Mealworms & Styrofoam Composting
- Thread starter Acro
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2011
- Messages
- 4,226
Responded to your message, but I'll put it up here too. I have mine in a large Kritter Keeper with lots of pieces of styrofoam and a couple pieces of cardboard eggcrate on top for if any larvae want to pupate there. The beetles won't eat the styrofoam, so you'll want to throw in something supplemental for them like carrot or apple. The larvae will appreciate it too since it'll give them a bit of moisture.
My only recommendation is not to use "small" pieces of styrofoam. I know that's kind of vague, but starting off with bigger chunks seems to work best. Eventually there will be tiny pieces that the larvae will ignore, so those will have to be removed at some point, but no big hurry. I'm not sure if there's a preference on how dense the styrofoam feels for the larvae, they seem to do well with all. Really thin pieces seem to get a mixed response, sometimes they're eaten, other times ignored.
My only recommendation is not to use "small" pieces of styrofoam. I know that's kind of vague, but starting off with bigger chunks seems to work best. Eventually there will be tiny pieces that the larvae will ignore, so those will have to be removed at some point, but no big hurry. I'm not sure if there's a preference on how dense the styrofoam feels for the larvae, they seem to do well with all. Really thin pieces seem to get a mixed response, sometimes they're eaten, other times ignored.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I imagine the smaller bits are harder to hold onto and eat.
For anyone who does not know about the scientific study of mealworms and styrofoam from Stanford University, check out these links:
https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-worms-digest-plastics-092915.html
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-12/su-msc121819.php
Who else is using mealworms to compost styrofoam?
For anyone who does not know about the scientific study of mealworms and styrofoam from Stanford University, check out these links:
https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-worms-digest-plastics-092915.html
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-12/su-msc121819.php
Who else is using mealworms to compost styrofoam?
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2019
- Messages
- 1,078
Thanks for sharing the papers, really interesting!
*UPDATE*
I'm on my 2nd generation of mealworms, that have been raised on mostly pure styrofoam, I say "mostly" because I would give small portions of other food every month or so, mainly for the meal beetles that started emerging. I did find that meal beetles will eat some styrofoam, but they don't survive well on it alone and I don't believe that they break it down or compost it, like the mealworms do.
This next time around, I will remove pupa and meal beetles into another container. I plan to feed the meal beetles normal fare (fish food, fruits, and I will attempt at seeing if they will compost leftovers from foods that I eat) while feeding the mealworms only on styrofoam.
I added about 100 more mealworms to the group (yesterday) to try and get 2 generations going at the same time.
Last of all, these links were sent to me, and I will now share them with you. They are about SuperWorms composting styrofoam!
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/beetle-larvae-can-survive-on-polystyrene-alone-67251
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969719352258
If you are using mealworms or superworms to compost styrofoam, post up your experience!
I'm on my 2nd generation of mealworms, that have been raised on mostly pure styrofoam, I say "mostly" because I would give small portions of other food every month or so, mainly for the meal beetles that started emerging. I did find that meal beetles will eat some styrofoam, but they don't survive well on it alone and I don't believe that they break it down or compost it, like the mealworms do.
This next time around, I will remove pupa and meal beetles into another container. I plan to feed the meal beetles normal fare (fish food, fruits, and I will attempt at seeing if they will compost leftovers from foods that I eat) while feeding the mealworms only on styrofoam.
I added about 100 more mealworms to the group (yesterday) to try and get 2 generations going at the same time.
Last of all, these links were sent to me, and I will now share them with you. They are about SuperWorms composting styrofoam!
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/beetle-larvae-can-survive-on-polystyrene-alone-67251
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969719352258
If you are using mealworms or superworms to compost styrofoam, post up your experience!
Last edited:
I find that with smaller and/or thin pieces of styrofoam, the mealworms have a harder time holding onto them. I have a half piece of bark that I place all the small bits under, it holds them down and the mealwroms will consume them that way.