Mine keep coming up to the top and drying out. Are they dying? Molting? Pupating?
Help!!!
Help!!!
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I have been farming mealworms for over a year, and find that I am always scared of sifting excrement for fear of tossing eggs. Can you please share with me how large the eggs are in comparison to the excrement?
Mine keep coming up to the top and drying out. Are they dying? Molting? Pupating?
Help!!!
So do they have any issues "crawling" to the top of the embroidery hoop to eat? Is the "tulle" fabric something special so they don't attempt to eat it as they do paper bags?In a mealworm bin it is " survival of the fittest " when the moisture level drops.
You need to increase the amount of moisture foods you are feeding your worms or they will get their moisture through cannibalising each other. This is what you are seeing. Dead worms that have been sucked dry by the other worms in the bin. Right after they shed and are soft and white is when they are most vulnerable and the other worms will latch on and suck the moisture right out of their bin mates.
The best method I've found over time for keeping predation on each other to almost nil is by putting in a piece of tulle fabric in a small embroidery hoop, setting it on top of the bedding and tossing all of our extra garden greens in on top of this. My hoop fits snug up against the sides of the bin and I can raise it up or down slightly through tension alone. I keep about a pint of greens in the bin always. Everything from lettuces to beet tops. Sticking with greens is always best. They don't rot or mold.
In the fall and winter I feed carrots & apples if we've eaten all the greens ourselves. I just refuse to feed anything that stinks anymore. I don't miss the musty/yeasty/rotten smell. Mine smells like warm oatmeal which is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than it used to smell when I first started and was told to use chunks of veggies and fruit! No more chunks! Thin slice everything like carrots and apples and use only leafy greens in small piles.
My guess is that they can eat the food from beneath the tulle.
Eddie- it is the same material they make little girl's tutus out of and bride's veils. You can get a spool very cheap in the wedding section at Walmart.