Mealworm farming

[Chickassan]

Your avatar is cute I absolutely love jumping spiders. Not too big on skinks right now.

lol

 

[parkerbenz]

Has anyone here (I'm sure someone has) used patio screen at the bottom of a tub for sorting out the eggs? I just ordered 5000 mealworms from rainbow mealworms, and plan on using those large bins than are short and fit under something like a bed. Hopefully I can cut the bottom out of the tub and staple or find some way to affix the screen oh the tub, and place another tub below to catch the eggs.

 

[azygous]

If patio screen is the same as window screen, then yes, many of us do that. Works great! I use ordinary household glue. Make sure you use metal screen. The beasts eat through the nylon screen.

 

[parkerbenz]

I assume it is, ill be sure to use metal screen. Do people prefer wheat bran over quaker oats, or is it more of a personal preference kinda thing?

 

[azygous]

Rolled oats in the tray that you put the screen bottom on, and wheat bran in all the rest. Wheat bran will sift through the screen. The beetles like the rolled oats and they don't sift through, emptying the tray, leaving the beetles with no substrate.

Look into wheat mill run. It's an alternative (cheap) to wheat bran, and I recently discovered larvae raised on it grow to sizes nearly double that of larvae on bran. I use both - the bran for larvae I want to eventually pupate and the mill run for larvae I want to feed to my chickens as the mill run larvae are reluctant to pupate.

 

[parkerbenz]

Where do you buy wheat mill run? Is it something you buy direct from a mill? Thanks for the help!

 

[azygous]

You get it at most feed stores. Or have them order it for you. It's what's left over after making white flour. It's used to make other wheat products like semolina and cous cous. It's nutritious for the meal worms, probably why they grow so large on it.

 

[parkerbenz]

Do you feed wheat mill run to your beetles, or just to mealworms you plan on feeding to your animals? I just got my order from rainbow mealworms , I had about 100 dead ones, which I am fine with since I ordered 5000!

 

[azygous]

Congrats on the good seed "crop"! Those 100 probably died of thirst. They do need a carrot to suck on. If you toss a whole carrot in their container, it could disappear in a week.

No, my beetles get rolled oats only because the wheat mill run and the wheat bran would empty into the tray beneath as it sifts through the screen in the bottom of my beetle tray.

But the beetles would eat the other grains with no problem.

 

[parkerbenz]

Yeah I threw 3 baby carrots in and I didn't expect them to eat through it like that! There were also lots of "sheddings??" in the bag too, which i blew out with a hairdryer on the cold setting.

How many weeks/months do you think it will take 1" long mealworms to pupate?

It feels cool sifting my hand through so many mealworms, kinda creepy too!