Mealworm farming

[t/m]

I think it's neat when all is quiet and then all of a sudden you see little bubbles of substrate moving!

 

[hannakat]

TRISH......I WAITED LIKE YOU SAID AND NOW TODAY.......I GOT WORMIES!!!! TINY TINY WORMIES!!!!! Finally!!

Doing the happy dance!!!!

Aren't they just the saa-wee-tist little things?! hahaaaa

 

[hannakat]

bloom_ss & t/m ~ I refer to it as 'the earth moving'. Love, LOVE, LOVE it!


bloom ~ maybe he will like to feed them this week...you know...just to 'bond' with them a bit????

SherrieT ~ oh the joy of managing the mealie farm! Don't overdo it so much that you work up a sweat! Moving the stock around is soooo tiring.

 

[gale65]

Funny thing happened just yesterday, I took out the middle drawer of my 3 drawer worm farm and showed it to my hubby. He didn't see anything so I ran my hand through it and the whole bin just started wiggling!! LOL  Teeny tiny worms EVERYWHERE, and his reaction was absolutely priceless: "Gaaaaahhhh...Ugggghhhh! GET THOSE THINGS AWAY FROM ME!! That's so gross, Steph!"  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Totally funny! I'm still laughing about it. 

haha! That is so cute and funny. My dh is a farmer so nothing, and I mean NOTHING grosses him out. Well, almost nothing. I'm sure something might. I love swirling through the worms and then listening to them. They really make a lot of noise working their way through. Also think it's funny how you can disturb the bedding and a little bit later it's all perfectly flat and level again.

 

[galanie]

Funny thing happened just yesterday, I took out the middle drawer of my 3 drawer worm farm and showed it to my hubby. He didn't see anything so I ran my hand through it and the whole bin just started wiggling!! LOL  Teeny tiny worms EVERYWHERE, and his reaction was absolutely priceless: "Gaaaaahhhh...Ugggghhhh! GET THOSE THINGS AWAY FROM ME!! That's so gross, Steph!"  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Totally funny! I'm still laughing about it. 

At least you didn't drop them laughing!

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Funny thing happened just yesterday, I took out the middle drawer of my 3 drawer worm farm and showed it to my hubby. He didn't see anything so I ran my hand through it and the whole bin just started wiggling!! LOL Teeny tiny worms EVERYWHERE, and his reaction was absolutely priceless: "Gaaaaahhhh...Ugggghhhh! GET THOSE THINGS AWAY FROM ME!! That's so gross, Steph!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Totally funny! I'm still laughing about it.

HAHAHA that is what i will have to do to my sister! (Smiles evilly)

 

[Ivywoods]

Do the beetles tend to burry themselves? I had two beetles that I know of in my tub, and now I haven't seen them for several days.

 

[OkChickens]

Yes they have a great disappearing act! They tend to vanish in my Pupa Drawer and all of a sudden reappear!

Nate

 

[G-Man]

My Meal Worm Colony is up and running.

The meal worms arrived February 29, 2012. I found 5 Pupae this morning March 2, 2012.



I went to Home Depot, Target, Wal-mart, K-Mart and ACE Hardware until I finally found the containers with the profile I wanted at Freidman Brothers.
I bought three of the 24.9” X 17.2” X 6”, 27 quart storage bins manufactured by HOMZ.

What I was looking for specifically was a way for the top and bottom of the containers to “nest” together when stacked on top of one another. I know most of them are designed to do this but these were molded in a way that they would stack even after I cut and removed the nesting profile from the lids. (Check out my album located at the bottom of this post for more images.)

Using a razor knife, I cut the recessed area out on all three of the lids (this shape is on the bottom of the container). Using the same method I cut the bottom out of the middle bin, only the middle bin has the bottom removed. I used a hot glue gun to adhere aluminum window screening to the inside, bottom edge of the container.
The top bin contains my starter meal worms and will be the bin I feed from. The middle bin will house the beetles as soon as my worms go through their pupae stage; I’ll use the larger oats & powdered milk in this bin. The bottom bin will capture and house the beetles eggs and baby worms as they develop.

I’m using wheat bran that I bought from TSC as the substrate for the top and bottom bin. First I heated it up in the oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes to kill any bugs/eggs that may be inhabiting the bran already. For their moisture requirements I’m using sliced potato, carrots and sliced apples. They really seem to enjoy the apple and potato so far.
Considering the fact that it is still pretty cold outside… and knowing there is no way my wife would let me keep the colony inside the house. I decided to use the closet in my garage. It houses the Eternal hot water heater and eight pumps for the radiant heat in our house; it stays very warm in that closet.

Along with all the research I’ve done here on byc and on YouTube to learn about the housing, substrate, moisture and heating requirements. I did a ton of research on vendors for the worms themselves. I decided on a company located in Visalia California that I found on ebay. They have a decent rating and a fair price. Coupled with the fact they are located about 5 hours from my house I thought the worms would have a higher probability of surviving the shipping process.

Thank you to those that have shared their knowledge and experiences. And a very special thanks to “hannakat” for keeping the information on her Meal Worm thread organized and updated.

 

[OkChickens]

Congrats on your new colony! They grow very fast!

Nate