Mealworm colony STINKY WITH MAGGOTS PLS HELP!

[JeromeTabuzo]

hey guys i made a mistake i bought too many mealworms and placed them in a blue bunny ice cream container , and yea after a week ( i fed them cabbage) it stinks!! and there were tiny one winged flies and when i tried to dig down the colony to find a pupa there was none!! and there were maggots in it!! fat ones which i threw in for my cane toad which i think he ate. And how do i clean this mess! i gave them hamster bedding and it was very stinky do i have to pick the mealworms piece by piece?

 

[mattman]

Instead of using bedding you should use dry oatmeal . To separate them you could use a small strainer shake them down and they will dig through the holes and throw what is in the strainer away. Try to keep the oatmeal dry to keep the flies away and you should strain them again so you can get the maggots out you can use cat/dog food to feed them or put potato or Apple on a tray they will come up to eat it.

 

[Spepper]

We just put them in open-top shallow plastic tubs with a bunch of wheat bran bought in bulk. The mealworms thrive in those conditions, pupate, turn into beetles, lay eggs, and start all over again. For the little moisture they need we feed them halved potatoes. Apples mold. Potatoes only shrivel up and dry up, and after a while all that's left is a potato skin. It's easy and works.

I agree on putting them through a strainer. Except maybe what doesn't go through would be the worms, so keep those.

---------- Post added 08-16-2013 at 12:01 PM ----------

Also, I could be wrong, but if you keep your mealworms in dry bran with only a couple halved potatoes for moisture, it will probably be too dry for maggots. If they did hatch out they'd probably dessicate pretty rapidly.

 

[JeromeTabuzo]

can i use white rice too?

 

[Spepper]

I don't think that would work because it'd be too hard for them to bite. It needs to be something flaky. Like oatmeal or wheat bran.

 

[catfishrod69]

Only bad thing about using oatmeal or any type of bran, is if it gets one little wet spot, you will have an explosion of grain mites.

 

[JeromeTabuzo]

Only bad thing about using oatmeal or any type of bran, is if it gets one little wet spot, you will have an explosion of grain mites.

so whats a good substrate which wont cause mites??

 

[catfishrod69]

Probably egg crates. They will shred it all up and make a medium for themselves to burrow in. You can make it easier and break them into small chunks when you put them in. See all the foods we eat that are grain, have grain mite eggs in them. When they are at the factories, they have to constantly stir the grain and monitor the temps. If it gets a hot spot, that will moisten up, and the mites will start hatching. Grain mites wont hurt anything. But they sure are annoying when they come in the millions and will get in every container you have.

so whats a good substrate which wont cause mites??

 

[Perocore]

I have an extremely high success rate with these conditions:

> Plastic tub with a top that allows for good ventilation
> I add a cub of Layer Crumbles (for chickens) once a month
> I provide fresh potato, carrot, or apple slices about twice a week
> I also keep 1/2 of an egg carton for the beetles to hide under, mate under, and climb to escape their hundreds of offspring

Might not be perfect but I've been keeping them this way for a while and never have to worry about keeping my three leopard geckos and spoiled gerbil pleased. I had a problem with grain mites once on superworms that were kept in bran, but in the chicken feed I've not had problems with them on my mealworms. I did once have a problem with some small species of mite (not grain, not parasitic, I'm thinking scavengers) and those cleared up after I cleaned up a bit.

 

[JeromeTabuzo]

can anyone help me on this thread thnx for the tip too:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...s-is-a-superworm-giant-mealworm-or-a-kingworm!!