Questions about raising Meal Worms

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
Gallo,
Thank you. This makes sense. I put a sliced up potato in with them and just like you said, w/in minutes, there were a bunch of little mouths stuck to them! Really cool! I will keep an eye on the Paper towels. With the forced air heat we have every thing is very dry. I will remove the Towel when they stop "attacking" it w/in minutes.
ginny

 

[vmdanielsen]

Boo-Boo's Mama :

Found website that had this chart with # of days for each stage and # of molts they go through. I have lots of small exoskeletons in my first colony/aquarium with the frass where I'm letting the tiny mealworms grow enough so I can shift them out and place with the older worms. Hopefully all of the eggs have hatched.

Mealworm Life Cycle

Stage How long? Food Moisture Other info
Egg 7–14 days
Larva 30–90 days Bran Apple 5 molts occur
Pupa 10–20 days
Adult 5–10 days Bran Apple Death: 30 days
Egg The cycle continues.

Good chart. So, the worms or should I say, the whole life cycle is only thirty days? How many eggs can the female lay in her lifetime? What does the frass look like?​

 

[vmdanielsen]

Boo-Boo's Mama :

I wondered about the the number of instars in the larval stage listed considering how tiny the larvae are at hatching. I think I will put the pupae in their own container to keep anything from disturbing them.

I was looking tonight and was amazed at how much frass is in the colony box started last week. Am thinking I will use Purina Flock Raiser when I start the next colony or add to current box. I feed it to my chickens so I have it on hand at all times and it has 20% protein. Today I added oatmeal to one corner and I sifted some oyster shell and added the dust to the box.

"instars"?​

 

[HorizonSon]

Quote:
According to my reading; the complete cycle of life is approximately 3~12 months, depending on environmental conditions. The more ideal the conditions, the faster the life cycle (so I've read).

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
From Wiki: "An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (ecdysis), until sexual maturity is reached.[1] Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, or changes in the number of body segments. Some arthropods can continue to molt after sexual maturity, but these subsequent molts are generally not called instars."

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Quote:
I have a box that just has beetles in it...thought I would date it so I know when they may have begun to lay eggs. That way I can tell how long it took til I see larvae. Plan to do the same with the pupae. Once a box is no longer producing larvae, I can use it to put pupae in and date it. I emptied the aquarium today where I started my first colony with about 50 larvae last August. There were a few small larvae in the frass so am using a 3# margarine carton to hold that til I no longer find larvae when I sift it, then the frass will go into one of my flower or veggie beds. If I rotate my boxes in this manner, then I can keep them clean and hopefully mold/pest free. Hopefully, as time goes by I will have the system down pat...I can harvest 1/2 of a box and start a new box with the other half. Sounds good in theory.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Wow! I found something they love! I went out to feed the chickens their 2 daily pumpkins and picked up the rind that was left from yesterday's feeding. Brought the shell of 1/2 of one pumpkin in and cut into small 2 to 3 inch squares and put under the lids I have in the larvae box (they gather under the lids). While I was doing it I checked to see if any had found it yet. YEP! They were latched onto it and the whole thing was covered in larvae. I was amazed how quickly they found it and began working on it. Will be bringing more in each day instead of putting in the compost pile.

I had offered them slices of raw pumpkins a month or two ago but they never touched it...neither did my rabbits. BUT I bought a mini rex last week that was sick and was not eating...had buck teeth. I took canned pumpkin and mixed in leaves from alfalfa hay and BOSS; he gobbled it up. We had his teeth trimmed this week so I've been adding rabbit pellets and enough water to canned pumpkin to make it soupy...he licks the crock clean and is looking so much better.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Quote:
From Wiki: "An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (ecdysis), until sexual maturity is reached.[1] Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, or changes in the number of body segments. Some arthropods can continue to molt after sexual maturity, but these subsequent molts are generally not called instars."

cool, Thanks!

 

[vmdanielsen]

Ok! I have moved the beetles to new wheat bran, but the older tray is looking well used. There are still meal worms in that tray and of course more beetles to come.

I have a couple of questions: first, what kind of beetles are they? and second do I clean up the older tray with the old molted skins/exoskeletons? If so, what do I do?
Thanks!
Ginny

 

[HorizonSon]

They called the Darkling Beetle

If you are transferring the beetles as they emerge; then eventually the first bin will be empty. That is a good time to completely clean in out