Raising mealworms?? Tips ?

[FlamingSwampert]

The only real downside as to why I don't breed mealworms anymore is because it can attract grain mites. If you get one small grain mite into that colony, they'll explode into millions within a couple of days. I've dealt with too many grain mite infestations to the point I told myself to never try to start a colony again with mealworms.

I keep mine in bone-dry coco fiber and feed them veggies, works perfectly, no grain mites, and they appear super healthy and grow big

 

[SpookySpooder]

I've been starting to use Alphitobius diaperinus larvae as feeders because they're starting to overtake my roach colonies.

They're like mealworms, but smaller and don't actively hunt (they're detrivores) so you don't need to worry about them munching on your roach legs.

@Ultum4Spiderz You need cleaners still? I'm at the point where I need to euthanize them every time I clean my roach bin. Pay for a priority box and I'll send them your way.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Good news my worms are now about full grown and some babies are still hatching. Most the Beatles are still alive.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Good news my worms are now about full grown and some babies are still hatching. Most the Beatles are still alive.
View attachment 462372 View attachment 462373

WOW!!! Very nice

 

[SpookySpooder]

Nice job bro!! All that research and work paid off, now you won't need to pay for any more feeders!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Mealworm Babys!

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Mealworm Babys! View attachment 462453

If I'm looking at the size dimension right those are freakin tiny.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Can mealworms eat roach frass??? or is it just garbage.?? I thought I saw some guy doing it on here.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Had 10 Beatles die this week how long do they live?

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

Had 10 Beatles die this week how long do they live?

Not forever, they ain't roaches.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Not forever, they ain't roaches.

Now I have pupae drying out and dying when as mealworms, they were fed, fruit or potatoes or veggies multiple times a week for hydration.
Note the darker ones

 

[SpookySpooder]

Perhaps you need an environment with a higher level of humidity to slow the rate of dessication?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Perhaps you need an environment with a higher level of humidity to slow the rate of dessication?

I’ll try this last time they pupated I don’t think I lost any and kept them dry.
Misted, paper towels .

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Keeping them dry seems only option but I’ve lost 80% of pupae so something is going wrong either the worms aren’t hydrating properly . At this rate I might not have another generation of worms . And very few beetles , which all of mine recently died .
moisture killed /molded these ones , experiment failed. They probably were not going to make it anyway .

 

[FlamingSwampert]

Keeping them dry seems only option but I’ve lost 80% of pupae so something is going wrong either the worms aren’t hydrating properly . At this rate I might not have another generation of worms . And very few beetles , which all of mine recently died . View attachment 464802 View attachment 464803
moisture killed /molded these ones , experiment failed. They probably were not going to make it anyway . View attachment 464804 View attachment 464805

For me it seems like the survivorship and fertility ebbs and flows with generations. I think the room I keep mine is has 40-50% humidity during the winter, and most pupae mature properly. I put my pupae in a separate container with oats, I also have a small cup in the beetle enclosure that I sometimes put the pupae on, where they mature on their own without any other beetles able to reach them, and they just jump off into the rest of the beetles when they mature and harden up. I've noticed that the mealworms are a bit more successful when they have some space from each other, so maybe you need to increase the enclosure size. I feed mine veggies and protein pellets whenever I see their food dish is empty and I keep them bone dry on a mix of coco fiber and used flake soil (100% coco fiber should work too). The beetles and mealworms will eat the pupae if they are near them for very long and happen to be hungry, so remove them as quickly as possible. The pupae aren't drying out, so definitely don't keep them on that wet towel, it'll do more harm than good.

 

[utahraptor9000]

I haven't kept/bred them personally, but my roommate/bff used to keep and breed them, so this is from my secondhand recollection.

He kept them in a plastic sliding organization bin, and their substrate was oats. He kept the worms on the top shelf, the pupae on the middle, and the adults on the bottom. He'd check in on them like once a week to move new pupae and beetles around, and then he'd look for eggs in the bottom shelf with the adults and move them up top to the egg and worm bin.

He said they were really easy to keep and it was convinent to have a self replicating food source for his pet toad who was unbelievably picky and only ate mealworms, but that they were kind of too easy to keep and he ended up with way too many of them and really struggled finding out what to do with his newfound army of mealworms.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I haven't kept/bred them personally, but my roommate/bff used to keep and breed them, so this is from my secondhand recollection.

He kept them in a plastic sliding organization bin, and their substrate was oats. He kept the worms on the top shelf, the pupae on the middle, and the adults on the bottom. He'd check in on them like once a week to move new pupae and beetles around, and then he'd look for eggs in the bottom shelf with the adults and move them up top to the egg and worm bin.

He said they were really easy to keep and it was convinent to have a self replicating food source for his pet toad who was unbelievably picky and only ate mealworms, but that they were kind of too easy to keep and he ended up with way too many of them and really struggled finding out what to do with his newfound army of mealworms.

mealworms are easy to keep it’s the pupae for some reason keep dying. Maybe ask him why?
Thanks

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

mealworms compared to quarter

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

For me it seems like the survivorship and fertility ebbs and flows with generations. I think the room I keep mine is has 40-50% humidity during the winter, and most pupae mature properly. I put my pupae in a separate container with oats, I also have a small cup in the beetle enclosure that I sometimes put the pupae on, where they mature on their own without any other beetles able to reach them, and they just jump off into the rest of the beetles when they mature and harden up. I've noticed that the mealworms are a bit more successful when they have some space from each other, so maybe you need to increase the enclosure size. I feed mine veggies and protein pellets whenever I see their food dish is empty and I keep them bone dry on a mix of coco fiber and used flake soil (100% coco fiber should work too). The beetles and mealworms will eat the pupae if they are near them for very long and happen to be hungry, so remove them as quickly as possible. The pupae aren't drying out, so definitely don't keep them on that wet towel, it'll do more harm than good.

What substrate do you use ? I’m considering switching to just oats because my beetles keep getting stuck on there back and turtling..

 

[FlamingSwampert]

What substrate do you use ? I’m considering switching to just oats because my beetles keep getting stuck on there back and turtling.. View attachment 466552

Bone-dry coco fiber. I added a little used millipede substrate one time but that's not really needed. The coco fiber should serve just fine for your substrate.