got the mites going in it. Those mites had to come from somewhere! I had to do something wrong to get them started.

Okay, okay. From now on, nuking or freezing any grains that go in!

And I added cereal yesterday. Honey Nut shredded wheat and whole wheat Rice Crispies, gluten free. They seemed to like the taste.

Oh yeah and my DH says to me this morning when I am whining over losing my precious little baby mealies that he didn't understand why I didn't take the tub down to the chicks in the wire bottom brooders so they could scratch through them and eat the good stuff out, dust bath and whatnot. Duh! Sometimes my brain stops working! I think I was just so terribly upset about getting mites in my tubs that i wasn't thinking straight.
That's my story and I am sticking to it!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Looks like a wee wormie to me!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

sadies chicks, congratulations on your first worm!

WestKnollAmy, I'll bet you're right about the source of your mites. I also have a new visitor to one of my two mealworm colonies that I'm not happy about (I'm waiting to confirm what it is). The funny thing is, it's only in the colony that I put in the crumbly bits of layer pellets from the chicken feeder. The two colonies sit right next to each other, with open wire tops. I'm no longer going to take chances with any grains that I put into the colonies--I'll freeze everything first. I would also note that the couple of mite outbreaks I've had in the past followed the addition of new wheat bran and I always assumed that's how they got there.

msbee, Nope, I think I'm the laziest mealworm farmer on this thread!

O.K., we both do have similar approaches. That's what's great about these things, you can be involved as you want or are able to be.

 

[Kassaundra]

And I am following Gallo's example of lazy meal worm farming!!

 

[hannakat]

Sadies chicks ~ woot woot! Whatchagonnanameit?

Amy ~ That sounds like a uh ha moment to me! Well, I think we've all learned a valuable lesson by you sharing this whole journey with us.... be VERY careful what you put in the mealie bin!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

That's what makes it such a great thread, having some experienced folks like Gallo del Cielo and having real newbies like us. We get to share everything this way. There is wisdom and tons of questions. That makes it a lot of fun.
Plus we can be totally into the whole thing or kinda lazy about it, too.