# Smell free way of culturing mealworms



## ScorpDude (Jun 13, 2006)

I've got culturing normal mealworms sorted, its productive and easy. The only problem is the smell. The culture smells pretty bad. Anyway, does anybody know of a smell free way of culturing them? I was thinking maybe keeping them on compost instead of letting them live on/in their food (porridge oats and dog biscuits and anything else I find). Any tips on what I can use?


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## Nikos (Jun 13, 2006)

i keep them in an opentop  plastic box on cheap musli and adding occasionaly SMALL pieces of fruits and vegetables. 
Let me repeat that, S M A L L  pieces of fruits and vegetables cause otherwise they rot and go moldy fast and they make the whole colony stink.

Keeping them on dirt is also a good option.


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## OldHag (Jun 13, 2006)

They seen to LOVE rotton wood as well.  The beetles just SWARM it! You can put the peices of potato or fruit on top of the wood for easy clean up.

I put mine on the bedding which is the food the worms eat. The rotton wood ontop of that. Then the fruit/potato. Ive had less smell (theyre always going to smell like mealworms, no way around it) and NO break outs of those weird brown swarming funky bugs.


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## Thoth (Jun 13, 2006)

Has anyone tried using those water crystal used for crickets ?


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## OldHag (Jun 13, 2006)

I did. They EAT them!! Nothing left!! I didnt think that could be very good.....so I put in globs of wet paper towel to water them.


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## padkison (Jun 13, 2006)

I keep my mealworms in a mix of ground oats, cereal, bran and powdered milk with occasional carrots.  I only perceive a mild, musty odor that I don't find unpleasant.

My colony is about 1500 in a 1g tupperware container.


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## JohnxII (Jun 14, 2006)

Yep keep them dry, well-ventilated, and cut down on dog food (use chick mash etc.). Also remove the dead ones every week will help keep the mealy smell down.


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## arachnidsrck (Jun 14, 2006)

my room just smells like oatmeal, not that bad


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## ScorpDude (Jun 14, 2006)

I've devised a new method I'm going to play about with (I've been meaning to split my main colony anyway) so I'll let you know how ti goes.

Dan


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