mealworm havesting / picture added...

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 7:24 pm

Wow Liz.... I am impressed. Who would have thought it?

Good luck. I hope you have better luck than I did. Leave it to me to have some unknown thing to invade mine.

CandoAviary · Post by **CandoAviary** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:40 pm

Fluckers Farm love people like you

I still give you an A for effort. I finally zoomed in and enlarged the photo again...my eyes aren't what they use to be. They did look more narrow than the pupae. Where had you been keeping them? I keep mine in the gouldian building where nothing can get to it.

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:48 pm

I think most of us just seen what should have been there ,I had to go back and look again thats not pupae

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:25 am

B CAMP wrote:I think most of us just seen what should have been there ,I had to go back and look again thats not pupae

I am so glad that I am not as dumb as I thought.......

Everyone had me convinced that was pupae and I thought I must be crazy.....

oh well, a learning experience and I have decided that yes... I love Flukers!

mike · Post by **mike** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:31 pm

dfcauley wrote: Everyone had me convinced that was pupae and I thought I must be crazy.....

I'll remind you I was the first to tell you I didn't think they were ;)

However, I don't necessarily think they weren't either and a proper ID would have been useful to everyone.

Post by **Sally** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:00 am

In rereading this thread, I notice that the first thing you said was you had mini mealworms, then you had beetles, then you had the 'white worms' that we all said were pupae. But pupae come between the mealworm (larva) stage and the beetle stage, not after the beetles. So the normal cycle is egg, larva (mealworm), pupae, beetle, egg. Of course, I will have drawers that have large mealworms, pupae, and beetles, all at the same time, but you said you never saw any mealworms. Must have been a 'furriner'.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:56 am

mike wrote:
dfcauley wrote: Everyone had me convinced that was pupae and I thought I must be crazy.....
I'll remind you I was the first to tell you I didn't think they were ;)

However, I don't necessarily think they weren't either and a proper ID would have been useful to everyone.

Well sorry for that...... but at my husband's request we burned them all. He didn't want anything strange finding it's way back to our house.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:54 pm

L in Ontario wrote:Sorry to hear about your outcome, Donna. Hope next time round goes better for you.

Today I just set up a VERY small plastic box for mealworms to 'do their thing'. I had found 5 pupae in the mealie dish in the Stawberry cage so I used those and a few more worms with bran and oats topped with a few layers of newspaper and two pieces of potatoe... we'll see what if anything happens.

So I was checking the box today and the potatoes are going moldy - I tossed the potatoes out. What can I use in place of potatoes that won't go moldy??

The pupae sure do 'jump' or 'shake' when they are touched!! HA HA HA HA HA - they are very funny to me.

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:23 pm

I have been using sliced apples they seem to like them ,I don't raise them but I keep some out for a few days before I feed them to the birds.I tried potatoes and they would go bad and thats when I started with apples

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:28 pm

I guess I have to buy a couple of apples tomorrow. Do you place them on top of the newspaper so the bedding material stays dry?

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:44 pm

Liz
I don't put paper in with them what I do I just keep a few days worth of worms to feed them I put A slice of apple on top of the wheat bran. I keep most of mine in fridge. in wheat bran
Like I said I haven't tried raising them myself seems like to much trouble for me, I just order each month

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:01 pm

Oh okay then. I'd like to try raising them (at least once), and would like to know what can be used in place of potatoes (on top of the newspaper).

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:48 am

L in Ontario wrote:Oh okay then. I'd like to try raising them (at least once), and would like to know what can be used in place of potatoes (on top of the newspaper).

"

Lizl, this is so funny to me that you are trying this. You are more "squimish" than me...... I am proud of you and wish you luck. I have no idea what happened to mine. Something wierd sure got in there.

I would use apples...... they don't go bad as quick. You can put it on top of the newspaper. I also had a sponge in mine.... as Candace suggested. A natural one with most of the water squeezed out of it.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:11 am

I'll try (just about) anything once. Okay I'll get the apple and a natural sponge... hmmm wonder what that is. Can I get it at WalMart?

mike · Post by **mike** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:23 am

If your potatoes are getting mouldy you might need to check the circulation in your container. What should happen is the potato gets dry rather than mouldy. You can also use carrots. With my mealworms I just had to pull out the occasional potato skin every week or so. Do you find your mealworm colony smells a little like ammonia?

I've found that apples mould faster than potatoes and carrots because potatoes and carrots don't bruise (hastening rot).

Try leaving your contain open so that air can get in. Dry bugs are happy bugs.