arf@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Jack Schmidling) (05/12/91)
Article 2372 (10 more) in rec.birds: From: SMG2@psuvm.psu.edu (teri) Newsgroups: rec.pets,rec.birds Subject: Re: raising meal worms In a previous article halfdome@tc.fluke.COM (Alex Dorchak) writes: >Does anyone out there know how to "raise" a mealworm (is that one word >"mealworm" or two "meal worm"?)? As previously mentioned, these birds are big >and will need a large supply of large sized worms. Does anyone else have any >better ideas? ARF says: Meal worms are very easy to raise and almost free once you get them started. I have been raising them for years for everything from bats to toads. I raise mine in an old plastic picknic cooler. Do not use styrofoam, they will eat through it. A five gallon bucket will do in a pinch. Put in several inches of just about any kind of grain. You can use cracked corn, oatmeal, bran, wheat, sunflower harts etc. I generally use a mixture of what ever I have around from bird feeding. If you want to go first class, get a bag of high protein egg laying mash from a feed store. Cut an apple or potato in half and put the halves face down on the meal. This supplies the water needs and makes it easy to harvest the worms at feeding time. If you put a cover on the box, make sure there are lots of air holes or make a cover out of window screen. The tight fitting cover that comes with a cooler will promote the growth of mold and a potential disaster. Neither the larva nor the beetle can fly or climb a smooth surface so you really don't need a cover. It will however, prevent the co-habitation by cereal moths which do fly and are just about impossible to get rid of once they get started. Get a hundred mealworms from your pet supplier and put them on the meal and forget them for about three months. Because of the starvation and treatment by most dealers, probably more than half of them will die but you will have more than enough to start a colony. Within about 30 days, the healthy larvae ("worms") will pupate into little mummies and just rest for another month or so. The pupae will them metamorphose into what is known as the darkling beetle. This of course is the egg machine that will produce your first generation. Larva, pupa and beetles all make excellent pet food and you will have to develop your own management program to assure an adequate supply of egg machines. BTW, I have been told that they are also delicious to eat. Bon appetite, arf