Raising mealworms?? Tips ?

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I have an absolutely exploding bin of lesser mealworms crawling around in mostly topsoil that I spilled some cricket chow into at some point, and they are living off that, plus whatever cricket leavings are one there, and their own fallen brethren... And yet, there are consistently more and more of them.

I no longer worry about feeding slings if the pet store crickets are too big I guess. Honestly, no clue what to even do with all of them...my last sling is gonna be too big for them once she molts. (And for those who know Lava, she doesn't need more food lol.)

Wish I had lesser mealworms those would make a cleanup crew , as I’m afraid my roaches would eat regular mealworms if I tried using them as a cleaner crew.

Idk I don't do mealies or supers

The beetles eat the same thing the larvae do so from what I've seen people do wheat or bran blended into a fine powder. The beetles will lay eggs in the substrate and then you can separate them into another container for another batch of eggs since the beetles will eat larvae and pupae. The eggs will hatch in the empty containers and eat the substrate and grow into batches of worms. So you can easily prepare thousands of worms in just a few months

Beetles are hatching daily!!!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

All the beetles were hiding I’ll probably feed off the rest of the mealworms . How do you give beetles water without getting the oat substrate wet???

 

[Frogdaddy]

All the beetles were hiding I’ll probably feed off the rest of the mealworms . How do you give beetles water without getting the oat substrate wet??? View attachment 454735 View attachment 454736 View attachment 454737

Try a piece of carrot or potato to provide the water

 

[Frogdaddy]

FYI there is a pet supply company that rhymes with Huey that sells a 3 tier device for raising super worms.
It has a built in sieve. Not sure how it works but it looks interesting.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

FYI there is a pet supply company that rhymes with Huey that sells a 3 tier device for raising super worms.
It has a built in sieve. Not sure how it works but it looks interesting.

I probably can’t afford it anyways you could pm it for later reference , and my go to is roaches. Now that I realize even my bigger Ts can eat mealworms I going to try breeding atleast 1 generation. Roaches I don’t gotta seperate to breed these worms won’t pupa without being separated I may had well had done super worms.

 

[DerGraf]

Supers certainly are more prolific than Dubias, assuming good care for both.
Dubias have the better nutritional values though, supers tend to be a bit fatty, which you might don't want to feed all the time.

A three-tiered container can be built rather cheap and the parts should be available in most hardware stores. YT has more than enough tutorials for that.

In my opinion, neither superworms nor mealworms would work well as clean-up crew. They have cannibalistic tendencies (esp. if they get low on water) and like to eat any proteins they can get their mouth-parts on. High risk for any other inhabitants to get munched on.

I as well only provide water through their food. But I also fairly often give them freshly washed lettuce (or similar greens), so there's still a lot of water on it. They drink it off gladly. The lid of my container is nearly fully ventilated though, that way I can make sure the oats dry out quickly enough, should I put a little bit too much moisture in.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Supers certainly are more prolific than Dubias, assuming good care for both.
Dubias have the better nutritional values though, supers tend to be a bit fatty, which you might don't want to feed all the time.

A three-tiered container can be built rather cheap and the parts should be available in most hardware stores. YT has more than enough tutorials for that.

In my opinion, neither superworms nor mealworms would work well as clean-up crew. They have cannibalistic tendencies (esp. if they get low on water) and like to eat any proteins they can get their mouth-parts on. High risk for any other inhabitants to get munched on.

I as well only provide water through their food. But I also fairly often give them freshly washed lettuce (or similar greens), so there's still a lot of water on it. They drink it off gladly. The lid of my container is nearly fully ventilated though, that way I can make sure the oats dry out quickly enough, should I put a little bit too much moisture in.

I might buy lesser mealworms and dermisted. If frass is enough for them to survive on. Then my bin cleaning should be far in between although I may have to save frass for baby stuff.
orange head roaches eat all there frass dubia nymphs don’t.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Still trying to breed these can’t find or see Any eggs . And unfortunately I had two mealworms and beetles die . I missed two worms I was supposed to separate.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Supers certainly are more prolific than Dubias, assuming good care for both.
Dubias have the better nutritional values though, supers tend to be a bit fatty, which you might don't want to feed all the time.

A three-tiered container can be built rather cheap and the parts should be available in most hardware stores. YT has more than enough tutorials for that.

In my opinion, neither superworms nor mealworms would work well as clean-up crew. They have cannibalistic tendencies (esp. if they get low on water) and like to eat any proteins they can get their mouth-parts on. High risk for any other inhabitants to get munched on.

I as well only provide water through their food. But I also fairly often give them freshly washed lettuce (or similar greens), so there's still a lot of water on it. They drink it off gladly. The lid of my container is nearly fully ventilated though, that way I can make sure the oats dry out quickly enough, should I put a little bit too much moisture in.

I’m not seeing any eggs how tiny are they ??? I sprayed the egg crate and still no signs. So far it’s looking like a failed project. I see a lot of beetles burrowing into the grinded oats.

 

[DerGraf]

I only detect eggs, if I put corrugated cardboard in, specifically for them to lay their eggs, and rip it apart a few weeks later. It will take some time until you can see the larvae, they are very tiny in the beginning and good at hiding. You might be able to see the females lay their eggs more often, they strike a rather typical pose for that, at least the superworm darklings.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I only detect eggs, if I put corrugated cardboard in, specifically for them to lay their eggs, and rip it apart a few weeks later. It will take some time until you can see the larvae, they are very tiny in the beginning and good at hiding. You might be able to see the females lay their eggs more often, they strike a rather typical pose for that, at least the superworm darklings.

How do you water the beetles? I could try to use gatoraid lids but for some reason it’s like they leak or won’t stay full. So far I can’t tell if there are eggs there too small.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I got some baby mealworms but not a lot , I don’t think the beetles can hurt them it seems but I’m thinking of removing them . They seem too small to eat veggies… is riy roach chow probably a good enough food? It’s mostly oats

 

[DerGraf]

For the beetles, I also provide water only with their food and make sure I feed them veggies with high water content regularly. I also wash it right before giving it to them, so they can slurp any droplets off. No extra water dish necessary.

Veggies are fine, they are small but still have proper mouth parts to chew through them. If you have sth. with a very tough skin, you can just slice it open.
Oats as a staple food is perfectly fine, but you need the veggies for hydration.

 

[ozzymandias]

I started my colony in 2013 when I got my leopard geckos and I have to say, not the most exciting thing to be breeding for fun lol. All they do is dig around and eat. Cleaning the frass is also a hassle. But they are useful feeders, especially as prekilled or maimed for tiny slings, and they can survive basically anything so I like them.

Here's what I've learned during my decade of breeding mealies:

They require only the very basic:
- a plastic tub they can't climb out of
- substrate deep enough to burrow into
- some fruit and/or veggie
I use oat bran as substrate more often than rolled oats for two reasons, 1. I've the found that the worms grow faster eating bran and 2. it's small enough to go through a sieve and separate from worms/pupae/beetles. They do seem to enjoy getting rolled oats now and again but I only sprinkle enough for them to eat in a day or two.

This is one of the tubs of worms I have going now. Super basic but it works.

View attachment 451569

The worms are allowed to grow in this until they pupate. I move the pupae to another tub where they can turn to beetles. This is what they look like when they are ready to either moult or turn into pupae:

View attachment 451570

Their exoskeleton gets less shiny and the worm gets slow and doesn't burrow. It can still move (slowly) if provoked but mostly lays motionless on its side. After a few days it moults to either a bigger worm or it pupates. Dead worms get rock solid and/or dark brown to black in colour.

View attachment 451571

This is one of my tubs of (good) beetles. Same bran and depth but also a piece of egg carton for them to hide under or climb on. As long as they are given food you can keep pupae in the same tub, otherwise they will cannibalise the pupae. Same goes for the worms.
The beetles will breed and lay eggs in the substrate and on the carton. When the first beetles start to die off I use a sieve to separate the bran with all the eggs and the beetles. The beetles go in a new tub to continue doing what they do until they die and the bran goes back in the tub. In a few weeks there will be thousands of little worms in there and the cycle starts over.

However my current worms aren't high quality and this can be seen in the (few) beetles I've been able to produce. Mose of the pupae die before developing. This is the bad colony:

View attachment 451572

The beetles are slow moving, not very interested in food, and many of them have deformities. Most of them never turn completely black either and stay a brown colour. I think this is due to inbreeding as similar things have happened before when I went years and years without adding new blood. Oh well, I'll get some new ones in a month or so.

That's basically all there is to breeding these. Cleaning is very easy. You will get a lot of fine, dry poop ("frass") from the worms. Use a sieve to separate the worms from the frass and use a mask when working with it. Breathing in frass is the number one reason people become allergic to mealworms. Throw that away and fill up with more bran. Done!

A lot of sieving and waiting goes into mealworm breeding lol. But it's easy.

You just solved a major mystery for me! I've been trying to start a kingworm colony, but all the adult beetles turned out brown and died before they could mate. I guess I need to find healthier worms to breed. (I hope I'm replying to this correctly, this is only the second post I've made here lol)

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

You just solved a major mystery for me! I've been trying to start a kingworm colony, but all the adult beetles turned out brown and died before they could mate. I guess I need to find healthier worms to breed. (I hope I'm replying to this correctly, this is only the second post I've made here lol)

Well I got baby’s already, had to grab them with tongs because the oats got wet and ruined in one spot . Best of luck maybe make a Thread so we can see your progress. Breeding beetles is tough sometimes!! eggs so tiny I couldn’t see them.

For the beetles, I also provide water only with their food and make sure I feed them veggies with high water content regularly. I also wash it right before giving it to them, so they can slurp any droplets off. No extra water dish necessary.

Veggies are fine, they are small but still have proper mouth parts to chew through them. If you have sth. with a very tough skin, you can just slice it open.
Oats as a staple food is perfectly fine, but you need the veggies for hydration.

Should I just use peelings to feed them they’re super tiny? And the beetles never touched lettuce .

 

[ADHDARACHN1D]

I've Raised And Bred Mealworms A Couple Times Over The Years And Always Seem To Have Had A Problem With Mites And Ended Up Getting Rid Of The Colony,

I Always Made Sure There Where Just Enough Rolled Oats To Cover The Mealworm Within The Trays, I Had A Self Sorting System With Mesh Bottoms Ill Try And Find The Pictures If I've Still Got Them.

I Always Tried To Keep The Pupae Away From The Once Turned Beetles As I Found Sometimes It Seemed The Beetles Would Eat With Other Pupae Well That's How It Seemed Anyway,

As For The Mealworm Dying I Only Noticed That When Some Would Start Turning A Very Dark Brown Colour Not Like The Ones Shown In You're Picture Above

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I've Raised And Bred Mealworms A Couple Times Over The Years And Always Seem To Have Had A Problem With Mites And Ended Up Getting Rid Of The Colony,

I Always Made Sure There Where Just Enough Rolled Oats To Cover The Mealworm Within The Trays, I Had A Self Sorting System With Mesh Bottoms Ill Try And Find The Pictures If I've Still Got Them.

I Always Tried To Keep The Pupae Away From The Once Turned Beetles As I Found Sometimes It Seemed The Beetles Would Eat With Other Pupae Well That's How It Seemed Anyway,

As For The Mealworm Dying I Only Noticed That When Some Would Start Turning A Very Dark Brown Colour Not Like The Ones Shown In You're Picture Above

How often do you feed the baby Mealworm veggies?

 

[ADHDARACHN1D]

How often do you feed the baby Mealworm veggies?

Every Couple Of Days I Would Remove Uneaten Veg After 24Hours To Avoid Mould Growth.

 

[somebugnerd]

I keep both mealworms and "super worms" (Zophobas morio) as class pets for my students and the super worms are a lot more rewarding. They Mature into much larger, more day active beetles that are fun to watch and big enough for kids to handle without accidentally harming/loosing them. Care is basically the same for both, I keep them in wide bins with about 2 inches of substrate (playground sand and coco fiber) and some sticks / bark scattered on the surface. I live in a cool, humid climate so oat or bran substrate molds too quickly to be practical. They eat mostly carrots and zucchini slices, no water is necessary. I keep adults and larvae in the same container, they do eat some of the adults, but after a generation or 2 you will have way more than you need. The only difference with the super worms is that the larvae need to be isolated to pupate. Putting larger larvae into condiment cups and storing them in a warm, dark place will cause them to pupate within a few weeks, they will emerge as adult beetles another few weeks after that.

I tried mealworms as a cleanup crew with hissing roaches once and within a month they started eating the tarsi/legs off of healthy adult roaches. These guys are like meat grinders.

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

I found that celery has good water content, and just shrivels up instead of molding as long as there's no extra moisture in the enclosure. They need protein too, any small animal food in pellet form will do.

orange head roaches eat all there frass

Interesting, I didn't know that!