Mealworm questions (1 Viewer)

Hi all

I've just started to breed my own mealworms and I have a few questions:

(1) I can't find bran in any of the shops in my area. I assume that breakfast cereals are no good due to various additives, not too mention rather expensive fodder for insects. I am presently using wholemeal flour with a little rolled oats. The flour seems a lot finer than the bran that the mealworms arrived in. I understand from previous postings that the bran is normally changed once it becomes powdery. My first question is therefore whether wholemeal flour is a suitable substitute for bran? If not, does anybody have any other suggestions for bedding materials? Please do not suggest ordering bran from a shop.

(2) At present, I have only the one container with worms and bedding. I have a separate, empty container where I place the pupae. I was intending to place the beetles back in with the worms once they hatch. I have read that some people prefer placing the beetles into a second container with bedding. Are there any particular reasons/advantages in doing this? I cannot see what advantages this would bring in the long run when the worms and beetles are continually hatching at different times.

(3) I read that a convenient method of changing the bedding is to sift the worms, beetles and bedding through a colander or the like. Does this method not also get rid of the eggs? Additionally, sifting will not get rid of the skins shed by the worms. Are the shed skins generally put back along with the worms? Will the mealworms eat the skins?

Thanks

Hi there...interesting questions. I'm planning to start breeding my own mealworms soon as well so any answers that any folks can come up with would be more than welcome!
Sorry I can't be of any use Phthor...why not send a PM to Elizabeth Bigg as I know she successfully breeds them for her garden birds! Then you can tell us all the secret LOL

GILL

Hi Phthor,

I buy my bran from the local pet shop.

Regards,

Anthony

Have a look at this thread, it's a few months old:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=15518

The following pages are linked in the above thread, but if you for some reason should miss them, here they are:

1) http://www.mealworms.com/

2) http://www.nyworms.com/mealworms.htm

Rasmus Boegh said:

Have a look at this thread, it's a few months old:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=15518

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I read this thread some time ago, which is what got me started on the mealworm breeding program. Unfortunately, the thread and websites do not appear to answer my questions - or I am overlooking the answers. Admittedly, the mealworms.com website mentions the use of whole wheat flour for the bedding. However, I thought I would double-check with the experts. Can I assume that whole wheat and wholemeal flour are one in the same?

@Anthony
I have not, as yet, managed to find a local pet shop (I kid you not). There is one shop that sells a huge range of pet food, but no bran.
:stuck:

Phthor said:

I read this thread some time ago, which is what got me started on the mealworm breeding program. Unfortunately, the thread and websites do not appear to answer my questions - or I am overlooking the answers. Admittedly, the mealworms.com website mentions the use of whole wheat flour for the bedding. However, I thought I would double-check with the experts. Can I assume that whole wheat and wholemeal flour are one in the same?

@Anthony
I have not, as yet, managed to find a local pet shop (I kid you not). There is one shop that sells a huge range of pet food, but no bran.
:stuck:

Click to expand...

A health food shop (Holland and Barrett or similar) would stock the bran: I get the pinhead oatmeal and sultanas for the blackbirds from our local health food shop. And wholemeal flour is the same as wholewheat - I couldn't say whether it would do for mealworms, as I have never had te nerve to breed them (I go for dried ones and pre-soak them at chick-raising time - seems to work OK for our less-than-choosy feathered locals).

Phthor said:

Hi all

I've just started to breed my own mealworms and I have a few questions:

(1) I can't find bran in any of the shops in my area. I assume that breakfast cereals are no good due to various additives, not too mention rather expensive fodder for insects. I am presently using wholemeal flour with a little rolled oats. The flour seems a lot finer than the bran that the mealworms arrived in. I understand from previous postings that the bran is normally changed once it becomes powdery. My first question is therefore whether wholemeal flour is a suitable substitute for bran? If not, does anybody have any other suggestions for bedding materials? Please do not suggest ordering bran from a shop.

(2) At present, I have only the one container with worms and bedding. I have a separate, empty container where I place the pupae. I was intending to place the beetles back in with the worms once they hatch. I have read that some people prefer placing the beetles into a second container with bedding. Are there any particular reasons/advantages in doing this? I cannot see what advantages this would bring in the long run when the worms and beetles are continually hatching at different times.

(3) I read that a convenient method of changing the bedding is to sift the worms, beetles and bedding through a colander or the like. Does this method not also get rid of the eggs? Additionally, sifting will not get rid of the skins shed by the worms. Are the shed skins generally put back along with the worms? Will the mealworms eat the skins?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Hi Phthor,

Don't know if you have had your questions answered by now, but I too found descriptions of how to do this a bit confusing. I am currently 'breeding' mealworms quite successfully now though, so here are some details of what I have done if it helps. Note that if you can't get hold of bran, I have used a combination of normal wholemeal flour and rolled oats which seems to work.

I started off with a bucket containing around 10cm of flour/oats with a few hundred mealworms in. As these gradually turned to pupae I transferred them to another container so they weren't disturbed by the wriggling worms. Over a period of some weeks, all the worms gradually turn in to pupae and after some more time, the pupae gradually start turning in to beetles. As the beetles emerged, I transferred these to another bucket, containing mostly oats and bran, and left them to get on with getting to know each other and hopefully lay eggs! At this stage, I started another bucket containing flour, oats and bran and at intervals of a few days or so I sieve the entire contents of the 'breeding' bucket - beetles and all - into the other bucket. This allows any eggs that have been laid to fall through the sieve in to the other bucket, whilst the oats, bran and beetles can be put back in to the breeding bucket. This presumably also allows any beetle droppings to be sieved through with the eggs, but I have absolutely no idea how you can separate this. So, now there are 2 buckets - one with beetles and one with eggs. Eventually - and this seems to take absolutely ages - tiny little worms start to appear and these start growing into fully grown mealworms. I have not attempted to separate the mealworms at this stage, but I guess it might be an idea once they get a bit bigger - I don't know if the larvae eat the eggs.

So there you have it - it's as simple as that! Basically I have just 2 buckets on the go at any time, as well as a little container to keep the pupae until the become beetls. Remember to place a slice of potato or something on top of the bran/oats every few days to provide moisture. Also, you are supposed to change the entire contents of the bucket occasionally - presumably to separate droppings and old and possibly mouldy bits of material. This is not too difficult with the beetle's but I'm not sure how to do it with the worms, without discarding any eggs.

Hope that helps!!

food/bedding for mealworms

In re your question about food for the mealwoorms:

You can usually buy oat bran from organic grocery stores. I think I pay about 79 cents/lb. for it in Atlanta. Wheat bran is less expensive, very light, and the mealworms seem to eat the oat bran and use the wheat bran as bedding. If you don't have any organic foods stores close to you, you can buy boxes of dry Gerber (US) baby cereal to use for mealworm bedding. That's usually about $2.25 for a 1-lb. box.

jbanja

I buy bran from my local equestrian supply store it's about £5.00 for 20kgs.

Gate said:

A health food shop (Holland and Barrett or similar) would stock the bran

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. . . for probably about 100 times the price Merop is paying!

Michael

But 20kg is rather a lot if you only need it for mealworm feeding! I get mine in Waitrose, in a 375g pack.

Question for Michael There was some discussion a while back about removing the heads of mealworms before feeding them to chicks. We've been watching our bluetits and robins more closely since then. We were aware that the bluetits "prepared" a mealworm before taking it to the nest, and now we've realised they do something similar now they only have themselves to feed. However robins just take one and swallow it down immediately, then do likewise with following ones. Any idea why there should be this difference?

Question for Michael There was some discussion a while back about removing the heads of mealworms before feeding them to chicks. We've been watching our bluetits and robins more closely since then. We were aware that the bluetits "prepared" a mealworm before taking it to the nest, and now we've realised they do something similar now they only have themselves to feed. However robins just take one and swallow it down immediately, then do likewise with following ones. Any idea why there should be this difference?

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Hi Elizabeth,

I think a lot of people get mixed up with mealworms and maggots. Some people recommend removing the black stomach sack in maggots to prevent disease being spread (the contents of this sack will be the carrion the maggot has been feeding from and may have diseases). During my observations I have never seen any bird careully remopve the stomach sack from a maggot, just like the Robin as mentioned above they go down in one. B

Paul G said:

Hi Elizabeth,

I think a lot of people get mixed up with mealworms and maggots. Some people recommend removing the black stomach sack in maggots to prevent disease being spread (the contents of this sack will be the carrion the maggot has been feeding from and may have diseases). During my observations I have never seen any bird careully remopve the stomach sack from a maggot, just like the Robin as mentioned above they go down in one. B

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Hi Paul - I was referring back to this thread:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=16965&highlight=mealworm

Ahhhh,

Interesting thread Elizabeth..I fully understand why the parents do this when feeding their young, but will also crush peanuts and the like before feeding them to the chicks

Paul has hinted at the answer there - adult birds have much tougher stomach walls (and also a grit-filled gizzard to grind it up too) than a young chick, and can cope with swallowing them whole, which a chick can't do safely

Michael