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What do I have to do to setup a mealworm breeding colony.

Does anyone know???

>>What do I have to do to setup a mealworm breeding colony.
>>
>>Does anyone know???

I have one set up in 5 1/2gal tank....though I am gonna move it to something bigger as it is now a necessity.
I tried starting my own colony but found I was committing a cardinal sin....I was cleaning the darn thing. So I got the colony started that I have now from a friend. But I have since worked it out.
What he did and I continue. Start with a good number of mealies so you aren't feeding off what you want to breed. I started a second colony by getting 5000 mealies from Reptilefood.com and dumping 1000 or so of them into their own tub (about 12X15X8d" and feeding from the rest. The breeders I gave a layer of eggcrate and some layers of papertowel that I mist down. I added a good healthy layer of stale breakfast cereals...(cheerios seems to work very well) and I add rolled oats and dog kibble and various others as it seems to need. I also toss in the stems from greens or a leaf of greens ever other night. DON'T clean it out! Let the layers build up and let the beetles do their thing. You will start seeing little babies in maybe a month or so after you have a good number of beetles. Don't let them get cool or too damp and you should be in business.....easy as roaches almost...not nearly as PITA as crix.
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Sonya

I have had great success in the past setting up mealworm colonies in the following manner:

Get yourself a couple of rubbermaid,or sterilite sweater boxes( the lids are unnecessary)

Purchase 2500 mealworms.....divide in half( not an exact number but you get the idea)

Purchase 2-5lb bags of corn meal( available at any supermarket)Put one bag in each sweater box, add mealworms

THATS IT !!!!!

For moisture I cut up a few potatoes, push them down into the corn meal( cut sides down)

* * * DONT REMOVE THE OLD POTATOES * * * IF YOU LOOK VERY CAREFULLY YOU WILL SEE THE NEW LARVAE :OOZING" OUT OF THE POTATOES

The mealworms will thrive and breed in this setup. You can scoop all the sheds out of the top as often as needed. I hope this helps..........Ken

n/p