Midas Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 I'm starting up a meal worm culture at the moment. I got some beetles and some larve from someone elses culture and now I seem to have a lot of beetles and not many larve (except a few small ones). Does anyone know how long the life cycle of the meal worm is off the top of their head? I'm just trying to work out how long its going to take to get a decent amount of meal worms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 While I can't specifically answer your question Midas, I can relate my experience with mealworms. I bought some larvae from Biosuppliers - fed some out and put the rest into some culturing containers - they duely turned into beetles and it seemed to stop there - it seems that I wasn't being dilligent enough with feeding of them. Once I started feeding them more regularly the cultures have become a mass of tiny larvae that are growing quite well. I'm feeding mine on slices of apple (and also apple cores - as one flatmate doesn't nibble closely into the core like he should do) - this was recomended to me over sliced potatoe etc. The other thing was the first time a tried culturing them the culture went mouldy - lack of ventalation - just an ice cream container with holes poked in the lid. This time I'm not having those problems as I've cut the whole middle of the ice cream container lid away and fixed a gauze to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 Mine took a few months to get beetles, now it seems I've got a handful of dead beetles and a few little larvae. I think I nearly killed them all by trying to feed them apples. I'd put them in the oat bran the worms were in and then forget them for...Well...way too long. Then everything got really nasty and smelly. They seem to do better if I just leave them alone, which I've read should be ok. I was thinking it might just be easier to buy the mealworms instead of trying to culture them. Last time I looked it was something like $20 for 1000 mealworms from biosuppliers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midas Posted December 12, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 I've been giving mine bits of carrot, which they seem to devour over the course of a week. I had a bit more of a poke around and there seem to be a few small worms so perhaps these are the next generation coming through. I've got mine in the bottom of a 10L bucket with some plastic shade cloth over the top held on by a rubber band. I also have cut out a round piece of newspaper which I have sat on top of the oatmeal mixture which is about 10-15cm deep. When I feed them the carrot I place it on top of the newspaper. I read on the net about someone using a similar system which apparently worked well for them. Rob & Ira, do you find that all your fish eat the meal worms? I was talking to someone the other day who said their fish didn't like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 I tried feeding one big mealworm to my cichlids, they didn't seem particularly interested(Kinda surprising) But it was the first time I'd tried them. I haven't tried any since then because I didn't want to slow down the mealworms reproducing. I admit, I'm not putting much effort into the mealworms, I'm just basically leaving it alone and seeing what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interfecus Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 Can the beetles climb out of an icecream container? I just got larvae from biosuppliers a couple of weeks ago and they're eating the potato I've been giving them. My current setup is an icecream container inside a larger container partially filled with water. I'm worried that when I get beetles they might climb out into the water. On thing you might like to note is that the eggs laid by the beetles take a month to hatch, they may just seem to stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 Interfecus - I've got mine in an icecream container with the cut away lid securing the gauze (it's just some material that I got from a bargain emporium, the materials got a proper name that I can't remember - it's the stuff my grandmar uses for making bath cleaners) - so there is no way the beetles could escape other than eating through the gauze (which they don't seem inclined to do). Also I have never found a beetle hanging onto the gauze, which would have indicated they were trying to escape. Midas - my larger rainbows happily munch whole mealworms, the catfish will hoover up any that may reach the bottom. The cichlids (I don't have any really large ones) will eat the chopped up mealworms OK. Another food you guys may want to try are waxworms - don't get quite as long as mealworms, but more chubby and have a nice soft body. So far my attempts at successfully culturing them have failed - but there are sites on the web that say how they can be cultured - I just need to perfect my technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 Hi all Many years ago I had my own, very successful cultures of mealworms. Easy to maintain. This time I tried Vinegar Eels. Followed the recipe to a tee. Now after 6 weeks, guess what I've got? A bottle of vinegar and sugar. :oops: John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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