Meal Worm Care?

[ShutUpAndSmile]

Lol this may sound weird but would like a craft supplies stooge thing work as a home or one of those mini drawer things? Ya know they have the dividers and stuff o.O
Kinda like those things?
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/prod ... xprd408781
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/prod ... =xprd76561

Thank you all for the information. it helps sooooo much

[Hissy-Fit-Hazel]

This type works well as long as you can keep enough air flow. With 3 drawers you would have to keep 2 stages together tho...like dump your tiny hatched babies in with grown mealies (I would worry they would eat them tho lol) plus the added factor of not being able to clean the frass out for a while until they were grown enough...you could clean just before putting them in each time tho.

I also had a bad batch of worms from a store...I had fed lots/many turned to aliens and needed to top up...that killed nearly all of my grown worms I had to start fresh but only with the grown worms. Due to using seperate bins it had no bearing on my aliens or beetles. Many people farm them all together without any issues too.

with the other type of container you posted http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...DID=xprd408781 I've seen some people use these for putting the aliens each in a seperate space. They don't need to eat but beetles will snack on the aliens so I guess the idea is to avoid that with seperation if you can't check and remove beetles from the aliens each day.

[ShutUpAndSmile]

I don't think the big mealies would eat the babies. Maybe I'll go get that later :P It would make cleaning easier too
Do you put anything in with the aliens? o.O like just some oatmeal?
And worst comes to worst I can put the baby ones in this and keep the older ones in the big container that I already have. :3

[Hedgieonboard]

When I separate the aliens I usually do have some oats in there. They don't eat or drink but that way there is something for when the beetles emerge, my alien container is smaller than the rest since there is no movement and I take the beetles as they emerge. You don't have to separate but I like to ensure nothing happens to the aliens and so that the eggs aren't messed up. I find that one of the benefits is you can control the stages and sizes of the mealworms better. I put my beetles on new bedding from time to time and keep the old container and their old bedding. Within a few weeks the bedding will be moving from the eggs that hatched. It keeps the mealworms spaced out. I usually feed the bigger mealworms so it helps out a lot. If I get to many aliens I feed those and do the same to keep the beetle population constant. I have a few different containers but if you are looking for a nice quick at home solution you can always use an old margarine container, they work really good too and you can punch or drill holes in the lid

[ShutUpAndSmile]

Well, I like the drawer thing a lot because I'm working with a really small space and I also have my crickets there it's only really big enough for 1 container. So yeah :P

Hmm I'm thinking for ventilation what if I punch really big holes and then hot glue the screens people use for tobacco bowls over the circles that way it screens them in? I'm worried about humidity and mold lol.

[Hissy-Fit-Hazel]

Originally Posted by ShutUpAndSmile

I don't think the big mealies would eat the babies. Maybe I'll go get that later :P It would make cleaning easier too
Do you put anything in with the aliens? o.O like just some oatmeal?
And worst comes to worst I can put the baby ones in this and keep the older ones in the big container that I already have. :3

I put a bran layer in my alien bin and a bit of paper towel so if they emerge as a beetle upside down they have something to grab onto

Like mentioned already...you can use a small bin for the aliens cause they don't move around or eat. I would go grown worms, beetles and babies in the drawers and put the aliens in the container you have now. I root thru my grown worms all the time with a plastic fork looking aliens & for those that just shed for Hazel to eat so I worry I could damage or kill tiny babies doing that so often.

[Hissy-Fit-Hazel]

If you look on you tube there are a ton of videos with these drawer farms...lots of different ideas on air flow and some have screened the bottoms of the drawers on the beetle bin so eggs fall thru to baby bin under it. Not sure how well that works but ya lots of different ideas for set ups.

[ShutUpAndSmile]

I have to see the size of the container if I can fit all my grown worms in one drawer. :3 So thats why the aliens might go in one drawer.
But that paper towel idea is great xP

Ooo that sounds interesting. -checks youtube-

[Hissy-Fit-Hazel]

I just went and played with my farm "ewwww" ...I HAVE BABIES!!!!! How exciting loll

I have a question now though...this is my first hatch and there are about 50 grown beetles about 3 weeks old max in there that started laying approx Sept 11-ish.

Should I dump the babies & bedding into their own bin and refresh the adult beetles now to start a new batch? or like how long do I leave babies in there? I don't want the beetles snacking on them lol

[ShutUpAndSmile]

Yeah I'd move them to there own thing and then let your beetles make more babies xP