Mealworm farming

[Gypsi]

Well the roasted yam was highly approved of by beetles, but the worms are NOT impressed.
Seems old bread and potatoes and wheat bran are more their style. Not that many worms left. They are molting, I found shed skins, and they seem to be mostly pupae and some newly hatched beetles.

Should I start a third drawer? (the other 2 drawers are shallow)

Amy - I'm sorry. Not a fun situation.

 

[bloom_ss]

Ok, I have a question for those of you that have been at this longer than I have. When I bought my mealworms, I bought two different sizes: large and medium. I was hoping to have the large ones turn to beetles and start laying eggs before the other medium sized mealworms started turning in to pupae. Well, I have been watching all of the large mealworms turn to pupae for a while now, but today when I went to change out the apples that I had in there I saw some of my medium mealworms are in pupa form already. They look just like the large pupae, but they aren't nearly as big. Why are they changing already?? I thought they had to be bigger before they changed? At this rate I'm going to have nothing but beetles for a while it looks like.

 

[oneofseven]

Quote:
From what I've read, the giant mealworms have been given a growth hormone to retard the pupa stage. Your smallr ones are changing as they would normally would.

 

[sadies chicks]

Hi all,
So I am in to my second generation of wormies and they are almost all in the pupae stage. My problem is that almost none are making it to the beetle stage. They either croak mid-transformation and leave a pupae/beetle weirdo looking hybrid or once they hit beetle stage they don't live past a day or so. Any thoughts? I am thinking of maybe tossing this bunch (to the girls of course) and starting over. Not sure what is going on?

thanks!

 

[onafixedincome]

Oh, Amy....you should SEE what happens when a cat flies through the air and doesn't QUITE hit the target....(I used to raise mice in these nice shallow containers? Well...) It's quite dramatic; cat falls, flips the bin, and a positive fan of flying bedding and contents results! That was...hm...five years ago...and I'm STILL finding mice and shavings in the oddest places...

A word of advice to all---every winter and even through the year, we see a LOT of articles about house and barn fires started by lights and pads used as heating devices. PLEASE, please, PLEASE!!! Play it safe. Make sure that the device is UL listed; that the outlet has a ground fault interrupt, and that the surface you put it and your mealies on is NON FLAMMABLE.

Most places have a vendor, somewhere, of things like sheet metal; a table covered with this is not fireproof, but it's a lot less likely to burn, and if it DOES begin to smolder, it can grant valuable time.

Don't forget a fire extinguisher near every such device in use, and learn how to use it!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Okay, I will take mealies on my floor over mice!

Although we do have mice that get into the house but my cats take care of any that they can.
I'll have to see how many mealies I can vacuum up today but I should have gotten most all of them yesterday. I spent long enough down on the carpet. Which, I noticed while I was inches away from it, is not as clean as I had thought. And it is more worn down.

Yes, I second the advice on being careful with those warmers! Mine have done great in the bathroom closet! If I could ever clean off more shelves I would put more bins in there. The ones in the living room have done well, too but those left in the den are pupating quickly. Maybe the cool weather forces them into it?

 

[quesodano]

So Happy to start a meal worm bin from great little guys acquired from Ipana

 

[Gypsi]

I do not want to heat my mealworms, fire safety and the electric bill being the 2 best reasons. They have daytime highs and nighttime lows in the fish room, but overall I think it is warmer than the living room, and 10 degrees warmer than the kitchen. It isn't vital that they multiply fast, it would be nice. That's all.

 

[oneofseven]

Well, I finally got them sorted. One bin for beetles, one for pupae, and two for wormies.
I just don't understand why I keep finding pupae in the worm bins and beetles in the pupae bin.

 

[Gypsi]

Quote:
The next stage from worms is pupae. The next stage for pupae is beetle. I just left my pupae in the worm bin, and I'm starting to see new beetles there. The critical stage, as I understand it, is the beetle stage. How long from eggs to visible worms? They should show up in the beetle bin?