OH NO ! My worms are dieing.

[Dee Dee 2]

Did everything 'right' starting my meal worm farm. Got the meal worms from a reptile store. They look like the dried ones from T.S. just a little larger. But they are dieing ? Not mutating to beetles, just brown to black dead worms. Feeding potatoes (fresh from the garden) carrots, some strawberries. Temp.is hot about 100 here in the days. NO mites ? I'm at a loss. Am I the only one who can not grow bugs and kill a weed (herb) Asopote (sp.?) Any ideas please ?

 

[countrygoddess]

The meal worms I got from the pet store seemed like they were dying, too, because I was seeing dried up black ones, but it turned out that not all of them died. One day I looked and there were pupae here and there. You'll know when you have them--they look like weird little aliens.

What do you have your worms in? Are the veggies/fruits going very moldy? I've got mine in 5 grain cereal and I only occasionally put in carrots. Potatoes and fruits molded up too quickly and easily when the heat and humidity began to creep up. I also noticed one day that their grains looked a bit moldy here and there so I moved the whole bin down to the basement where the dehumidifier is. And I don't keep the lid on. The beetles don't fly and it gives them good air circulation.

 

[Dee Dee 2]

Thanks, 'Overrun'. My mealies are in a 10 gal. aquarium. (free from my vet) I made a nice fitted top for it, edges painted black and new screen wire on top, mitered corners ~ was rather proud. The medium for the wormies is wheat bran. Very reasonable from the feed store. I have enough for about 2 more colonies. I first put it in the freezer for a few days, then in the oven at ? 120 ~ 130 ? for a while spread out on a big flat pan. Have the left over bran in the freezer to prevent 'bugs'. I'll keep watching these guys. Hopefully they won't all die. I give them fresh food every day as I have plenty of 'taters from the garden.

 

[LTygress]

Slow down on the fresh food. Mealworms actually need VERY little water through out the entire lives. And they need dry conditions as much as possible. The wheat germ is actually their main food source. And a humid day would actually add plenty of moisture to the wheat gerrm. I would cut it down to about one SLICE of potato in each corner of that aquarium, buried so it moistens the surrounding wheat germ, and thats it. Don't replace the potato until its VERY dry and hard. You can even alter the days you put a slice in each corner so that the first one is ready to replace soon after you put the last one in.

But really, try and keep the mealworms as dry as possible. They will find the moisture source if they need it, but most likely they won't need it.

Also, I would eliminate strawberries. Far too juicy for what they need!

 

[countrygoddess]

Slow down on the fresh food. Mealworms actually need VERY little water through out the entire lives. And they need dry conditions as much as possible. The wheat germ is actually their main food source. And a humid day would actually add plenty of moisture to the wheat gerrm. I would cut it down to about one SLICE of potato in each corner of that aquarium, buried so it moistens the surrounding wheat germ, and thats it. Don't replace the potato until its VERY dry and hard. You can even alter the days you put a slice in each corner so that the first one is ready to replace soon after you put the last one in.

But really, try and keep the mealworms as dry as possible. They will find the moisture source if they need it, but most likely they won't need it.

Also, I would eliminate strawberries. Far too juicy for what they need!

Agreed. I put a couple baby carrots in every few weeks and when they're all shriveled and half-chewed, I take them out. At this point, my worms haven't had anything in with their cereal in a couple of weeks.

Here's something to think about: I thoroughly clean my bantam house only about once a year, sometimes twice. I'm a bedding adder. It works very well and makes my job easier. Anyway, the other day I decided to do a big clean-out and house remodel because I have six 12 week old bantam chicks to introduce to my two bantams and I thought it would be nice if they went to live in a sparkling clean home. As my daughter and I pulled out the straw, I was noticing a lot of Darkling beetles in the straw on the floor (the floor is hardware cloth suspended 3 feet above the ground). My daughter also noticed them in the nesting boxes and when she got all the straw out and could see the floor of the boxes, she said, "Oh, my god! There are loads of meal worms down here!" Woot! Free meal worms! We plucked out about 40 and put them in the meal worm box and the rest I tossed to the bantams, who were in heaven. I raked the old bedding neat and even all over their yard and the rest of the day, they plucked meal worms out of it.

So here's what I learned from that: those meal worms thrived in nothing but straw. They must have been eating dried chicken poop, spilled food, and the hay seeds. That's it. Nothing moist at all. I may never put another potential mold-grower in my worm farm again.

 

[Dee Dee 2]

Thanks so much for all the info. Have followed your suggestions. Since I sent the post re: worms dieing I am noticing the morphisms of worms to beetles YEA !

 

[countrygoddess]

That's great! Congrats!