Mealworm farming

[galanie]

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Yes they do need grit for that. For the chicks, just give them some sand. Don't give them cage bird grit though, it is high in calcium and could hurt them.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Cream of wheat cereal has a lot of added iron in it, along with the other vitamins and minerals added to it. I wonder if that was the problem with the cream of wheat?

 

[hannakat]

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Ate and did a lot of things in the 70s (as best I can recall- I WAS there so it's not all that clear a recollection!). But I didn't eat my first mealworm until the 21st century. Our ideas about food are funny. Some of us freak about eating a beetle larva but relish eggs that came from where!?! Think shrimp and lobsters are fine? We are sillier than the critters we keep. And I'm glad for that!

I keep telling DH that if something ever happens to the food supply, I can still feed him.... all because of the chickadees and my love of them! Ah...toasted mealies.... great on toast or added to a salad.... yummm

 

[loanwizard]

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Could be. I lost a few more yesterday. Thinking I might buy some more and start over. Can it be TOO dry?

 

[onafixedincome]

Question time!

My mealies that are pupating are coming out two different sizes. A couple of really tiny ones and a bunch of nice big plumpies. Is this normal?

The mealies that are in the act of pupating seem to be having trouble getting all the way out of their skins. Again, is this normal? Is it a humidity thing? Too wet, too dry, too moderate? One pupa croaked, it had started turning brown nicely in the first couple of days, then stopped, then died.

Why?

I have (had) about 1500 mealies in a shoebox container. Fairly small worms, but man, are they CROWDED. Not growing as well as my previous batch which was about half the density in the same sized container. *Those* are fat, growing, and obviously thriving. So I have been feeding out quite a lot of the little 'uns to drop the density but it's pretty darn humid in there when they have enough food to make sure everyworm has access....

Suggestions are very welcome!

Substrate: Wheat bran only.
Food/water: stale-ish wheat bread, with weak tea added for moisture as needed, pieces of bell pepper, baby carrots
Air exchange; plenty of quarter inch holes in lids
Temperatures: In house temp averages 60 when I'm gone, 60-70 when I am home running the heater.

 

[OwensMom]

onafixedincome You ask the age old question-why do our mealies die with such unfulfilled promise?? Oh wait this isn't the philosophy class!!!

Sorry just had to joke. Pick any excuse and that probably is part of the problem. Here is what I do:
Container is 35qt sterlite from walmart. I have a feeling that a large surface area is important. They can survive in a small space and even reproduce but I think that they need elbow room.
Substrate-wheat bran with corn meal & gamebird crumbles added. Cover a wide area of nutritional needs
Veges-carrots and celery mainly. Other veges sometimes added
Humidity-27% and that is with 2 humidifires going 24/7!!! That is what you get for living in a semiarid climate!!
Temp-60* with heating pad on low under bin.
Bottom line is that a percentage will die as a natural course of things. Some will die because we cannot provide ideal conditions(whatever that is??) Some will live and in time adapt to our enviroment.
Just do what you can. Don't sweat the small stuff(dead pupae)and enjoy the bounty.

 

[oneofseven]

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x2

 

[onafixedincome]

Funny, guys...LOL...mealworm philosophy, maybe that's what they're doing in the corners...!

Seriously, I really do want some answers on the pupal issues--if it's something I can fix, I get more beetles, and thus more production...and at the rate the chooks are convincing me to feed them out, I'm gonna need every beetle I can get!

~~ ~~~ ~~

Moved the overcrowded bin (they all fit, but wow, there were a lot of worms in there and the substrate was getting packed and damp) to a new box that is close to triple the surface area. We'll see how they do in the next week or so.

That one box of 'medium' mealies is pupating pretty regularly, and all the pupae are the smaller ones. Is it just that they are maturing at a smaller size, so will make smaller pupae and smaller beetles?

You know....if you thought Hannakat was bad about being a mad scientist..... You ain't seen nothing yet!

 

[oneofseven]

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[Kassaundra]

I don't know if this was coincidence or not, but my first generation of beetles / mealies (the first that I totally raised so actually the second from purchase) was smaller by almost 1/3 too. I covered my mealies in a layer on newspaper and I don't know if I'm imagining things or what but they seem to be starting to grow back to the original size that I purchased (the new ones that are still growing)