Mealworm farming

[Bugseye]

GAAAH! All was going so well, and then I had a little surgery and lost track. When I looked in today, several beetles appeared to be sucking on a wormie. I checked their quarters: almost all frass! So there's a little setback in the colony. My sister made an emergency run for wheat bran and I dropped in zucchini trimmings. They're all over it. Frass is separated out. Wow, who knew I only had to look away for a few days?

 

[zarafa121]

GAAAH! All was going so well, and then I had a little surgery and lost track. When I looked in today, several beetles appeared to be sucking on a wormie. I checked their quarters: almost all frass! So there's a little setback in the colony. My sister made an emergency run for wheat bran and I dropped in zucchini trimmings. They're all over it. Frass is separated out. Wow, who knew I only had to look away for a few days?

Take heart, the setback is temporary. The good news is that you caught them "in the act" and could remedy the situation. I believe that this time of year, when the heat is up and the humidity is down, moisture is of utmost importance. I caught my beetles devouring a newbie, having him/her half eaten by the time I saw it. Poor thing. Now I keep the apple slices in there and the frass, which has the eggs and future larvae, separated out. The fruit of the labor is watching the new larvae swarm over their own slices of apple, safe in their bin away from mom and pop.

 

[Sarahsdawn]

AGH! I gave my mealies a mini pumpkin feast. They started eating, and got their metabolism going so well that they heated up and cooked themselves. What the heck?! How have my human children survived my hand of death?!
And I won't even mention the Venus Flytrap and African Violet.

 

[pdirt]

AGH! I gave my mealies a mini pumpkin feast. They started eating, and got their metabolism going so well that they heated up and cooked themselves. What the heck?! How have my human children survived my hand of  death?! 

And I won't even mention the Venus Flytrap and African Violet. 

They cooked themselves? How so? Did the pumpkin mold?

And please do share about the Venus fly trap and African violet!

 

[zarafa121]

I, too, am curious about the pumpkin eaters.

 

[Sarahsdawn]

No mold....just a perfect storm of too much food and optimal insulation (previously only beneficial). They were able to heat up (from eating) and retain all of that heat.
The pumpkin was fine....in fact, I had cleared the frass the night before.
I was trying to get some old stuff used up, so I poured some crusts and oats from a baby mealie bin that had been sifted, but was unsure of whether or not there could be any teeny tiny worms still in, so I just added them in with the bigger worms. I figured that the big worms would just eat the food (or mostly) and the beebs would be left. I also cleaned out the newspaper, which might have been keeping them alive when it got too warm, by giving them a place to crawl up out on.

As far as the plants...they are new, and aren't looking so hot. I fed the Flytrap a couple of waxworms. It closed up on them to eat them, but those "traps" later died. The African Violet isn't looking so hot, either.

I'm tempted to try Dubias but
#1. They are illegal in FL. and
#2. I'd probably kill them all.

 

[Latestarter]

Hmmmmm never heard of mealworms "overheating" themselves and dying... Perhaps there was/were pesticides on the pumpkin that killed them? I hope that at least some survived to re-build your colony from. I've heard the best thing for meat eating plants is a bit of raw hamburger... Anyway, good luck with it all.

 

[aart]

Could be the pumpkin was at a prime 'composting' point of decomp......that could get well over 100F, depending on depth of bin.

Were you externally heating the bin somehow also?
Did it have a lid or open topped?

 

[Sarahsdawn]

It was all in the sterilite drawer system....previously they loved it. But it was too much. And, before I had newspaper and such for them to crawl out upon, but I had removed all of that. So they had virtually no choice but to roast. I do have other survivors, in various stages... Maybe half or less survived. It took forever to sort it all out. Holy cow.

I'll try the raw hamburger...we have nothing left to lose, another 2 leafs lost and it's back to Lowes, tails between our legs, with the receipt.

Mumford & Sons probably wrote a song about this. I only say this because it is currently playing on the radio.

 

[ravenvalor]

This has got to be the longest thread that I have ever had the pleasure of posting in.
Does anyone know how big of a system I need in order to get 1 - cup of mealworms per day?
Is there a system that produces the most mealworms for the least amount of effort and resources?
Thanks so much.
Jim