question about mealworm farm

[chkinut]

this is a question for those of you "growing" your own supply of mealworms. i know some people take out the pupas and put them in a totally different "farm" and keep them separate from the ones in the worm stage. i have a LOT of my worms transfiguring into the pupa stage (yea!) but i wonder if i should just keep everyone in the same box? and if not.....why do u separate them?

 

[bigredfeather]

You seperate them so you can have different sized worms at the same time. The smaller ones are great treats for chicks. You can cut up big ones for chicks, but it's more fun to watch them play with the smaller live ones.

 

[chkinut]

but all of mine are the at the same age. i don't have any small worms....well, i have a couple small worms....but most are big and transforming....if i separate the pupa, how will that give me different ages? i know i'm just not "gettin' it".......i'm new to this.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I haven't raised them yet, but I was reading about them last year. Don't you need to change out their bedding at some point? If you take the pupa out, then they can be going into fresh bedding. Otherwise, you would eventually end up with your mealworms, pupa, adults, eggs and a whole lot of poop, all in the same container. Tough to clean out. Are the adults cannibalistic towards the larva at all? I don't remember. There have been several good threads on the forum, on raising mealworms, if you want to do a search.

 

[chkinut]

i read that you should just change the bedding out when it's pretty much powder (instead of crumbles). when ever you change the bedding, you're also getting rid of hidden eggs.

 

[HEChicken]

I've had my farm since Nov/Dec. I have not changed out the bedding yet because I'm afraid of throwing out a bunch of eggs with it. I picked it up and looked at the bottom yesterday (its a clear plastic Sterilite container) and the bottom has a lot of fraas but the top is still substrate, so I guess all the fraas falls to the bottom. I haven't separated them out. Started with 50 mealies, they pupated after 2-3 weeks, turned into beetles. Some of the beetles have now died of old age but I still have some that are pretty randy. Lots of babies too. I'm guesstimating a couple hundred babies, some of which are getting to be as big as the original mealies I bought, so I am expecting them to pupate any time now and then I'll be starting on the next generation. No signs of cannibalism.

 

[chkinut]

Quote:
thanks for the info....it's nice to know what others are experiencing. my worms got really big, then slowed down a LOT....i thought they were dying! turns out they're pupating! now i've got quite a bit of pupa.....a lot of worms still arn't done though.