Mealworm farming

[Gallo del Cielo]

Hey Everyone! I want to add in on this Obviously I am not going to read through 718 pages Although I did go through about 400! Needless to say thanks to this post I was confident in starting my own mealworm farm! I work at Petsmart, so I brought some mealworms home from work and got it started. About 2 days later a science teacher came into work and he was telling me that he was given a tank filled with little brown worms and he had no clue what they were, or what to do with them. So I showed him the mealworms and he verified that is what he had. Apparently this system had been going for about a year. I told him I was jealous that he was graced with a system already set up. He offered me half of it So, I have picked it up and started separating mealworm from pupae, and beetle as well. Set up a 3 drawer system. It's working out great!!! I was also given hissing cockroaches because he could not make them live. Needless to say after I got over the ick factor They are thriving as well- which is surprising because I don't know what the heck I am doing LOL. So if anyone knows about those I would appreciate some input! supposedly you can feed the babies to chickens and the freshly molted ones as well! Anyway, Just wanted to say thank you for the informative posts!

Check out this thread for info on dubia roaches.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

First off if they are still in pupae form with holes in them, how would they be bitten post eclosion? They never made it to eclosion. They got plenty of carrots the day I left, and it is plenty humid here. Every day I pick the pupae out and put them in a small drawer. A different drawer each day. So generally the pupae in the drawer hatch into a beetle the same day. I say on average I get 20-30 pupae a day. There are usually one or two that do not survive to beetlehood (lol). When I left for the weekend I dumped two drawers into the beetle drawer. one drawer had an unusually large amount of pupae. So it would seem probably that 4-6 of the pupae would die in the process. But when I came back I probably had 20 dead pupae with holes in them. A significantly high amount of pupae that did not survive. And same goes with the beetles that didn't turn out quite right. My colony isn't huge so its pretty easy to tell the increase percentage of "not right" beetles.

In such a large colony as yours, it makes perfect since that they thrive. There are just so many of them that plenty will survive to molt in to pupae, and then on to reproduce as beetles. And I don't think there is a good way to tell how many baby meal worms get eaten. Its not a big deal, they are bugs that multiply like crazy. It was merely an observation with my colony that I was sharing.

Just so we're on the same page with terminology, mealworm larvae molt and pupae eclose as beetles. By definition the pupae have not reached the post-eclosion stage. I assumed you meant the beetles were bitten post-eclosion when I read the statements in bold below:


Quote:

Because of the incredible hemolymphatic pressure changes required to break out of the pupal case (eclosion), any break in the integrity of the pupa's exoskeleton would prevent the process from being completed. Anything bitten in the pupal stage will be very unlikely to progress further.

I agree, you are probably seeing increased mortality given the numbers you report. Whether this is due to cannibalism or some other factor remains an open question. As I mentioned in my first response, when they're given appropriate conditions, cannibalism is low (not that it can't or won't happen). All of the studies addressing cannibalism that I am aware of used wheat bran as the substrate. I'm starting to wonder if they are at a disadvantage on oats. The principle mechanism which limits cannibalism in the pupal stage is the twirling behavior they exhibit. Do the oats interfere with this behavior at all compared to when observed in bran? I have no idea, I've not observed them on oats. Larvae and beetles will definitely eat a pupae that doesn't twirl. How vigorous are your pupae at exhibiting this behavior?

Going through the transformation from larvae to pupae to beetle is fraught with all kinds of obstacles and a certain number will always fail to complete the process, regardless of how good the conditions in which they are kept. When I see an increase in mortality at this stage, I'm more likely to think of nutritional or environmental causes. Could you add another drawer to your system and use wheat bran in it to compare to your oatmeal drawer? Were the larvae raised on bran or oats?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Thanks for your answer. I just couldn't see any bran and thought what would they eat? I guessed the pumpkin would be enough. So even if there were a lot of bran there they would all be on top and you wouldn't be able to see it anyway?? : )

When a colony is at peak performance it will consume a lot of food. I should say that mine doesn't always look like that, it's much less vigorous in the winter. But when it is reaching densities like that I have to feed them just about every day so they're almost always up on top feeding. I also think a lot of those worms in the pictures are approaching pupation, so they're also likely to be laying on the surface.

 

[sillybirds]

I'm wondering just how true it is that the incident of cannibalism is low.  I was separating my pupae and then transferring them to the beetle drawer when they molted.  I went away for the weekend so took the pupae that were going to molt in the next day or two and dumped them in with the beetles.  When I came back a large amount of them were dead, with holes eaten in them.  There were also a lot of bad looking beetles.  They don't look like they will be capable of reproducing.  I'm guessing they got gnawed on some before they molted too.  I'm guessing a big part of this is that i just dumped them on the top in a pile where normally they would be spread out and somewhat tucked into the oats. 

I have no doubt that cannibalism does occur under certain adverse conditions (high population density, inadequate moisture containing food source (i.g. carrots, apples, potatoes). I have seen first hand worms gnawing on fresh pupae, which I think are the primary targets of cannibalism (along with eggs). Whether or not this adversely affects a healthy colony is another question; I doubt it does.

 

[sillybirds]

I raise roaches for my chickens. I have a couple colonies of the blaptica dubia roaches that were referenced in a couple preceding posts. I believe they're a variety from South America (Guyana, I think). A couple features that make them nice to raise are: 1. They can't climb smooth surfaces like the walls of common storage bins, 2. The adults are sexually dimorphic (you can tell difference between male and female in that males have full wings and females don't). They don't reproduce as rapidly as mealworms, but once colony gets going, production is pretty good. My chickens love them, and I understand they're quite nutritious (for chickens!).

 

[beverly evans]

Quote: Hi Sub, I knew you'd fix it for me if I had it wrong! : )

 

[subhanalah]

Hi Sub,  I knew you'd fix it for me if I had it wrong!  : )

I couldn't keep up with the fruits/veggies for the mealies. Probably going to get another dubia colony going. Those things live forever, even if you forget about them or move across country and lose them for a while. *^.^*

 

[Quickster]

I have oats and bran mixed together but of course the bran ends up on the bottom with a layer of oats on top.

My pupae seem relatively active. Some go nuts when you pick them up some, not so much. Oats versus bran would be a good experiment. One I probably won't do until I have a really big colony and any loses won't make a dent. My beetles are my first generation so I'm still protective. lol It is amazing how hardy they are though. I found a beetle that looked like just a walking head. Obviously it had some thorax, at least the underside because it had a few legs. It was still crawling around. I found a pupa tail minus the head that could have belonged to it once. Looks like it just broke off during eclosion. very odd.

 

[KefirGuy]

When you see pupa that look like they have been chewed on, or appear to have a hole in them, they were already dead when it happened. For what ever reason they expired, and this goes for all stages, they still have some moisture in their little bodies and to the beetles and larvae, the dead pupa become an apple slice. Well, maybe not that tasty but it does offer a drink. At any stage, if it moves, it isn't bothered. Maybe that's why pupa move and twist around, indicating they're not a meal. Mealworm colonies are very self sufficient, take care of their own and leave nothing to waste. Just start your colonies with a whole bunch of worms, stop worrying about how many worms you won't have because you think they are eating each other, plan on what your going to do with all of the worms you will have.

 

[dharmasister]

When you see pupa that look like they have been chewed on, or appear to have a hole in them, they were already dead when it happened.

I don't know, but that seems contradictory to the previous post of finding a beetle walking around with just a head. Seems like someone could have been chewing on him and he was alive. I found a gnawed on pupae and it was twitching just like they all do when I picked it up. It was apparently alive when someone munched on him. I don't think its a big deal if they do cannibalize each other. I think they just each reproduce so many eggs that propagation is going to continue and the colony is going to grow because they can't eat as many as are laid.