Mealworm farming

[BScott03]

Ordered my mealworms yesterday!!

 

[kwol]

Ordered my mealworms yesterday!!

 

[MalMom]

Ordered my mealworms yesterday!!

So exciting! How many did you get?

 

[BScott03]

So exciting! How many did you get?

2000 I think! Lol

 

[EddieJ]

OK all you mealworm veterans...I have a question. I have 10,000 mealworms and have been pulling pupa out of them everyday...I have about 45 over the past few days. Then I started to get curious and scooped along the sides of my container where they all like to hang and party. WOW!!! It's loaded full of pupa..I pulled another 40 before I decided to just stay on beetle watch from now on. Anyways...looks like things are perking up in regards to my next generation.

My question is this. My pupa are a variety of colors...ranging from white to brown. And some have a little dried up little tail on the end. Is this normal or do I need to address an issue?

Thanks
Eddie

 

[MalMom]

OK all you mealworm veterans...I have a question. I have 10,000 mealworms and have been pulling pupa out of them everyday...I have about 45 over the past few days. Then I started to get curious and scooped along the sides of my container where they all like to hang and party. WOW!!! It's loaded full of pupa..I pulled another 40 before I decided to just stay on beetle watch from now on. Anyways...looks like things are perking up in regards to my next generation.

My question is this. My pupa are a variety of colors...ranging from white to brown. And some have a little dried up little tail on the end. Is this normal or do I need to address an issue?

Thanks
Eddie

I'm not a veteran, but I'm going to throw out my two cents anyway. I was curious how they went from looking like a mealworm in the larva state to looking like an alien in the pupa state. What I found online is that it is in their last shedding of their exoskeleton that instead of being another longer worm, they are the alien thing. I accidently grew some meal worms years ago when I forgot to put up one of the containers of mealworms for my frog. I opened what I thought was a empty container to find aliens and bugs. Anyway if you have noticed when they are shedding their skin, they come out very light and they darken up. If I recall correctly my alien pupa did the same thing. So I would guess that the "tail" is left over form the worm state and that they will darken up as they get older. Now let's see if someone who really knows answers.

 

[MalMom]

2000 I think! Lol

Ha! That's a lot of mealworms! But then again I've been thinking of ordering 1000 more. I only have two chickens, but I figured I might want to feed some to the wild birds, and I might get another fog or something. Besides I have sooooo much wheat bran and oats I'm afraid it will go bad before my 150 little guys can eat it all.

 

[OHhappychicks]

I've had my mw's at least 2 wks and I still don't have any pupae. They are lively, and eating. They've shed skin. Anyone tell me when I can expect pupae? The temp is about 75. Maybe I'm to impatient.

Now that I think about it, did I read it takes about 2 months from worm to pupae?

 

[Quailsong]

It takes a while, but soon enough you'll have far too many to handle.

 

[BScott03]

Ha! That's a lot of mealworms! But then again I've been thinking of ordering 1000 more. I only have two chickens, but I figured I might want to feed some to the wild birds, and I might get another fog or something. Besides I have sooooo much wheat bran and oats I'm afraid it will go bad before my 150 little guys can eat it all. 

Well the thing is, I literally don't know how many chicks I have! Haha I also have 2 ducks, 2 geese and 4 goats. It's a little busy around here! Lol