Mealworm farming

[Gallo del Cielo]

No, I don't think you're crazy. If you have the inclination to experiment like that, I'd say go for it. If you do, we'd love to hear what you discover.

I'm thinking for the 2 special groups, just catch a set number of Beatles (10-20) from the main bin, put them in plastic shoe boxes for a set period of time (1-2 weeks), then put them back with the others. The ones for fastest life cycle, just take the first (10-20) pupae, set them to the side, and dump anything else back in the main bin, the pupae go back in the shoe box, once everyone is emerged and breeding, dump substrate again and give them fresh bedding for the same set period of time before putting them in with the others, that way the fastest will always be breeding with the fastest and the slower ones will be weeded out. Same basic thing with size, I would assume the pupae weigh the same (roughly) as the worm they came from, so taking the (10-20) largest pupae would be the selection criteria in that box.

Welcome to the thread! I don't think you're crazy at all, it sounds like a fun project. The first thing that comes to mind is that body size and rate of development are intricately intertwined. Generally speaking, it takes more time to achieve larger body sizes and, conversely, faster development tends to result in smaller size. I'm not sure if you can easily separate these two variables. It's worth trying though! And I think you have a decent start on the design of the project. A few thoughts come to mind about some issues you would encounter.

The animal behaviorist in me would want more detailed assessments of body size so that I would know whether the selection is working. Also, the variability in body size within a colony is so small that accurately choosing the largest individuals by simple visual inspection would be challenging, even more so after a few generations of selection when differences among individuals becomes smaller. Measuring body size in live beetles Is tough. Body weight would be an easier variable to measure, but you'd need a scale that measures in mg.

I would seek out several distinct sources of mealworms to start with so as to increase the genetic variability from which your selection can operate. I suspect that most beetles from a given source are highly inbred, which reduces genetic variability.

I'm sure more ideas will come to me later. Keep us updated on what you decide to do and bounce ideas off of us. We love to help.

 

[azygous]

I just discovered a real simple way to increase the surface area of my beetle bin!

I just recently moved my beetles into a new, larger plastic tray, increasing the volume of their habitat considerably. They were suffering alarming die-offs due to over-crowding. I think that was a correct diagnosis because I'm seeing a large decrease in the numbers of dead beetles now.

But a couple days ago, I got the wild notion of placing an additional six squares of newspaper in the bin. Before, I had only a couple. Every single scrap of paper, eight or so, is new being utilized for mating and egg-laying. It's like a beetle high-rise apartment without having to actually increase the vertical space!

Since they are such light weight critters, they don't seem to suffer any hindrance in movement, even with eight layers of them engaging in activity.

It's possible someone in the last 771 pages of this thread has come up with this idea, but there's no harm in throwing it out there again if it has been brought up already.

 

[PinkBee]

I just found this thread and am wondering how one uses squares of newspaper? I have tp rolls (within tp rolls) in mine, but I'm finding lots of dead beetles again. I'll switch to newspaper as, when I move the beetles to a new bin, it's difficult to get all the beetles out of the rolls. (Now to begin reading this from the beginning! Yikes! LOL)

 

[azygous]

Glad you brought up the topic of dead beetles. A small number of die-off is normal, but any more than a dozen every couple of days is cause for alarm. This is proportional to the size of the colony, of course.

I'm almost certain now that adequate surface area plays a crucial role in beetle health, regardless of plenty of food and moisture sources. Before I transferred my beetle colony into a much larger and deeper tray, I was getting dozens of dead beetle every week. Now I'm getting one or two every couple days. Normal die-off.

The newspaper squares provide cover first of all. Beetles crave being able to crawl and mate under cover. Second, it's actually a food source. Beetles eat the paper. (So to the larva) And third, multiple scraps of newspaper provide additional surface area for the beetles to utilize so it greatly reduces the danger of over-crowding, and mass die-off.

 

[Heardy]

Ok so my issue of deformed beetles seems to be sorted. It was indeed a bit of cannibalism, I witnessed one beetle munching on the back of another one that was deformed. I have now separated them all out into two bins to avoid overcrowding and I have been adding heaps more food for moisture which seems to have done the trick.

My next question is how long should I expect to wait to start to actually see new larva? I have had beetles for over a month and still no sign. I am in Australia so low temperatures aren't an issue at this time of year. Temperatures here are between 25°C (77°F) and 37°C (99°F).

My chickens would dearly love to start getting stuck into some mealworms so they would appreciate any advice, so would I!!

 

[Latestarter]

Stage
Time*
Egg Incubation 4-19 days (usually 4-7). Another source says 20-40 days
Larva
10 weeks. Visible after about a week
The larva will molt (shed their outer casing) between 10-14 times over their time at this stage. They should become readily visible to you after about the 3rd or 4th molt.

Pupa 6-18 (18-24?) days
Beetle and Egg Laying
8-12 weeks (followed by death). Egg laying starts 4-19 days (average 12) after emergence
The beetles will lay between 150-500 eggs over their life time; average 250-300​

From http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm#timetable Some of the info on that site is not quite right, but for the most part it's good to read.

and the thread!

The thing is, the above data is completely dependent on a number of variables like:
temp - higher temp less total eggs laid, shorter/faster life cycle. Ideal temp seems to be between 75-85 F.
moisture - too much causes many potential issues like mites/mold/mildew/etc. too little causes slow down of cycles and potential cannabalism.
food source - some use oats, which are a larger grain which presumably the young have trouble "biting". Ideal food source is wheat bran, and they seem to do best with/in it.

Another rather pertinent bit of info is that the eggs are ****** near microscopic.... along with everything else in there, you will most likely not be able to see/recognize them. When they hatch, the larva are also very, very small and will also be very difficult to see. You will know they are there by their shed outer casings an d by movement of the substrate. If you place a carrot under a piece of paper and keep the lights off, then come back in 5-10 minutes and lift the paper, you may see what you're looking for.

 

[Sidhe13]

I added Mealworms to my menagerie today! I didn't tell anyone what I was doing so neither my man nor my sister couldn't tell me 'no'!

I was prepared for an 'ick' factor but none so far and i have already handled them... just put together the first drawer and as they go through the lifecycle i will add drawers to separate them....they are pretty cool!

My chooks got all excited when they saw the bag of oats (they love rolled oats!) and stayed to watch what i was doing. I fed them the dead worms and it wasn't long before one chook realised that i was tending a container of oats AND BUGS! She then got VERY excited...only to be shot down and shooed away from it...
From what i have seen my container may be too big though. I am not sure it matters, does it?
I will post pics when i figure out how...

 

[Bugseye]

Hah! The expanding menagerie! Well, go for it! Mine is a process of trial and error. Had a lot of worms, then a lot of beetles, then a lot of dead beetles. It seems they need more (carrots, potatoes, etc.) than I was thinking. So now with more of those, I have more larvae. Oh, and more sheets of newspaper too. I think they're happier, as beetle emotions go.

 

[Sidhe13]

What is the newspaper for?

And my expanding menagerie took a hit last night....my first fox attack took out my 6 silkie babies

 

[Bugseye]

Sidhe, there's discussion up above about using paper in the bin. It gives my beetles more beetle-stories of condo space to roam around, and they seem to like it. There are now a few beetles on each level, and they migrate to the carrots from there.