Mealworm farming

[cmarlowdrive]

Thanks, I will put a damp sponge in the drawer. So far, I have been putting the pulpae into the middle drawer of the plastic unit I am using for my farm and added corn meal for bedding and nothing is happening.

 

[ashleymroles]

I have searched and searched and have come up empty. My mealworm colony is sharing its space with a larder beetle colony. I have no idea how they got there, but I'm finding more larder beetle larva than I am mealworms. Is my colony screwed? I have mature darkling beetles that are between 1-2 months old. Can I feed larder beetles and their larva to the chickens?? I don't wanna toss the whole thing because it's already been about 5 months and I still don't have enough worms to feed out to the chickens.

 

[Jensownzoo]

I have searched and searched and have come up empty. My mealworm colony is sharing its space with a larder beetle colony. I have no idea how they got there, but I'm finding more larder beetle larva than I am mealworms. Is my colony screwed? I have mature darkling beetles that are between 1-2 months old. Can I feed larder beetles and their larva to the chickens?? I don't wanna toss the whole thing because it's already been about 5 months and I still don't have enough worms to feed out to the chickens.

Dermestid beetles are commonly added to mealworms colonies to clean up dead bodies

 

[Jensownzoo]

Oh, and you can feed them to chickens

 

[ashleymroles]

Oh, and you can feed them to chickens

Dermestid beetles are commonly added to mealworms colonies to clean up dead bodies

Okay, cool. I'll leave them then. Will they eat the live bodies or just the dead?

 

[aart]

Dermestid beetles are commonly added to mealworms colonies to clean up dead bodies

Fascinating...I didn't know that, but know you did your research.
Makes sense too...especially if they only eat the dead, then die themselves.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Fascinating...I didn't know that, but know you did your research.
Makes sense too...especially if they only eat the dead, then die themselves.

Oddly enough, I just got a shipment in of them last week to add to my own colony so the question was timely. Hoping that they will save me some maintenance work since I've got 10 drawers (various life stages) going now. I also admit that I might try using them to skeletonize a dead animal...just out of curiosity...

 

[aart]

Quote: I've used maggots for skull cleaning. Would be interesting to put a derm beetle or two into a small container with just a few live mealworms and see if they eat them.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Back in the early 90's, when I was in college working on my second degree, I did museum specimen preps for the biology department at UNC. I worked with Dermistid Beetles for several semesters.

If you are wanting to prep a simple skeleton for display or just to experiment, start off with a small specimen, like a mouse. A small colony of Dermistids can strip a mouse in less then a week.

You really have to keep the colonies covered, they are marvelous escape artists. Because of what they eat, dead tissue, there could be odors associated with the Dermistids. Should the colony start to run low on food, they will try to disperse, locating a new food source....they are hard to contain when they want to leave and find food.

But they do an awesome job in consuming dead tissue. They will not eat even the smallest bones.

 

[aart]

Back in the early 90's, when I was in college working on my second degree, I did museum specimen preps for the biology department at UNC. I worked with Dermistid Beetles for several semesters.

If you are wanting to prep a simple skeleton for display or just to experiment, start off with a small specimen, like a mouse. A small colony of Dermistids can strip a mouse in less then a week.

You really have to keep the colonies covered, they are marvelous escape artists. Because of what they eat, dead tissue, there could be odors associated with the Dermistids. Should the colony start to run low on food, they will try to disperse, locating a new food source....they are hard to contain when they want to leave and find food.

But they do an awesome job in consuming dead tissue. They will not eat even the smallest bones.

....will eat they cartilage..... maggots ruined a turkey skull by devouring all the connective cartilage....or live worms.