Mealworm farming

[hannakat]

Not sure why beetles wouldn't do 'well' with carrots??? What's happening with your beetles onafixedincome? I've also sprinkled their newspaper (just occasionally), like galanie, and even the worms will get moisture from that. I'm cheap so it has to be something I use or have and buying anything to water the worms is out of the question!

hahahaaa....a wee water trough! I can picture it now. Maybe an elbow macaroni that is cut in half? No, it would leak out the sides. OH! a pistachio shell! See, you've tickled my crazy mind and now I'll be picturing all kinds of silly things to use. Being part cheap and part lazy...think I'll stick to the routine I have. It's nice to get imaginative though. Thank you!

 

[zookeeper15133]

Quote: Hannakat
Thank you! I will try that tomorrow! The pans have bars on them that you flip and they sit on top of each other rather than in each other. The store was out of the 3 drawer things when I went shopping, so I improvised. Also, do they need any light?

 

[hannakat]

Good! Sounds like they have proper ventilation then!

Nope....light not needed. I believe dark is better.

 

[kbob]

Definitely much more active when they are cultured somewhere dark!

 

[Tivona]

Would it be possible to raise mealworms in dried out bread crumbs (baked then ground to crumb size) perhaps with some brewers yeast to boost the nutrients? I have a great deal of bread given to me and I was trying to figure out a way of using it and started thinking about mealworms. I have read that many raise them in oatmeal or bran. Obviously if they are fed whole wheat bread instead of white bread they would be more nutritious. Just trying to see if this is even a possibility.

 

[OkChickens]

I'm not sure about the bread, that would be a good way to get free bedding for them!

Nate

 

[Kassaundra]

I probably wouldn't bake and grind it up, if I did the bread I would just put one layer at a time and let it dry out naturally and let the worms and beetles crawl through it and eat their way through then when that layer dries add another layer. But I am all about the laziest ways you can think of to raise insects.

 

[Tivona]

I probably wouldn't bake and grind it up, if I did the bread I would just put one layer at a time and let it dry out naturally and let the worms and beetles crawl through it and eat their way through then when that layer dries add another layer. But I am all about the laziest ways you can think of to raise insects.

I was thinking of the potential for mold. Baking the bread bedding to about the same level of dryness of oatmeal. But if they could process it quick enough then that wouldn't be a problem. How quick could they eat a slice do you think?

Perhaps start with a layer of the dried bread crumbs and then just leave bread slices on the top with an apple slice or something?

 

[onafixedincome]

Not sure why beetles wouldn't do 'well' with carrots??? What's happening with your beetles onafixedincome?

Don't ask me, ask them!!

Maybe my carrots are too big or I'm not giving *enough*, or....I have no clue, can you tell?

The stuff I'm using is Fluker's Cricket Quencher from Petco....and so far, although they like it and use it, they seem to still prefer the carrots.

Maybe I should be whacking the larger carrots into disks or lengthwise halves??? Help appreciated!

 

[galanie]

Lazy... Cheap... We must all be related!

Maybe cutting the carrots would be the answer. I only give mine the ends I cut off when I use carrots. I also cut the ends off potatoes when I peel them and give those to the worms. It makes them a little easier to peel and gives the wormies some food.