Breeding mealworms is actually a very simple process and its highly recommended if you have a lot of hungry mouths to feed. They practically breed themselves with no extra work on your behalf. Some people will choose to breed their mealworms in the same enclosure while others like to separate the various life stages (ie larvae, pupae and beetle). Dr. Gecko uses plastic drawer systems to raise the colonies and separate the various life cycles.
It is a good idea though to remove the pupae into their own container until they have turned into beetles at which point, you can move them in with the rest of the beetles. It is not uncommon for the worms and beetles to nibble on the pupae - thereby killing a potential breeder.
If you want to start breeding your own mealworms, we suggest you start with a culture of approximately 100 worms to get a good start at it. We keep our feeding colony separate from our breeding colony just to make sure we are not dipping into our food reserves.
As discussed earlier, the worms will turn into pupae (those little alien-like creatures). These pupae after approximately 10 to 15 days, they will emerge as beetles. It is these beetles that will breed and lay the eggs. The beetles start to mate and lay eggs within several days (roughly 1 week) of pupating and will continue to do so for approximately 4 months (after which they die).
The female beetles tend to be significantly larger than male beetles. These females can typically lay up to 500 eggs throughout their lifetime. Each egg is roughly 1/20th of an inch and sticks to the substrate so chances are, you will not see the eggs. The eggs hatch about 1 week after they were laid. These worms will achieve optimal growth rates when kept between 75 and 80F.
Be careful when cleaning and replacing substrate that you do not accidentally throw out the eggs or baby worms!
