Let’s begin with the fundamentals. Why would you need to elevate mealworms? Effectively, should you personal unique pets, creepy crawlies like mealworms change into fairly commonplace sights in your house.
Most lizard house owners merely purchase mealworms and different worms and bugs from unique pet shops, and we undoubtedly carry them on the Tye-Dyed Iguana. However if you wish to preserve your individual provide of recent mealworms readily available in your reptile, then you’ll be able to observe these simple steps for elevating them in your house.
And sure, the guidelines additionally embody methods to cut back odors and preserve your mealworms out of sight when you will have individuals over who might not be as smitten by your tiny farm as you might be.
There are principally three steps to elevating mealworms–setting up an space, feeding them, and protecting their habitat clear. Take a look at this info on correctly protecting mealworms at dwelling.
Establishing a mealworm farm
You are actually within the enterprise of mealworm agriculture. Relaxation assured, it’s one of many easiest farms you’ll be able to run. Step one is to have a number of containers for mealworms of assorted sizes.
WARNING: Mealworms will eat one another.
That’s why you actually ought to put massive and small mealworms in separate habitats. Plastic containers with about two or three inches of substrate work nice, and you should use cardboard egg cartons contained in the beetle container for the pupa. This creates a separate degree for them.
As pupa flip into beetles, they are going to merely crawl out of the egg carton and into the substrate beneath.
Pupa and beetles must be stored separate from absolutely mature mealworms, and newly hatched larvae must be separated from people of all different phases. You’ll, after all, must undergo your containers often and rotate specimens to completely different containers as they mature.
On the beetle stage, mealworms lay eggs within the substrate. The simplest solution to separate the brand new larvae is to maneuver the beetles and pupa to a brand new container after eggs are laid. This occurs each few weeks.
When to feed mealworms
Normally, mealworms must be fed each few days. Feeding them just isn’t an enormous time funding, and also you don’t really want something particular. Each few days, present them with some moist meals, which could be items of any recent fruit or vegetable.
Don’t depart uneaten meals after a couple of days. Doing so could trigger mould and odors, and in case your mealworm farm grows mould, you must take away all of the meals and substrate and completely clear the container.
Your mealworms can even want dry meals, which doubles as their substrate. Finely floor entire grains and seeds work effectively for this. Refill as wanted, about as soon as each week or two.
Maintaining the farm clear
Mealworms are usually pretty odor-free, however should you don’t do upkeep cleansing, the substrate can get fairly gross. Simply scoop out waste, lifeless specimens, and molted skins as you discover them, and don’t neglect to throw out outdated meals earlier than it will get smelly and moldy.
Right here’s a ultimate tip. The stage at which you feed these creatures to your lizard is when they’re within the mealworm stage. Which means not all your farm specimens will develop to the pupa and beetle phases. Come watch how we type and feed mealworms at The Tye-Dyed Iguana.
