This is the same thread from before. I threw that batch out. I ordered 2k a week ago, they should be pupating soon? Hopefully tens of thousands in due time!
Breeding and Maintaining Mealworms....Part Deux
- Thread starter packer43064
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Thanks for showing us this, keep us updated. I'll be starting my own mealworm breeding project soon. I actually have a lot of uses for mealworms.
Question: What would happen if you left everything in one container and not seperate them at each stage?
Question: What would happen if you left everything in one container and not seperate them at each stage?
AOmonsta;4658458; said:
it makes it hard to separate the large worms (that you want for feeding) from everything else. plus it has been reported that adult beetles and larger worms will eat smaller worms and eggs.
it's a lot easier to have a bin for each batch.
you start with adult beetles and let them lay eggs in there for a couple weeks, then you move them to the next bin and so on...
wait for the babies to grow, then you just sift the worms out of the substrate when it's time to harvest them.
put beetles back in the empty bin to lay eggs, and start again.
AOmonsta;4658458; said:
Your welcome. It's fun, to me at least. The GF think's I'm crazy, but she has 9 hamsters(ours, but most she has raised or rescued) so it works out.
Agree with Scatman. The beetles will eat the eggs and mealworms for moisture or who knows why(territory). Obviously in the wild, the beetle would lay the eggs and move on to somewhere else to lay eggs not lay eggs and be living with their young in a couple of weeks.
I have seen success to a degree with putting more food in their tub then normal. So instead of 2 inches or less you put in like 6 inches or more. The beetles don't usually go that far down if at all and the mealworms stay near the top or actually in the layer of substrate. I've also seen people use peat moss mixed in with the food...it seemed to work somehow. I'm not doing that though, but it could work either way just not nearly as productive as separating.
You don't need anything as fancy as I have. A 3-drawer system with mealworms on top and when they pupate you move them to the second drawer and when they change to beetles you move them to the third is a simple yet effective way. Like Scatman said, it's easier to just move adults to each tub, instead of just everything in just one tub.
snakestar;4658474; said:
A good 2-3 months for the whole process from egg to full adult. High temps, like I have can speed this up alot but lower temps will take months on end for anything to really happen. It really varies depending on temperature. Once you get the supply going and keep breeding the adults you will be set.
Gotta do what you gotta do, lol.fishy12;4659610; said:
AOmonsta;4660093; said:
Nice.
I knew the mealworms would pupate soon. Went tailgating today and came back home to some that were in the "alien" stage. My camera isn't anything major so this is as close as I can get. Their really white/pale when they first change. They will get tanner and the legs will turn a nice brown/red color as will the rest of the pupa when their about to emerge into a beetle.
This is a couple day old potatoes, they devoured it!
Pupa tub, they don't need anything in this tub, but black beetles won't be easy to see. If you pick them up and squeeze them a bit, they will wiggle their ends or heads frantically.
The flexwatt is underneath the metal grid.
