Mildew in meal worm bin

[lwiese58]

Has anyone encountered mildew in your worm bin before? It was two days ago when I last checked on the meal worms and tonight there is mildew around the edge of the bin! Not sure what we did wrong or how to get out the mildew without losing worms at the same time. It's very damp in the bin.

 

[Hypertay]

Stop putting fresh wet food in it. Put the colony in a very warm dry place And if you can, shine a small desk lamp with a 60 watt bulb about 8 inches from the surface on one end of the box. Make sure there is a stack of newspaper or brown paper bag a few pieces thick on the spot the light shines on. Only 1 side so that if it gets too hot they can go to the other side. This will dry out your colony.

Once it is dry, you should take out the living pupae, larva, and beetles and put them in a clean container with fresh dry bedding. You can then begin putting fresh vegetables in again, I use 1 carrot per bin and don't put a new one in until the last is almost gone, about every 3 days.

Save the other container for several weeks in a dry location until you see baby worms. You may wait 2 months or more, be patient! Just when you think, there were no eggs that survived in there, you will see the babies. You'll see the bedding move in spots before you can actually see the worms, they are that small. You can then sift them out of the old bedding and put them into the colony container, or start a new one.