Mealworms are commonly used as food for small reptiles and birds. They can also be a good bait for fishing. They are usually sold in pet stores or can be ordered in large numbers from the growers.

We use large numbers of mealworms and so raise them ourselves.

We use plastic tubs with about a 6-7 inch sides. Do NOT put the lid on the tub, the mealworms won't crawl out. In these, we put 1-2 inches of wheat bran. On top of the wheat bran, put 2-4 sheets of newspaper to give them a dark place to live. For moisture, we use apple slices. Add enough apple slices to last about a week. You should end up with only a peal at the end of the week. You don't want too much moisture so that you end up with mold.

I then bought 500 mealworms from a pet store. The mealworms are the larvae of a beetle. The first thing you will see is a white pupae about 1/2 inch long which will then become a black beetle. It is the beetle that lays the eggs that produce more mealworms. Depending on the temp., it might take a while to get through the beetle stage but once they get started, you'll have mealworms forever.

Norm,

I raise European night crawlers, pretty easy and they eat the scraps to.

I wouldnt mind raising mealworms. Can you elaborate more.

Do you keep them outside?

What happens to meal worms after they hatch? Do the beatles leave?

Wheat bran? Like a box of cerial or what? How about oatmeal?

Are apples neccesarry? I dont buy apples so is there something else to keep the moisture or is that food for the mealworms.

How fast is reproduction and approx how many mealworm are produced in a med size plastic tub.

Thanks

I have raised many meal worms too. I use oatmeal as the grain. I just buy oat meal and grind it a little in a blender or coffee mill. I also use apple peels for moisture but I would imagine you could use many things. You might try banana peels, orange peels, pears, or whatever. After the beetles reproduce they just die. I throw them in the pond for the fish to eat.

Do the beetles die right away? If they escaped that would cause big problems for me from my girlfrined.

Ya, the beatles is was why I asked if there raised outside. How about winter, whats the low temp and for that matter high temp for the summer. I am sure its easy but when you never did it, theres lots of dumb questions.

Joey, the beetles don't fly off, they just die after they've laid their eggs. We raise them in the house and have never found a mealworm around the house. We also have used oatmeal and it works fine. Any kind of fruit or vegetable will work just fine also. Mealworms are scavangers and will eat about anything. They're about as hard to raise as worms. I use a 7 gallon plastic tub and raise about 20-25 a day. I've had these going so long that I forgot how long it took to get them going. It's maybe a month or two. We just get old fruit from the grocery store for free.

Cold temperatures slow MW metabolism way down. They can be kept for several months in a refridgerator without pupating and with a very low mortality rate.