Complete Mealworm Guide

Mealworms can be a great source of nutritious food for your pets and through knowing how to house and breed them - you will have an endless supply! This breed of larvae is particularly enjoyed and healthy for reptiles and are as near in popularity as crickets for feeding.
Not to be confused with actual worms, if left to grow the larvae will turn into a pupa before hatching a Darkling beetle.
One of the greatest advantages of using mealworms for feed, is the impressive rate of which they breed and the convenience of being able to breed them yourself.
How Can You Prepare Housing For Mealworms? After purchasing the mealworms, you will need to bring them home and place them in a pre-prepared housing unit.
If your intention is not to breed from this batch then you should place them in the fridge in a tight container (the last thing you want is a Houdini on your hands!) By refrigerating them, you will be slowing down the growth process and can prevent the transformation from larvae to beetle.
Not only that, but like all meat - it will stay fresher for longer.
For breeding purposes, it is quite a different story and the recommended temperatures are between 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Your container doesn't have to be opulent - a simple container that has smooth sides to prevent escape will be on the right specifications.
In terms of size, you will need to have an approximation on the amount you wish to store in any given time.
On a large scale for example, a glass or even plastic container that can withhold twenty liters will be adequate for 5,000 mealworms.
Add to that a secure lid and some ventilation holes.
In any case, the worst thing you can do is choose wood which they can munch through or climb up.
Cricket food can supply your mealworms with bedding and a food source, you should add to the container so that it levels about two inches from the bottom.
They won't need a lot of fluid and certainly not a water bowel which will create numerous drowning incidents.
Place a portion of fresh fruit of salad leaves and make sure to change daily or every second day to prevent mold.
How Can You Breed Mealworms? Once you have bought a reasonable supply of mealworms, you can add them to the container and leave them to grow and pupate.
You will need a little patience as it can take ten weeks for larvae to transform into pupae, with a following two or three weeks to hatch into beetles.
Seriously, it is as though these insects were born to breed - they get straight into it after just two weeks of hatching and will keep up the good work until they die - anywhere up to fourteen weeks later.
You will recognize how the female beetle will bury herself in the substrate to lay her eggs which take between one and four weeks to hatch.
A vital point to make is that fully grown beetles and even pupae can use larvae as food - separate them by setting up a new container.
You will not need to clean out the container very often, just when substrate becomes wet.
You should approach with care as not to disturb the breeding and recently hatched eggs.