# Help getting Mealworms to Complete another Cycle



## becca81 (Jun 20, 2005)

I've been pretty successful getting my mealworms to pupate, breed, and having baby mealworms.

The problem that I'm having now is that my 2nd generation of mealworms (the offspring of the original ones that I purchased from PetCo) are not pupating, but they are growing and are getting larger than I typically see mealworms.

The mealworms that I bought from PetCo pupated at a smaller size than what these worms are now.  I've got some in a container with oatmeal (chopped in a blender to make it fine), some in a container with just peat moss, and some more in a container with no substrate.

I've increased the temps and nothing happens except for more molting.   :wall: 

How big will they get before they finally pupate?  Will they just die and never pupate?  I'm doing the exact same thing I did with the first batch but I'm not getting the same results.


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## GoTerps (Jun 20, 2005)

Becca, they will _not_ pupate while kept together.  They must be separated.

Maybe I'm misreading your post, but it seems like you have the larvae kept together and are waiting on them to pupate?  Or is this not the case?  It wasn't too clear to me.

If you are seperating them out, then possibly they weren't large enough yet.


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## cacoseraph (Jun 20, 2005)

GoTerps said:
			
		

> Becca, they will _not_ pupate while kept together.  They must be separated.
> 
> Maybe I'm misreading your post, but it seems like you have the larvae kept together and are waiting on them to pupate?  Or is this not the case?


ha!

is that why i seem to much more likely to see a beetle appear in someone's cage randomly, but hardly ever get them in the containers i'm trying to breed them in?

good to know... good to know


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## becca81 (Jun 20, 2005)

GoTerps said:
			
		

> Becca, they will _not_ pupate while kept together.  They must be separated.
> 
> Maybe I'm misreading your post, but it seems like you have the larvae kept together and are waiting on them to pupate?  Or is this not the case?  It wasn't too clear to me.
> 
> If you are seperating them out, then possibly they weren't large enough yet.


I thought so, too, but isn't that only with superworms?

The first set of mealworms I bought pupated by accident.  I forgot to refrigerate them and misplaced the container for about a week.  When I found it and opened it up (500 count) - there were dozens curled and in the process of pupating.  I put them all together in a container and they finished pupating.  I left the original container out at room temperature and over the course of the next 3-4 weeks, more and more pupated while in the container.  My class spent the last 6 weeks of the school year watching them pupate.

I have a few seperated by themselves in a couple of dishes (no substrate) and they have neither pupated nor molted.


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## GoTerps (Jun 20, 2005)

Ah, yeah my brain was substituting meal with super... argh...


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## becca81 (Jun 20, 2005)

Here's the ones that are in the oatmeal.  They seem so big.







Here's the ones that are still in the original breeding container.  That container stayed humid most of the time because of poor ventilation and they still did well.


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## Dark Raptor (Jun 20, 2005)

They won't pupate in that substrate. You should give them more than 5 cm of humid earth (or something similar). Another way, which I generally use, is giving them large piece of rottening wood (oak, beech ect.). They need some space to build pupating cells.


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## becca81 (Jun 20, 2005)

Dark Raptor said:
			
		

> They won't pupate in that substrate. You should give them more than 5 cm of humid earth (or something similar). Another way, which I generally use, is giving them large piece of rottening wood (oak, beech ect.). They need some space to build pupating cells.


Humid earth?  Is that just dirt?

What is the stuff that they came from the petstore in?  Is it just wood shavings or something?


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## Dark Raptor (Jun 20, 2005)

Oups... my mistake I thought we were talking about _Zophobas morio_  :8o 
This is a reason why I prefer latin names 



			
				becca81 said:
			
		

> What is the stuff that they came from the petstore in?  Is it just wood shavings or something?


The best are "wheat flakes" (I don't know how they are called in english). You should add thicker layer, about 5 - 10 cm. They will pupate inside.

Sorry for misunderstanding.

...and here is picture of my T. molitor colony:
http://darkraptor.fateback.com/rodziny/tenebrionoidea/tenebriom.jpg


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## SinisterSpiders (Jun 20, 2005)

I put mine in oatmeal mixed (just regular, not chopped up or anything) with bran and I throw in a piece of potato cut up. They seem to do fine, I cant get them to stop breeding. Thy that.


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## xelda (Jun 20, 2005)

Becca, it doesn't look like anything is out of the ordinary.  They're probably more robust than the first generation because they've had a more nutritious diet all their lives.  Petco keeps their mealworms in sawdust which keeps them alive but doesn't really help with growth.

It's actually not necessary to put them in any special type of substrate.  Just house them in the same stuff you gutload them with, and they'll breed on their own.  Try not to throw out any substrate since there might be eggs and baby mealworms lurking on the bottom.  And as long as  you're still building up your colony, you may want to separate the different stages to prevent the pupae getting eaten by the beetles.


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## Anthony (Jun 20, 2005)

I have had good results keeping them with chopped fish food flakes and ground oatmeal. I use potato slices for moisture and try tokeep them warm which seems to encourage the cycle.


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## becca81 (Jun 20, 2005)

Do you just put the potato slices in there with them?  In the oatmeal?


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## CustomNature (Jun 21, 2005)

Hi becca.  Alot of people have covered alot of stuff about this issue, so I'm just going to tell you what has worked best for me.  I put the beetles on a substrate of maybe 50% rotted wood (apple tree wood from around my house) and 50% rolled oats.  Within a few weeks there are tiny mealworms everywhere, as I can see you have made it this far.  For the worms themselves, I do seperate a couple that I will use for breeding stock.  In their individual cups, I have same substrate as the beetles with a bit more rolled oats.  I also keep the rolled oats at the same size they are from the container. I drop a slice of potato or apple ontop of the substrate as a means of a drinking source for the worms.  At times I have also used a chunk of the cricket water-gel for the purpose and it has worked just find.  Your mealworms will not stay as worms forever.. as their option is either to pupate or die.  I have found that the only real problem with this process is time.  Thats all it really takes.  hope that helps


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## becca81 (Jun 21, 2005)

Thanks, everyone, for the info.

Maybe I'm just being impatient.  I didn't keep any notes the first time of how long everything took, but I'm going to write down what I notice this time around so I'll know what to expect.


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## JohnxII (Jun 21, 2005)

Bec, your 2nd gen doesn't look like the "giant" morph. Just a full healthy larva size. Surely your petstore didn't feed them as well as you do. I bet those would pupate soon in their next molt or two, in unmanageable numbers LOL.


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## becca81 (Jun 21, 2005)

I didn't realize that they would actually eat a potato!  I put a slice in this morning and by this evening they had almost eaten the entire thing!


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## Stylopidae (Jul 7, 2005)

I raise mealworms for my C. Ornata. He won't take them now, so now I have like 10,000 mealworms.

I give them friuts and veggies about once a month when I have adults, this is especially important when dealing with adults, as they will actually cannibalize pupa for moisture. I prefer broccoli tops because they dry out and don't rot and as an added bonus you can crumble part of it to make new substrate.

Every other cycle, I add a container more of mealworms.

Don't worry until you see hundreds dried out mealworms on the surface of the substrate. If that happens, there's something wrong. Other than that, it sounds like you're doing alright.


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## NiGHTS (Jul 8, 2005)

I've had a colony of mealworms going for well over a year, so here's what works for me.  First off, put them into a kritter keeper type cage, so they get a bit of airflow.  Fill it with about 2 inches of wheat bran (you can buy it in bulk at most health food stores for something like $0.40 USD a lb!).  To increase egg production, I also mix in something called Egg Layer Mash, which is actually a chicken feed designed for the same purpose (this can be found in bulk at feed stores).  The mealworms will burrow into the bran and devour it.  To provide moisture, I put slices of potato into the cage about every 2 - 3 days, or replace it whenever it dries out too much - just remember to check for babies before discarding the potato!

If you're concerned with getting them to pupate quickly, just keep them at room temperature, or try keeping them in a warmer location.  Some retailers keep the mealworms in refrigeration because it slows down the whole process.  Just be patient, and within a month or two you should have a bunch of little beetles running around.


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