Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I've been raising a colony of mealworms/darkling beetles for about two months now. I started off with a batch of 1000 mealworms that I kept in one bin and prepared another bin to transfer pupae and beetles. At this point, all the beetles have been eaten by our herps and we have two worm bins, one of which probably has close to 5000-7000 baby mealworms.

As recommended by several caresheets, we've been putting fresh veggies (mostly carrot and potato slices) on top of the substrate (we are using red bran) to provide a water source for both worms and beetles. The problem we have noticed with this method, however, is that the water from the veggies causes some sort of yellow mold to grow in the bran. This seems to be especially problematic with the beetles -- for some reason, the veggies end up migrating to the bottom of the bin which causes significant mold growth in a short period of time (1-2 days).

I've read in a few caresheets to put the veggies in a plate of some sort, I guess to keep the bran from molding. I would like to try this next but am curious as to what other people's experience has been with this. I'm not worried about the beetles finding the veggies, but will the worms actually find the veggies if they are sitting on a plate?

Also, I'm wondering if anyone has any pointers as to how to clean out the worm bins, without having to pick out the worms one by one! I figure with the beetles and the larger worms, I can merely use a sifter to separate the bugs from the bran, but what about baby worms? I guess I can just wait for the baby worms to get big, but I'm just curious if anyone has any insight on this.

Thanks for any input!

Julie
Vermont Herpetological Society Online

I've successfully have used carrots as the standard on top of bran without molding problems. In the case of using other vegspotates, apples, etc.), they should be checked for molding on a daily basis & thrown away if there is a problem. Also, don't use too many vegs, as this will cause an excess of moisture which leads to mold & bacterial outbreaks; thus killing the colony.

As far as baby mealworms go, I sift out the different instars of larva & the beetles which leaves the baby mealworms in the fecal debris. I then innoculate a new colony by putting the "debris-babies" on top of new bran. As long as there was no major die-offs on your original colony, there should be no problems.

Goodluck

I like to take the mess outside on a windy day and when I sift I hold the sieve about the bin enough to let the wind blow away some of the feces and shed skins.

Instead of adding this to fresh bedding I toss in a few chicken layer pellets and as they grow I sift them out and move the babies to my worm bins. After so many siftings the results will yield so few worms that I feel pretty safe in tossing the remainder. Besides, by that time I have already started a new bin each of beetles, worms, and egg/baby filled feces.

I have never run short and have sold a few off to some of the herp folk in town.

I don't use the red bran using the chicken layena instead. I have wonderful results and feel that there are bound to be more nutrients in it that what one grain alone could contain. I never leave any vegetable in for more than a day. If it isn't all eaten I remove it.

I can assure you that if you put the veggies on a plate or lid the mealworms and beetles will have no problem finding it. It seems as if they can smell it out.

Hey, thanks for the input!

I did a search for "chicken layena" and it seems to come in pellets and in a meal form. Which one do you use? You mention pellets, but how big are they? I'd love to try the stuff but want to make sure I get the right kind.

Thanks again!

Julie

What you can do is take a piece of cardboard and lay it atop the substrate and put the veggies on it... I do this with both my mealworms and my superworms... On a plate they may not be able to get to it.. but on a flat piece of cardboard they can...

I prefer the meal but was only able to get the pellets the last time. Just make sure it is un-medicated. I am just about through the 50# pellets and they had no problem with eating it or crawling through it. There may have even been less waste but I prefer the meal when I have to dig through for the best worms.

The pellets are very compressed and are just a bit smaller than rabbit feed pellets.

Marcia