Breeding Mealworms (1 Viewer)

[Paul1853]

Hello.
Wondered if anyone out there could help.
I have had no problems up to the pupa stage and the metamorphosis into a beetle stage. Problem starts when I put the beetles on their own on top of substrate (I use wholemeal flour). They will insist on falling onto their backs and lying there kicking their legs in the air!! I spend all my time putting them back the correct way. Came down this morning to find 5 out of the 6 I have at the moment on their backs. Wonder what they do in the wild?
Paul

 

[ahinrichs]

Mealworms

Hello.
Wondered if anyone out there could help.
I have had no problems up to the pupa stage and the metamorphosis into a beetle stage. Problem starts when I put the beetles on their own on top of substrate (I use wholemeal flour). They will insist on falling onto their backs and lying there kicking their legs in the air!! I spend all my time putting them back the correct way. Came down this morning to find 5 out of the 6 I have at the moment on their backs. Wonder what they do in the wild?
Paul

Hi Paul -

I've been breeding mealworms for 2 - 3 years now. Mix some wheat bran or oat bran in with your flour. That will give the beetles something on which to gain purchase. It's very difficult for them to get any kind of traction on fine flour. I assume you're putting something in for them to get liquid from, like apple segments, carrots, banana peel? If you've got any more questions just yell <G>

Ann

 

[Paul1853]

Hi Paul -

I've been breeding mealworms for 2 - 3 years now. Mix some wheat bran or oat bran in with your flour. That will give the beetles something on which to gain purchase. It's very difficult for them to get any kind of traction on fine flour. I assume you're putting something in for them to get liquid from, like apple segments, carrots, banana peel? If you've got any more questions just yell <G>

Ann

Hi Anne.
Thanks for coming back to me. I was originally keeping my mealworms in Porridge Oats, which worked OK, but I found it a bit difficult separating the Mealworms from the oats. The only way was to hand pick them out. At least using flour (my logic being that they are flour beetles!) that I could at least sieve the majority of the substrate from the worms. The worms are happy with the flour, but I could try putting the beetles back into oats.
Yes I do give them carrot etc for them to get a drink from. The mealworms absolutely love Apple or Carrot. I am only trying to breed the worms for a bit of fun, I normally buy 500gm of worms for £9, which I think, is good value.
Any further comments always welcome. I use between 100 to 200 worms per day.
Paul

 

[ahinrichs]

Mealworms

Hi Anne.
Thanks for coming back to me. I was originally keeping my mealworms in Porridge Oats, which worked OK, but I found it a bit difficult separating the Mealworms from the oats. The only way was to hand pick them out. At least using flour (my logic being that they are flour beetles!) that I could at least sieve the majority of the substrate from the worms. The worms are happy with the flour, but I could try putting the beetles back into oats.
Yes I do give them carrot etc for them to get a drink from. The mealworms absolutely love Apple or Carrot. I am only trying to breed the worms for a bit of fun, I normally buy 500gm of worms for £9, which I think, is good value.
Any further comments always welcome. I use between 100 to 200 worms per day.
Paul

Hi Paul -

I've also found that using oats is not the best substrate for the worms or the beetles which is why I recommended wheat or oat bran - not the porridge oats themselves. If you get bran at a pet shopor feed store be sure to freeze it for several days to kill any mites which might be living in the bran or you'll transfer the mites to your culture and you'll never get rid of them....which is a whole nother chapter in the care and feeding of mealworms! Believe me, you don't want mites. Even if I buy wheat bran which is for human consumption - like Jordan's - I still freeze it. I've had mites and never want to get them again.

It will take a while for your beetles to lay eggs and for the eggs to hatch. There's a good web site about all that. I'll find the address for you later on.

In the meantime - have fun!

Cheers - Ann

 

[Kentish Man]

Mealworm breeding?

Ann,
I am considering buuying mealworms for robins etc, but have read on this site how expensive they can work out. Can you tell me if breeding mealworms is reasonably easy and that it can really save one an awful lot of money?
Rich

 

[Paul1853]

Ann,
I am considering buuying mealworms for robins etc, but have read on this site how expensive they can work out. Can you tell me if breeding mealworms is reasonably easy and that it can really save one an awful lot of money?
Rich

Rich
I have been feeding my birds mealworms for about two months and am using about 1300 per week at the moment, assume this quantity will rise considerably when the adults are feeding their young. I am paying £9 for 500gm (approx 4000 mealworms). I am trying to breed my own and have about 100 beetles so far. I would not say that breeding your own is difficult but there is a reasonable amount of work to do (good husbandry really) and it is quite a large time scale from Larva/Pupa/Beetle/Egg and back to a size of mealworm suitable for most birds (30+ weeks).
Paul

 

[willowa]

HI,

Im to squeamish to breed my own. I have never fed them before either, What is the best way to keep them.-- Do you keep them in the fridge?.-- And Do I keep them in oats and bran.

Thanks Willowa

 

[Kentish Man]

Paul,

Thanks for that. I guess that once you get to 30+ weeks it should be fine as long as you can generate the 1300+ per week you need on a more or less continual basis rather than in seasonal fits and starts?

Cheers Rich

 

[Paul1853]

Paul,

Thanks for that. I guess that once you get to 30+ weeks it should be fine as long as you can generate the 1300+ per week you need on a more or less continual basis rather than in seasonal fits and starts?

Cheers Rich

Hi Willowa/Rich
Having asked for advise on this forum, Ann suggested I use Oatmeal, which is working OK.
Perhaps Ann can expand on how she breeds her mealworms so as to have a regular supply? I have about 100 adult beetles with a few hundred pupas due to turn at some time into more beetles. Originally I separated some mealworms to turn into pupa, but a lot of the pupa I now have turned just from the Larva I am using to feed my birds. 50+ of my pupa have tuned to beetles in the last week.
Regards
Paul

 

[ahinrichs]

breeding mealworms

Ann,
I am considering buuying mealworms for robins etc, but have read on this site how expensive they can work out. Can you tell me if breeding mealworms is reasonably easy and that it can really save one an awful lot of money?
Rich

Hi Rich -

Breeding mealworms is easy and much less expensive than buyinng but it is very slow process, partly dependent on how warm it is. If you want mealworms for right now and, more importanly, for spring when the birds really need help with their babies, then you will need to purchase some worms. One place to buy them from at the most reasonable I've ever found is Live Foods Direct at www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk ; tel: 01909 548888. They also have a good food for the worms which you can cut with bran. They're the people I get mine from when my production doesn't keep up with demand. If you buy the mini worms - initially more costly than the regular worms - and just allow them to grow you'll have a lot more worms in the long run for a lot less money.

A couple of good websites for info about breeding mealworms are :

http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm#moisture
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=3022

You can't just leave them to get on with things - you need to make sure that whatever you use as a source of moisture doesn't become mouldy or that the food mixture you put them in doesn't get moist. This attracts mites which are next to impossible to get rid of. You must pick out any dead worms - not a loss as they, too, can be fed to the birds as can pupae which are too small or deformed.

Fledgings do best on very small worms so if you're serious about helping out harassed adult robins, not to mention tits and blackbirds, with their broods then I encourage you to buy some mini mealworms if you've not produced a crop yourself by spring.

I hope this gives you some basic info. But, yes, raising them is much less expensive - depending on how valuable your time is! <G>

Cheers - Ann

 

[Kentish Man]

Hi Ann,

Thanks a lot for your very helpful comprehensive response,

Regards Rich

 

[Nick Elliston]

I can't sing the praises of "livefoodsdirect" too highly. The quality and service is excellent. If there are several people close by who also use them, buying in bulk does work out quite a lot cheaper.

 

[Richard Bryce]

For moisture in my 'farm' I generally use used tea bags, placed in upturned jam pot lids to keep the wet off the substrate. Ripe banana skins are good too as they don't mould. I'd keep away from the potato that many people seem to recommend as, apart from the moulding, potato is high in phosphorous and mealworms already have a very poor calcium/phosphorous ratio.

I've a PDF that pulls a lot of info from the web together with my own experience. PM me if interested.

BTW Ann, I've now stopped adding extra vitamins since I heard a BBC docummentary about the dangers of overdosing D, plus it seems most of the vitamins in powder supplements just go straight through the system without being absorbed. I now just rely on the veg for gutloading vitamins and minerals.

cheers
rich b

 

[ahinrichs]

mealworms

For moisture in my 'farm' I generally use used tea bags, placed in upturned jam pot lids to keep the wet off the substrate. Ripe banana skins are good too as they don't mould. I'd keep away from the potato that many people seem to recommend as, apart from the moulding, potato is high in phosphorous and mealworms already have a very poor calcium/phosphorous ratio.

I've a PDF that pulls a lot of info from the web together with my own experience. PM me if interested.

BTW Ann, I've now stopped adding extra vitamins since I heard a BBC docummentary about the dangers of overdosing D, plus it seems most of the vitamins in powder supplements just go straight through the system without being absorbed. I now just rely on the veg for gutloading vitamins and minerals.

cheers
rich b

Hi Rich -

I've never had luck with potatoes, either. My worms seem to prefer apple, carrot and banana skins. I have to keep a close eye on the apples as they can go moldy very quickly. Interesting about the vitamins - I was going to get some when breeding and nesting season began but based on what you've just said I think I'll pass. What do you feed to increase the calcium levels in the worms?? I have also begun using teabags - the worms and the beetles seem to love congregating inside them.

Regards - Ann

 

[ahinrichs]

breeding mealworms

HI,

Im to squeamish to breed my own. I have never fed them before either, What is the best way to keep them.-- Do you keep them in the fridge?.-- And Do I keep them in oats and bran.

Thanks Willowa

Hi Willowa -

Just saw your post. You must feed your mealworms if you keep them for anytime, even just a day or two. If they have no food they begin to eat one another plus they'll be in such poor condition as to be pretty useless to the birds. Get some wheatbran either from the healthfood store, pet shop, grocery store but freeze it for 2 - 3 days to kill any mites. Also get some mealworm food from www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk. Put a good measure into whatever container you're using and put the worms in.

They will need a source of moisture - apple slices, carrots, banana skin. You will need to sieve out their waste product, called "fras" or frass - not sure of the spelling.

You can keep them in the warmest part of the fridge for several weeks, taking them out every couple of weeks to give them some moisture. I don't put any moisture source in when I've got them in the fridge. The reason for putting them in the fridge is to slow down their growth and to keep them from pupating, though you will get some which will pupate. But these can also be fed to the birds.

I mentioned a couple of web sites in an earlier post - go to them and read up a bit. The mealworms - not really worms but larva - are very clean and, dare I say it? - very endearing. You've gotta respect something that goes through the amazing changes they do.

But for your birds' sakes not to mention the worms - feed and water your worms!

Hope this helps -

Cheers - Ann

btw - just for general interest. I keep my worms in an insect box available from live foods direct: it's got great air circulation which keeps the substata fresh plus is small enough for the worms to congregate in little groups. I keep the beetles in clear plastic containers with a bit of newspaper on top. My worms and beetles love entangling and entwining themselves with one another. Plus they love congregating under things. I cut up toilet roll holders and place them concave up - they love to crawl under them.

 

[Touty]

I've bred mealworms for about 10 years now. Just use bran as the substrate. Don't bother with anything else - it's cheap, it's clean. Buy it in gardening shops or from feed supplies. The higher the ratio of bran to worms the more will survive to a decent size - so you need a huge tub (or set of tubs) to produce 1300 a week (or c. 200 a day). Densely packed colonies mean cannibalism. Max. depth about 30cm. Give quartered apples once a week or so and remove what's left after 24 hours. If it's hotter and the critters eat the lot then give quartered apples as often as they'll eat them but bear in mind that as soon as they've had enough the apples will just sit and rot. If you have a big colony (or colonies) then you can, very occasionally (once a month or so) give them a treat. Many people use the colonies to clean small roadkill (up to the size of a crow) and if they're really hungry (thirsty?) they'll clean a skeleton in 24 hours. They grow quicker too!! Somewhere on BF last year I said the samething. Do a search.

 

[Richard Bryce]

Hi Rich -

I've never had luck with potatoes, either. My worms seem to prefer apple, carrot and banana skins. I have to keep a close eye on the apples as they can go moldy very quickly. Interesting about the vitamins - I was going to get some when breeding and nesting season began but based on what you've just said I think I'll pass. What do you feed to increase the calcium levels in the worms?? I have also begun using teabags - the worms and the beetles seem to love congregating inside them.

Regards - Ann

Hi Ann

Tesco's value-brand dried skim milk has a high calcium content so it goes in the gut-load in the last couple of days. That and cheap dried dog food and green leafy veg, which is good for the B, E and K vitamins. Apples for vit A. The milk powder for D. I assume birds make their own vit C like other animals, but any green veg in the mealworm gut will be passed on anyway.

Rich

 

[ahinrichs]

Hi Ann

Tesco's value-brand dried skim milk has a high calcium content so it goes in the gut-load in the last couple of days. That and cheap dried dog food and green leafy veg, which is good for the B, E and K vitamins. Apples for vit A. The milk powder for D. I assume birds make their own vit C like other animals, but any green veg in the mealworm gut will be passed on anyway.

Rich

Rich -

Thanks for the advice - good idea about the dried skim milk, et al. I have never heard of mealworms eating meat - ie, road kill - as suggested by Touty in a previous post. Have you or anyone else in this thread heard of this??

Cheers - Ann

 

[Richard Bryce]

Rich -

Thanks for the advice - good idea about the dried skim milk, et al. I have never heard of mealworms eating meat - ie, road kill - as suggested by Touty in a previous post. Have you or anyone else in this thread heard of this??

Cheers - Ann

It's part of what they do in the real world. They are used in some medical procedures too to cleanly strip flesh. It's a myth they are vegetarian, it's just that thay can be kept on a vegetarian diet. The problem with road kill and other fresh-ish meat diet is that you then risk passing on disease to the next in the food chain i.e your pet reptile or your garden birds...not recommended.

rich

 

[Paul1853]

I've bred mealworms for about 10 years now. Just use bran as the substrate. Don't bother with anything else - it's cheap, it's clean. Buy it in gardening shops or from feed supplies. The higher the ratio of bran to worms the more will survive to a decent size - so you need a huge tub (or set of tubs) to produce 1300 a week (or c. 200 a day). Densely packed colonies mean cannibalism. Max. depth about 30cm. Give quartered apples once a week or so and remove what's left after 24 hours. If it's hotter and the critters eat the lot then give quartered apples as often as they'll eat them but bear in mind that as soon as they've had enough the apples will just sit and rot. If you have a big colony (or colonies) then you can, very occasionally (once a month or so) give them a treat. Many people use the colonies to clean small roadkill (up to the size of a crow) and if they're really hungry (thirsty?) they'll clean a skeleton in 24 hours. They grow quicker too!! Somewhere on BF last year I said the samething. Do a search.

Hello.
I have followed your advise about using bran and have just bought a 25kg sack of wheat bran for less than £6 which I think is excellent value.
Paul