Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello
today my post is a about mealworm pupa i am trying to breed meal worms and am getting pupa which later turn into to beetles which produce of course mealworms how ever when i see a pupa i put it in a deli cup with wheat brand bedding and a slice of potato the pupa i set on there back and they never move after like a week they die they are at 80degrees. please help

thanks in advance

They don't live long. All they need to do is mate and lay eggs. If you seperate them, they wont be able to find a mate.

no no no the pupate are dieing

Oh dear...I misunderstood. I'm sorry. The only thing I can think of is they may be drying out. Put a wet paper towel in with them. That should help.

First off..you don't need to seperate mealworm pupae's.. Just put them all into a drawer or container and let them go. They aren't like superworms which need to be seperated to pupate. Put them on a nutritious substrate..add carrots or potatoes for moisture and let them do what they do best.. breed. Plus, 80 degrees is a bit warm.. room temperature is better to breed them. about 75 give or take a degree or 2. Your pupae are probably dehydrating. They store enough fat and moisture to go through the pupation process at a certain temperature...when its too warm, those reserves are used up too fast and they die before metamorphing into full adults.

Are these pupaes of regular mealworms (Tenibrio Molitor) or are they the ones sold as giant mealworms which are the same species but treated so they delay the time they would normally pupate? If they are giant mealworms, I suggest you get regular ones that are not treated with the 'growth hormone' because those giants are meant to get larger by delaying the time they would pupate and I heard they are not able to reproduce, but I have no hard data to prove that. Otherwise, you just put the pupae in a container the same way as the worms with no moisture source like veges needed since they won't need that until they emerge as beetles. Good luck.