Mealworm colony start!

I decided to make my own personal mealworm colony for my leopard geckos. So far, I have 500-600 mealworms and 170 pupae (more soon) that are due to turn into beetles any day now. I have them on wheat bran and use carrots for moisture. I can't wait until the colony explodes! (the bins look small but they're really deep... )





* on a further note, I have about 500 superworms in the bottom bin of my mealworm colony rack...I might feed off a few but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be trading them locally for more mealworms.

Cerra do you seperate them up as they change into the different stages or just leave them all in together, I spend ages each day splitting them up onto their different rubs and have ended up with loads of beetles but no babies yet, how long does it take for the babies to appear?.

What I've been doing with my buddy's colony I helped him start is separate every stage that I possibly can. That way the mealworms don't eat the pupae for moisture...same with the beetles to the pupae if they're left in together too long.

When the mealworms start turning into pupae, I have a separate tub for just pupae. Everything that turns into a pupae for about a week's time, maybe two depending on how many worms pupate goes into that tub until everything turns into beetles (of course, when you see the first few beetles emerge, immediately put a small piece of carrot in the bin). I also make sure the substrate for the beetles is about 1.5 inches high at this time tops (1 inch minimum) so I can check for movement from baby mealworms or the dreaded grain mite infestation.

When I start seeing movement in the tub after about...7 to 10 days for me because of the warmer room temperatures the tub is kept in, I sift through the debris carefully with some tongs to confirm that I have mealworms. Once I see about 15-30 baby worms within a square inch in several parts of the substrate, I separate the beetles from that tub via tongs or a substrate sifter with spaces big enough for the baby worms, but small enough to trap the beetles and place them in a new tub to allow the babies to grow and add about 1-2 inches more bedding. By the time it's time to move the beetles again, the baby mealworms should be big enough to put with the rest of your other mealworms (add the remaining mealies to your babies unless they're all about ready to pupate...otherwise just use a tupperware container until they all pupate out). Clean out the old mealworm bin, add substrate, move the beetles to that bin, and start the cycle over again.

Say you have your mealworm colony in a three tub rack like I do at the moment. I have my worms on top, my pupae (soon beetles) in the middle, and when I get rid of the superworms, an empty bin on the bottom. If you follow these steps, the top bin will eventually be the empty tub, the middle tub will be the mealworm tub, and the bottom tub will be the tub with beetles or pupae depending if you decide to scale back on how many beetles you have. Then when the cycle happens again, the empty tub is in the middle, worms at the bottom, and beetles at the top. That way you can keep everything clean and organized.

So basically I'm still rotating tubs and making sure they stay as clean as possible and as organized as possible to minimize the chance of cannibalization. Some say that you need to separate the beetles immediately from the bedding in a week's time regardless of movement since some sources state that they can eat the eggs. With my experience and organization method, I have yet to run into this problem.

To answer your question more directly, though, you'll see movement in about 2 weeks after the beetles emerge from their pupae. It takes maybe 10 days for the females to lay eggs and another week+ for the eggs to hatch. It really just depends on your room temperature (I've had the best luck at 76ºF so far in terms of pupating rates and less death rates).

Whew. If you have any more questions let me know~

That's brilliant thank you, I seem to be doing it right so will check for babies again tonight.

Looks good cerra... only thing I could add is.... MORE FOOD congrats on such an awesome start... let usknow how it goes. Also just an fyi it really is easy doing a super worm colony, all you need is something liek a tackel box that has individual slots, seperate each worm into their own slot, stop feeding and they will pupate and change.

Thanks Kel I'm hoping this colony is going to be successful.

I WOULD start a superworm colony...but I don't really have a reason to. I'm afraid they might hurt Typhon's mouth more and Echinda is too small for them. Also...I don't like the smell of their excrement...it's a lot more pungent than the mealworms. I'm about to clean their bin now since it's obviously a filth issue, but I'm planning on using their value to get more mealworms Especially since Echidna will eat them out of a clear bowl.

Hi Cerra I've just spent the last couple of hours sorting everything out and yes I've got babies little tiny tiny ones so now all the beetles have been moved out into a fresh rub and all the aliens are in a 2nd rub so the babies are left to grow so for now everything is separated, what food should I put in with the babies? the beetles have got carrot and the mealies have got carrot and potato.

Sounds like you have the right idea! I only use carrots with my stuff since I don't like using potato. Just make sure the babies have enough bedding and stay hydrated.

Woo! My pupae are turning into beetles (finally!). Time for the fun to begin.

Oh...and my silkworms I'm holding back from feeding off are turning into cocoons. Hooray!

I've been checking mine daily and I now have loads and loads of little tiny babies so at least 1 success still nothing on the silkies though