best method for mealworm production?

J

jebbewocky

L1
I plan on raising mealies fot bait. I've tried in the past and had moderate success. I've seen a lot of videos stating it is important to separate various growth stages to minimalize cannibalism..but I've never bothered in the past. Is this really necessary?

 
Are you using regular mealworms or are you using superworms?

I'm asking because, depending on which type you are rearing, they have different requirements.

 
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Regular.
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When raising tenebrio molitor mealworms, I recommend removing the pupae from the colonies until they hatch. When I first started raising them, I didn't do that and I would lose a few of the pupating beetles every so often to hungry larvae who don't really discriminate very well between the food you give them and their immobile, softer brethren.

Cheers

 
Ok, cool. I got a 6qt Sterilite bin, which should be enough for my purposes. I added quite a lot of vent holes so I don't have mold issues and now I just need to get the worms..which will be next paycheck.

 
I want to share a different method -
I have been keeping Tenebrio molitor for years with no need to separate pupae from the colony.

The enclosure is a plastic storage container, with a mesh top (to prevent mold). As substrate, I use BRAN ONLY. I have seen people keeping them in oatmeal or rolled oats, and I have no idea why. They don't even seem to like eating this stuff. Whereas with bran, they consume it very well, and reproduce by the millions. There will always be some minor cannibalism of fresh pupae (about 2%) but this can be minimized by adding a piece of vegetable once a week for moisture. I use carrot, apple, zucchini or cucumber pieces and bell pepper's "head" for this purpose. When we cook corn I toss the empty cobs in the enclosure and the mealworms go CRAZY after this stuff (they also use it later as an egg-laying substrate). I do not let the temperature fall under 20 degrees C (68F). Every 3 months I need to add some new bran, but that's about it.

When I moved from Israel to Canada I had to start a fresh colony. So I took 10 adult beetles from my lab, and put them in the above conditions. After a 90 days I had 20 times more beetles than my lab colony, in which the mealworms are kept on oatmeal...

 
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wizentrop said:
I want to share a different method -

I have been keeping Tenebrio molitor for years with no need to separate pupae from the colony.

The enclosure is a plastic storage container, with a mesh top (to prevent mold). As substrate, I use BRAN ONLY. I have seen people keeping them in oatmeal or rolled oats, and I have no idea why. They don't even seem to like eating this stuff. Whereas with bran, they consume it very well, and reproduce by the millions. There will always be some minor cannibalism of fresh pupae (about 2%) but this can be minimized by adding a piece of vegetable once a week for moisture. I use carrot, apple, zucchini or cucumber pieces and bell pepper's "head" for this purpose. When we cook corn I toss the empty cobs in the enclosure and the mealworms go CRAZY after this stuff (they also use it later as an egg-laying substrate). I do not let the temperature fall under 20 degrees C (68F). Every 3 months I need to add some new bran, but that's about it.

When I moved from Israel to Canada I had to start a fresh colony. So I took 10 adult beetles from my lab, and put them in the above conditions. Afetr a 90 days I had 20 times more beetles than my lab colony, in which the mealworms are kept on oatmeal...
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Thanks for the tips, Wizentrop! I'll incorporate them into my mealworm production and see what happens.

Cheers

 
I'll be sure to add some bran!
Would it be safe to give them apple cores?

I keep a paper towel cardboard tube and some window screen in there for them to crawl on. Plus the screen keeps a little bit of space between the substrate and the moist food.

 
Apples cores are fine, however they will not eat the seeds.
Sound to me like you are keeping them in good conditions, just remember not to give them too much moist food and keep them well-ventilated. They are pretty hardy beetles, and they do not usually suffer from dessication.

 
Yeah, I'm sticking with apples, spuds, and carrots for them. I just figured cores would be good since I like apples too and then I'm not wasting the good part on them lol. I was a bit concerned about cyanide in the seeds which is why I don't feed them even to my roaches. I'll be sure to add corn cob next summer, sounds interesting.

I'm keeping them on top of my roach or scorpion tanks depending on where I put them when I take them out lol. It stays around 85F in those tanks, so they're probably around 83F or so. The enclosure is nicely ventilated, I took a Sterilite tub and basically used a soldering iron to melt a grid of holes into it. I think I have 40ish holes in total--I've tried breeding with no ventilation and they all died and got some sort of fly larva..so I learned my lesson in that regard.

 
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Quick q, I started a colony 9-10 months ago, and I have tons (like 1k) of dead beetles on the top of the sub that died of old age. Do I just leave them there, and just poor new sub over them or do I have to sit there and take them all out by hand?

 
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