Raise mealworms, they said...

[Lilysmommy]

It's easy, they said... And then you find yourself wrist deep in mealworm poop.

I finally got around to cleaning out my mealworm drawers tonight, which was desperately needed. All three drawers & the spare container were out of bedding & the worms were all just in poop.

Halfway progress shot. That blue bowl is now completely full of mealworm poop.



A few of the drawers.



And the drawer that was by far the most populated, with TONS of babies. That's all a solid mass of mealworms, no bedding or anything in with them.



Finally got them all sorted out from the poop (minus probable eggs and a bunch of teeny babies that went through the colander) and split them into more equal numbers amongst 6 drawers. They have more wheat bran (not as much as I'd like, but I forgot I only had one bag left) and some parsnips and carrots.

Still have more to do for Bindi's food store tomorrow...picking out gross thawed earthworms to arrange for freezing, sorting out the second container of frozen maggots from their bedding, and making more meat grind cubes. Good thing I have a strong stomach most of the time.

[Kalandra]

You were warned that you would be wrist deep in mealworm frass and we weren't lying to you :P. I hate cleaning sometimes, as the population drops off for a while, while you wait for new eggs to be laid, hatch and grow up to be sizes you can pick up. Which may or may not be a good or bad thing depending on your need for worms

[Artemis-Ichiro]

Grow some veggies and use the worms waste to fertilize!!!

I'm sticking to my canned bugs. Lol

[FinnickHog]

Eeeeeew .

I know how you feel. I just cleaned the cricket bin. There were corpses stuck all over the place with eggs laid on them. Insects are nasty.

[Lilysmommy]

It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't let it get so bad. I've been meaning to clean them out for at least two weeks now, but the insect colonies are the bottom of the to-do list. I should be able to keep going for a bit if these ones continue to grow big enough for feeding, but I may end up needing to order some to tide us over. I've ordered a couple times anyway as I need to make sure I have all three stages on hand for Bindi's diet, so I have to have ones big enough to change into pupae & beetles as well as the little ones that are still growing. And now Pancake's eating all three stages too, so we're going through them pretty fast! At least they're pretty cheap, so it's not too bad.

I did consider using it for fertilizer but I still can't decide if trying to grow plants would end up being a help to me right now or not. I know some people find it relaxing, but I'm afraid it'd just end up being one more thing to do & one more thing to take care of regularly. And even if they're just plants, I'd feel bad for killing them out of neglect! I'll probably just end up tossing the poop. I'm sure I'll end up with plenty more courtesy of the colony...sigh.

The crickets are allllll yours, Ashley. Mealworms are bad enough, no way I'm dealing with those things!

[Artemis-Ichiro]

I can't keep anything alive (except hedgies and children). I killed a cactus from lack of water... Sigh...

[FinnickHog]

Originally Posted by Artemis-Ichiro

I can't keep anything alive (except hedgies and children). I killed a cactus from lack of water... Sigh...

I've done that too! It's so embarrassing!

I love plants, but I've been having no luck with anything that isn't in a tropical vivarium lately. I bought a bromeliad and was planning on splitting its babies amongst the tropical pets, but it died way before that could happen. That little plant I had for Finnick is completely dead now, I gave the spider plant away, my lawn looks like a bomb went off... At least I have lots of dandelions, I guess . My neighbors run a yard care company. I think they hate me. Sometimes I go out there and they're weeding my sidewalk.

I should have taken pictures of the crickets. Oh, it was bad. They threw some of the cardboard into the water and were eating it and laying eggs on it. I left it a little longer than I should have, but it's not as big or daunting as your mealworm colony.

[Lilysmommy]

Have killed a cactus as well, though my excuse was that I was in middle school at the time.

Okay, I cracked up pretty good at your yard & neighbors. That's great!! I'm glad I'm in an apartment for now, I don't have the time or energy for yard work right now. Some day I really would like to try gardening, but it'll have to wait until I'm living with more people that can help with cleaning & cooking. Also I have sworn to never have a lawn, I hate them!! I'll get the yard landscaped with native plants, decorative rocks, etc., and/or I'll turn it into a garden for food. Maybe a small patch of lawn will be allowed, for dogs or something, but ugh. I wouldn't be able to stand mowing regularly for no good reason.