Mealworms are a popular food for pet reptiles, amphibians, and even birds. Many people don't know how easy it is to breed them, or how prolific they are. In 6 months, I turned 1,000 worms into 10,000!
Mealworms aren’t too difficult to raise; the biggest problem I had was the space. They’re cannibals, so you need to keep the adults, pupae, and larvae separate. They don’t need huge containers, but they need quite a few (I believe I had 8 containers going at once before the first one stopped producing). Here’s what I did. It works well (a little too well for me— I was just raising them for my lizards to eat— but chickens will be able to keep up, and if you don’t have chickens and you end up with too many, you can sell some, feed some to wild birds, etc).
Take some mealworms (I got 1,000 from fluker farms, but 250-500 is fine— just don’t feed these ones to your pets), like these ones:
Mealworms aren’t too difficult to raise; the biggest problem I had was the space. They’re cannibals, so you need to keep the adults, pupae, and larvae separate. They don’t need huge containers, but they need quite a few (I believe I had 8 containers going at once before the first one stopped producing). Here’s what I did. It works well (a little too well for me— I was just raising them for my lizards to eat— but chickens will be able to keep up, and if you don’t have chickens and you end up with too many, you can sell some, feed some to wild birds, etc).
Take some mealworms (I got 1,000 from fluker farms, but 250-500 is fine— just don’t feed these ones to your pets), like these ones:
Put them into a container (it needs to be plastic or glass; they can climb out of cardboard or wood). The container can have as little as 9x12 inches of floor space, and at least 6 inches of hight. This one works well:
Put substrate down in the container at a depth of about 1-2 inches. The substrate I used was oatmeal that I ground up in a food processor, but that attracted grain moths which destroyed my entire colony (I was raising them indoors and the moths were EVERYWHERE). Online, other people are suggesting ground up cereals (corn flakes, Cheerios, etc), wheat bran, and even ground up dog food. You can try any one of them; even if it fails miserably you’ll probably get a good number of mealworms first. (I turned 1,000 into 10,000 before the moths got too bad). Here are a few options, but be sure to grind them up in a blender or food processor first:
If you’re raising them for chickens you could also raise them outside, in a garage or barn. Then the moths wouldn’t be quite as big a deal. It can’t get too cold in the winter or the worms will die (and even if they don’t, they don’t reproduce below 60*, and reproduction is greatly reduced below 70*). If they will get below this temperature, do not even bother unless you get a heat mat and thermostat to keep them at the right temp. These work very well:
Anyway, after the substrate, put in a piece of cardboard egg carton. It has to be cardboard. The worms will eat through the cartons, and if they’re styrofoam, then you’re basically feeding your pets styrofoam. You can reuse the carton from eggs from the store, or you can buy some:
After the carton, cut up an apple or a few carrots, and put them in there. (I put apple slices in with the larvae, and carrot slices in with the beetles. The beetles have stronger mouthparts so they could eat the carrots more easily than the larvae could).
That’s the basic container. When you need more containers, just make more of these. Put your worms in one of these containers. Put them in a warm (around 80* is best, but room temp is fine) dry place where they won’t get direct sunlight, and wait. Change their apples every week-week 1/2, and check for pupae when you do. When you see pupae, remove them and put them in a small Tupperware container (don’t put on the lid, they need to breath!). The pupae pretty much just need to be kept safe, they don’t eat or anything. After a few weeks they’ll turn into beetles. Put the beetles in a new container. Change their apples every week-week 1/2, and when you do, check for little baby mealworms. They are teeny-tiny little guys, and very hard to see. If you see one, you’re probably missing like, a hundred. After you see the first one, move the beetles into a new container and continue feeding them. The cycle will start over again, and the beetles will lay more eggs. Keep feeding the beetle’s old container, and the mealworms will grow to regular mealworm size. Keep these ones growing; they will be your next generation of beetles. Keep swapping out the beetles about 5 times, when they stop reproducing. Every batch of worms, except each generation’s first one, can be raised and then fed to your pets. Every first batch will be raised as the next generation of beetles, which will keep the cycle going.
If you need to store mealworms, you can put them in the refrigerator for up to a week. If you’re storing them for longer than a week, then take them out every week and give them an apple slice. Then leave them out for 24 hours to eat some apple. Then you can put them back in the fridge for another week. Then, repeat.
If you fail the first time, keep trying. It takes practice, but the only way to get that is to try. I failed my first time, but with practice and experience, I finally succeded.
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That’s the basic container. When you need more containers, just make more of these. Put your worms in one of these containers. Put them in a warm (around 80* is best, but room temp is fine) dry place where they won’t get direct sunlight, and wait. Change their apples every week-week 1/2, and check for pupae when you do. When you see pupae, remove them and put them in a small Tupperware container (don’t put on the lid, they need to breath!). The pupae pretty much just need to be kept safe, they don’t eat or anything. After a few weeks they’ll turn into beetles. Put the beetles in a new container. Change their apples every week-week 1/2, and when you do, check for little baby mealworms. They are teeny-tiny little guys, and very hard to see. If you see one, you’re probably missing like, a hundred. After you see the first one, move the beetles into a new container and continue feeding them. The cycle will start over again, and the beetles will lay more eggs. Keep feeding the beetle’s old container, and the mealworms will grow to regular mealworm size. Keep these ones growing; they will be your next generation of beetles. Keep swapping out the beetles about 5 times, when they stop reproducing. Every batch of worms, except each generation’s first one, can be raised and then fed to your pets. Every first batch will be raised as the next generation of beetles, which will keep the cycle going.
If you need to store mealworms, you can put them in the refrigerator for up to a week. If you’re storing them for longer than a week, then take them out every week and give them an apple slice. Then leave them out for 24 hours to eat some apple. Then you can put them back in the fridge for another week. Then, repeat.
If you fail the first time, keep trying. It takes practice, but the only way to get that is to try. I failed my first time, but with practice and experience, I finally succeded.
Herp Husbandry is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.