Mealworm farming

[Kusanar]

 
... I'm being stuborn and insisting on giving them water rather than veggies...

Why be stubborn? I mean there's no need to re-invent the wheel and no need to make things more complex than they need to be...

Mostly because we don't buy veggies and the worms don't eat them fast enough that they don't rot in the fridge

 

[aart]

Quote: Mostly because we don't buy veggies and the worms don't eat them fast enough that they don't rot in the fridge
Carrots......real carrots, not the 'baby' carrots.
They last a good long time in the crisper drawer.
You don't eat any vegetables?

 

[SuperK]

I took some plastic totes and cut off the top and glued screening material to the tops. So I can put the pupa in the beetles drawer. When the pupe morph into beetles, they will stumble off the top and into the wheat bran below.
I have found that styrofoam egg cartons are not good for the larvae. They eat right through it. That cannot be good for them.

Love the set up, but as for them eating through the styrofoam, there are more than a few studies regarding meal worms eating and subsisting on a 100% styrofoam diet. This is one: http://www.popsci.com/mealworms-can-safely-devour-plastics

And from Standford News Service: http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-worms-digest-plastics-092915.html
Google it and then don't worry about the worms- they are one of the few organisms on the planet that can digest the plastic.

 

[Kusanar]

Quote: Mostly because we don't buy veggies and the worms don't eat them fast enough that they don't rot in the fridge
Carrots......real carrots, not the 'baby' carrots.
They last a good long time in the crisper drawer.
You don't eat any vegetables?

Most of the veggies we get are canned or frozen, my husband doesn't like veggies so if they are in food, they have to be kinda hidden, like blended up in the sauce... I eat tons of veggies at buffets because I like them, but I'm not cooking seperate food for me.

 

[aart]

Quote: Carrots......real carrots, not the 'baby' carrots.
They last a good long time in the crisper drawer.
You don't eat any vegetables?

Most of the veggies we get are canned or frozen, my husband doesn't like veggies so if they are in food, they have to be kinda hidden, like blended up in the sauce... I eat tons of veggies at buffets because I like them, but I'm not cooking seperate food for me.
Ahh, I see.
Carrots would keep well and you could snack on them raw.<shrugs>

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Most of the veggies we get are canned or frozen, my husband doesn't like veggies so if they are in food, they have to be kinda hidden, like blended up in the sauce... I eat tons of veggies at buffets because I like them, but I'm not cooking seperate food for me.

Cabbage keeps well also. I just got some because carrots keep well in the fridge but mold fast in my bins. Celery also seems to keep well but not as cheap or long as carrots.

Seems like the water drops you are talking about might be more costly in the long run. I would just put a moist paper towel instead of that. Even though they will eventually eat it, cheap and lasts a while plus doesn't mold usually.

 

[Kusanar]

Quote:
Currently, I have a little box made of that plastic mesh that people do needlepoint stuff on in there, I have a paper towel at the bottom, then wet cotton balls on top of it to keep the paper towel moist, I'm thinking the water beads could be put in a layer above the paper towel. The big worms can't get in the box, but they stick their heads far enough up to drink.

Plus... I'm not supposed to have them in the house, so I have to have good reasons for having their food... otherwise my husband gets suspicious...

 

[azygous]

I have no pupae. All summer, no pupae, and only a few new beetles.

But, on the other side of the coin, I'm getting larvae the size of which I've never had before. They're numerous, very healthy and fat looking, and they are growing up to a full inch and a quarter. Huge!

I have beetles in a separate tray, and eggs filter down to the egg tray below. When I have a decent size hatch, that tray gets stacked with a couple other worm trays to grow out. They get baby carrots for moisture, the bedding is dry, and there's good ventilation. They are at room temperature between 70F and 80F if the wood stove is going. But all summer, they've been right around 75F.

The few pupae I've seen are dry husks. I find an occasional beetle that has managed to emerge, but nothing like what I've been used to.

The only difference is the wheat bran is much finer ground than I've had before, and grain mites have been present despite heat treating the stuff in the oven. Do mites eat pupae?

Any notion as to what could be going on?

 

[weidnercharm]

Mites will kill everything, very bad from what I've read. I heat treat mine for longer than what I've been told to, just to be on the safe side.

 

[azygous]

I've had severe infestations of mites before, and never any harm to any of the mealworm stages. But this infestation has been hanging on all summer. Perhaps that's my problem with the pupae.

Yet, there seems to be no injury to the beetles and larvae. In fact, how can the extreme size of my larvae be accounted for in relation to the mites? And my beetles don't seem to be suffering any more than the usual attrition related to age.