Mealworms farming

[808mom_of10]

Hi, have you gotten any more answers about your mealworms? I am starting to raise them, too. I did pretty good in the beginning, but now I have LOTS of beetles, and NO mealworms! I still don't know when I should pull the meal worms out. How many beetles do I need to keep my "wormery" going? Any info would help! Thanks!

 

[nj2wv]

welcome to BYC !!

 

[808mom_of10]

Thank you! I'm really excited to be here! I've found so much useful information already! I'm just having some problems with my meal worm farm. I guess they're doing ok, because I have TONS of beetles! Only, now I have no mealworms! I need advice!

 

[lovemealworms]

Thank you!  I'm really excited to be here! I've found so much useful information already!  I'm just having some problems with my meal worm farm.  I guess they're doing ok, because I have TONS of beetles!  Only, now I have no mealworms!  I need advice! 

if you still need advice i can help. I've been breeding mealworms for a while. It's how i feed my dragons and make side money.

 

[808mom_of10]

Aloha! Thanks for answering. I am still interested. I should have updated, but forgot all about it, since I never got a reply. I now have tons of mealworms! But I still need some advice, if you don't mind. This is my first time. I bought some mealworms from an online dealer, I think it was like 500? Anyway, I stored them in a bin, and they appeared to be breeding. Then all the mealworms disappeared, and I ended up with tons of beetles only. I panicked! I just kept watching and waiting. Finally, as I was about to clean out the bin, I noticed the bran moving! There were, what looked like, 1000's of mealworm babies! Ok, so I guess my "farm" is working. My problem now is that I don't know how to keep them the right way. I moved them into one of those three drawer plastic bins. I was separating the beetles from the babies, but now that I have so many, and they are so tiny, the drawers are all mixed up. Also, they have been going through potatoes and bran like crazy. I want them to live and breed (we only have one pet shop that sells them here, and they are always all out). I use them to feed my one Jackson and my laying hens. Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[lovemealworms]

Aloha!  Thanks for answering.  I am still interested.  I should have updated, but forgot all about it, since I never got a reply.  I now have tons of mealworms!  But I still need some advice, if you don't mind.  This is my first time.  I bought some mealworms from an online dealer, I think it was like 500?  Anyway, I stored them in a bin, and they appeared to be breeding.  Then all the mealworms disappeared, and I ended up with tons of beetles only.  I panicked!  I just kept watching and waiting.  Finally, as I was about to clean out the bin, I noticed the bran moving!  There were, what looked like, 1000's of mealworm babies!  Ok, so I guess my "farm" is working.  My problem now is that I don't know how to keep them the right way.  I moved them into one of those three drawer plastic bins.  I was separating the beetles from the babies, but now that I have so many, and they are so tiny, the drawers are all mixed up.  Also, they have been going through potatoes and bran like crazy.  I want them to live and breed (we only have one pet shop that sells them here, and they are always all out).  I use them to feed my one Jackson and my laying hens.  Any advice will be appreciated!  Thanks so much! 

ok so what i do is have all of the beetles in top drawer. Every two weeks pull all beetles out and move the drawer they were in down one and place beetles in top drawer with fresh bran. Ever time i move beetles out of a tub i date it with a sticker so i know when it was done and when to move the beetles again. I would get another three drawer so you have six total. It takes approximately ten weeks for mine to mature at 88 degrees f. So that is five drawers and a beetle drawer. The sixth drawer will hold all large mealworms until they pupate. Seperate some pupaes into a nother small tub so they can turn to beetles every two weeks. That will keep your colony going. 250 beetles will produce approximately 16000 mealworms every two weeks. Feeding i give four to six thin slices of potato a day if the previous days are dried out. Adjust according to the dryness of your place. If six are always moist the next day try five and so on. This will prevent mold in your bran. Any thing i have missed please ask more questions. This is a hobby and business for me so i love chatting about it.

 

[808mom_of10]

Wow! You have quite a production going on! And you really have the system down to a science! Thank you so much for taking the time to help me. You were the only one. Like I mentioned, I will use the mealworms to feed my hens and my one Jackson, but I wouldn't mind selling some to make a few extra bucks. As a mom of 6, I sure could use it! Plus, we only have one pet shop here in Hilo, Hawaii, that sells them, and they are always out. Plus, the guy and lady that runs the shop are so grouchy! I hate to take my kids in there. We did have another man who has a pet shop out of his house sell them, but he's getting so old, he doesn't carry much anymore. Mostly fish and some birds. He also has crickets, as he has a Jackson, too. Tomorrow, I will go and get more bran and potatoes, and change over the drawers. Just so happens, I also have a six drawer unit that my daughter used to use. Is there anything other bedding/food I should or could be using? What about oats? And any other food besides potatoes for water? And how long should it take for the potatoes to dry up? Here in Hawaii, it can get pretty hot, but mostly humid where I live in Hilo. It's the rainy side of the island, so we're really damp here and horribly humid. Because of this, EVERYTHING gets moldy, and quick.

 

[lovemealworms]

Wow!  You have quite a production going on!  And you really have the system down to a science!  Thank you so much for taking the time to help me.  You were the only one.  Like I mentioned, I will use the mealworms to feed my hens and my one Jackson, but I wouldn't mind selling some to make a few extra bucks.  As a mom of 6, I sure could use it!  Plus, we only have one pet shop here in Hilo, Hawaii, that sells them, and they are always out.  Plus, the guy and lady that runs the shop are so grouchy!  I hate to take my kids in there.  We did have another man who has a pet shop out of his house sell them, but he's getting so old, he doesn't carry much anymore.  Mostly fish and some birds.  He also has crickets, as he has a Jackson, too.  Tomorrow, I will go and get more bran and potatoes, and change over the drawers.  Just so happens, I also have a six drawer unit that my daughter used to use.  Is there anything other bedding/food I should or could be using?  What about oats?  And any other food besides potatoes for water?  And how long should it take for the potatoes to dry up?  Here in Hawaii, it can get pretty hot, but mostly humid where I live in Hilo.  It's the rainy side of the island, so we're really damp here and horribly humid.  Because of this, EVERYTHING gets moldy, and quick. 

for substrate you can use any grain that is unmedicated and has no DE(Diatomaceous earth) both will kill mealworms. For moisture you can use leafy greens celery potatoes of course. Carrots are less likely to mold than most. Thin slices on all. The main thing is if you see mold on any vegetables pull them out. If you get mold getting around your substrate pull worms and replace. Oh yea and always leave your drawers open a little bit so moisture doesn't build up on the walls of them. Please keep me updated. All questions are good questions. I have too much time on my hands right now.

 

[Granny368W]

Hi, my name is Rae..... I also just started a mealworm farm... I just bought 1,000 from PETSMART.... I got a three drawer Steralite and I put about 2 inches of oatmeal in and some baby Carrots... the carrots were gone by morning time, so I put more in.... I have read so much about them that I'm just totally confused.... these worms will turn into pupa and then into beetles then the beetles lay eggs which will turn to worms again? I ordered some bran because everybody said bran and oatmeal and I ordered more mealworms from Rainbow Mealworms... their mealworms will probably be healthier.... At what point do I take some out to give to the chickens? And how do I get them out?

From reading, I guess I need more drawers....

 

[808mom_of10]

Be careful what you wish for! I always have questions! lol. Instead of leaving the drawers open a bit, should I drill some holes along the top of the drawers? Also, I read from another mealworm "farmer", that she cut out the bottom of her top drawer and replaced it with screen. she said that this allowed the "frass" to drop through to the next drawer. She said that if the frass builds up, it causes the temperature to rise and mealworms don't like to get too hot. What do you think about this idea? Because that was a whole other set of questions that I had. How do you clean out the bins/drawers? I did try to clean it out, took out all of the shaded skin, etc, but left all of what I thought was waste in a bottom drawer, just in case there were babies in there that I couldn't see. I'm glad I did that! in about a week or so, I saw movement in that drawer, and sure enough, there were babies in there, too!