How To Breed Mealworms! Mealworm Farming 101
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- čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
- This is a step by step guide on how I breed my mealworms for all of my reptiles. Breeding mealworms is extremely easy and anyone is capable of doing it!
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❤❤ i love your videos please pin this you are the best keep making videos you are the best🎉
Thank you very much 😁
Starting a mealworm farm was soooo easy. Now i sell mealworms to my buddies with chickens. Originally it was just to have free food for my leopard geckos. Now it's a whole side hustle.
That’s what I love to hear! Yup it’s very easy and you can definitely make it a side hustle congrats on your success!
What's the going rate for live mealworms?
So easy that when I released a few in my lizards tank, they dug into the damn styrofoam I had on the bottom of his tank and have survived for months under the styrofoam layer eating nothing but moss and styrofoam I didn't even intend to start a colony, it was entirely inadvertent and I never realized that these little guys can consume just about anything! I wonder if their bodies can break down microplastics and clean up our mess... I'm starting to think that alternating the species into my crop soil every 3-4 years to purify the soil of unwanted micros is feasible!? I think I've discovered another use for the little buggers that might have a huge positive impact on the environment!
@@CriminalonCrimeit might be dangerous for your gecko to eat worms with styrofoam in them, just make sure it’s safe 😀👍
@@ChiefSweetsUniverseis it possible to spend no money on food for an leopard gecko if I breed multiple type of insects?
Thank you so much for teaching me how to make a mealworm farm! I feed them to my jumping spider Pumpkin!!🙏🧡
Happy to help
Thank you for this clear video! I was overthinking on how to design a tub that can separate adults from babies but thanks for assuring us we don’t need to overthink! Glad to know they lay tons of eggs that will more than replace any worms the beetles cannibalize hehe
So basically once you see the mealworms in the "beetle bin" you transfer them to the mealworm container and vice versa with the pupae. Great info 😊
Yes and the pupae is really the only thing that you have to take care of. Cause the worms and the beetles will eat those
great video, thank you!! I am just now starting to get beetles in the last couple weeks but wasn't sure why I had so many dead pupae. I just moved all the pupae into my beetle box and am hopeful for more success going forward! My ducks thank you :)
Happy to help! Yes the worms will eat those pupae fast!
Thank you ! Helps more than you know when it comes to fathering reptiles on a budget
Happy to help
Bro, thank you. Made my life a hell of a lot easier after watching this 😊
Happy to help!
You are so encouraging buddy! Thanks man
You're awesome. Always appreciate your help.
Thank you happy to help
You are a beautiful man! I am up to my neck in work- too many animals, and feeling burned out. I got a shipment of Vermont meal worms ahead of schedule. Their arrival was another wrench in my cog. But I think I got this❤
Thank you for a short, simple and non babaling video. This was great information and easy to understand
I’m glad you enjoyed thank you
Another banger appreciate it bro!
Thank you glad you liked it
I'm so grateful for your videos! For a very long time I've been dreaming about keeping tarantulas, but I realise it will unlikely to happen due to the work required to keeping the live feed. I'll be checking your roaches video, though it would be the least appealing choice for me. These guides are super cool though, and I can see how easy it is. Maybe if I had many tarantulas it would be worth the effort of keeping live feed. Thank you for your work, I appreciate it!
Happy to help!
Dude. Thank you. Meal worm madness.
Happy to help
Straight to the point and relevant information! Nice video! 👍
I'll do a mealworms farm to feed my razorback turtle. Is it safe to feed my turtle with the beetles?
Thank you I appreciate it. You can but as a occasional treat.
Very helpful tutorial for my ants food. Thanks!
Happy to help
Thanks dude! I have a dubia colony for my critters and wanna try mealworms again to have another consistent staple always on hand. The first time I didn't know I was supposed to separate them WOOPS! 😅 I'm an overthinker so you saved me a mental spiral or 10 🙏
Happy to help! Yeah definitely seperate the pupae and you will be golden
thank you thank you thank you!!!!! your video was awesome!!!
Your welcome happy to help
Great way to always have bait for fishing 👍
That too!
Thanks for the advice
Happy to help
Very helpful video! Thank you!
Happy to help!
u too cute to be out here making maggot 💀
Nice videos so far easy to understand ,
Thank you! I’m not a teacher but I think I’m getting better at teaching the more I make videos 😁
hahah it's like "do it and that's it, duh" and it really is like that. I'm excited.
Celery is really good for the food too
This is the most helpful video
Thanks I started breeding meal worms and I keep them as pets there cool to look at
They are pretty neat
thanks lots brother ❤ I like your speak so much
Thank you
I feed the robins and mocking birds in my back yard. They have their own bowl they can grab them out of. And if I'm outside, I keep a container of them so when they fly down and “ask” ( chirp at me or walk up to me ) for some I have some to throw on the patio for them to eat.
Bro your the best :)
Cool vid,what temperature to make the pupae at?
Thank you for the video. Honestly i was overthinking it. I did seperste the pupaes from mealworm and adults. I accidently squished an egg trying to tranfer adults to bigger bin😂. They are all ruthless cannabals..some adult bettles were eaten. Im starting small. 15-30 adult bettles and puppaes each. Mixed two diffrent mealworms from diffrent areas. Im breeding for my future 200+ Jumping spider slings and 6 adult Jumpers atm.
Happy to help! No worries everyone overthinks it as well. Yeah you’ll definitely have enough food breeding the mealworms
OMG you're the best!!! What if we just want to occasionally bring some home from Petsmart? Can you pls make a video on how to store and care for those? I was told to put them in the fridge again so they remain "dormant". Can you please make a video on this option? How/when would these be "gut-loaded"?
Will do that’s a great idea!
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse Thank you! I've been binge-watching all your videos. Best channel to learn how to care for bearded dragons. I just recently got a baby bearded dragon and want to give him the best life possible!
@@glorias.2930 happy to hear that glad I could help!
I’m weird, I know, but I’m considering keeping some mealworms as pets, and so I’m planning to create a naturalistic environment for them. A few questions: (1) Do you think a dry sand substrate would work well for them (or maybe moist potting soil?) ... and have a separate feeding area/dish? (2) some people mention that smell is an issue. How often would you recommend cleaning to reduce smell? (3) How long do the adult beetles live, approx.? BONUS QUESTION: I’m thinking of starting with a very small population ... what do you think of the following names for my mealworms (baby pet beetles): George, Paul, John, and Ringo? 😃
That sounds awesome! I feel like my roach colonies are my pets at this point. Names are great. Beatles is a good band haha. Now smell only occurs from old substrate they don’t smell themselves really. You could use a special mix substrate I think sand alone wouldn’t be good. Peat mixed with play sand at 70/30 ratio would be good.
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse Great, thanks! I’ll try that. 😄
Bro, I just recently found your channel. I’m about to get a leopard gecko. Your videos have been super helpful. Thank you.
Happy to help!
Great video. I have had my mealworm farm for about a year and I’ve spent time cleaning what I believe was Pooh from my original mealworms. Using unprocessed bran as a medium I would sift the Pooh that the bran and worms would not fall through. You didn’t mention it as a requirement. Do I stop doing this. Now that my farm is established I’m worried it will be eggs that I sift out.
After I sift a bin, I keep the frass for a couple months. I sift it every couple weeks and have always found tiny worms. Just keep sifting until you don't have any more worms. I don't know if it is neccassary, but I leave a handfull of oats and a carrot or stalk of celery. You can sell the frass or use it in your garden as a fertilizer (NPk222) Don't forget to where a mask. Some people develop allergies from the dust.
My main issue is that the carrots still make thr oats mold even when i have really good ventilation. Im having to completely replace the oats every 4 to 6 weeks since part of them mold and the rest stale and get hard.
Use whole carrots. They don’t have the juicy outside. I only have to replace oats like once a year.
I've mixed vermiculite with my oats to help prevent excess moisture, lmk if this is a bad idea, also a small fan or breeze can help influence ventilation. It may be getting stagnant.
I use a small temp/humidity sensor that monitors this. Govee makes a decent one and can give you daily to monthly readings on the app
Sounds like you live in high humidity or need more ventilation to both.
May I ask what is the material u used to mesh the middle drawer.. I keep looking for the exact thing at stores with mo luck.. I just want to make sure I have suitable holes.
Sorry my bad it’s aluminum screen you can find it at Home Depot or lowes for windows
I want to ask if the oatmeal needs to be in the blender, or it's not so important, because when i put the blendered oatmeal there is something like dust and it sticks onto the worm's body and is this a problem like they can't breathe or something else.
I’ve got loads of pupae that I’ve transferred to another tub but they don’t get to the beetle stage they just go dark brown and black and die! But I gut load the worms before they turn to the pupae
The pupae turns brown and then black before the beetle emerges. That's normal.
How long do the mealworms last if they aren't refrigerated? Keeping them cool keeps them in their mealworm state so they last longer and don't pupate. Do you transfer them to a fridge at all or I guess you have enough reptiles to feed so you don't have to
They last pretty long in the mealworm state I’d say about a maybe two months. I don’t refrigerate any of mine
I got started on my own mealworm farm a month ago for my gecko and im gonna grow them to adult beetles.
Unfortunately i didnt have any oatmeal. So i came up with an idea to Crush a loaf of bread into coarse pieces as substrate.
You could also use top soil from Home Depot
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse yeah infact one time i used water on frass and all of a sudden. It turned into soil before my very eyes
Is using oat meal a must? I normally buy mealworms for my leopard gecko but I’m debating breeding them for a little side hustle. I’ve just been using a soil kinda thing for my current mealworms is that okay to use?
Oh yeah that’s ok as well. You can use many different substrates.
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse thank you. appreciate the helpful video
What’s the mesh screen size (tiny holes) that you used so the eggs can fall thru. Please and thank you.
Just basic window screen. Idk the size because I believe all window screen for houses are the same size.
Well that's one way to keep chaia and Keenu out of your room when we go over! 😂. They couldn't stay out of your room when you only had all the gaming computers set up!
😂😂😂 they might think it’s cool you never know!
oh these are my pets !!! 🥳📣🎂😉
😁
I accidentally had meal worms appear in my Dubia Roach enclosure. I think a beetle from the first bag I bought the first month of caring for my roaches, mated with another beetle from a second bag I had bought when we ran out of dubia roaches like a month later. I know its a long time, but they came from somewhere lol. Now I am taking my adult dubias out of the container, and moving them to a new setup away from the meal worms lol
Lol that’s crazy! Kind of lucky 😂
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse That's what I am saying! So now, watching more and more videos, I want to maybe getting into selling them locally so I can help sell cheap Meal worms to reptile owners or whatever eats them. I also just made some recent local connections, and I will be seeing them soon and talking about this with them.
I'm having trouble with mites in my meal worm bins. Have you had any issues or ideas on how to get rid of them? I used oats as the base and baked it in the oven first to ensure it was mite free to start with but eventually the mites showed up.
I put a bead of vaseline about an inch from the inner top. I sprinkled organic green pea flour in the substrate. The green or yellow pea flour kills the newly hatched mites and the adults get stuck in the vaseline. Voila! No more mites
@@cathyhanley8658 thank you - I pretty much did exactly as you stated after researching the mites and it worked really well. They are all gone now!
They are so nasty. I'm glad you had success.@@shaunneal9981
So how do you change the oat substrate when there are tons of mealworms in there? Do you just pick the bigger ones out of the bin and throw the rest away?
Now that is a great question and usually I have a sifter like screen mesh kitchen strainer and just pour it through that and it will catch most mealworms and all the oats usually go through the sifter
I’m looking into getting a bearded dragon. But we also have some chickens. How fast do they lay eggs and how fast do the eggs hatch? Cause I’m worried I may get too many. I don’t know many people who need the meal worms for any other pets.
So one the baby mealworms hatch in the beetle box you just move them over to the mealworm box?
Yeah you can you can just also leave them if you want. The pupae is really the only things you want to move.
What's the timeline from worm to pupae to beetle to egg back to worm?
That’s a good question mine will take about two months.
The beetles can be fed as well? I've tried offering the beetles before and my reptiles weren't interested in them
Yeah they can but that is true most reptiles are like na don’t want it. My uromastyx like them though haha
Hi, I have very small baby mealworms. I got all the beetles out of the container. What vegetables do you feed the babies with? I think carrots are too hard for them, they are very tiny
They eat the oatmeal. The carrots are just for hydration.
can you use corn meal as a container bedding??
Yes 100% but I’m not a fan of it just cause it’s way more dusty
Can the beatles be fed to chickens or are the worms better for them?
Yeah they can the chickens might not like em as much but they do eat them
So I just entered the reptile world with our first beardie. If we only
Have the one would it be simple enough to just throw them in a box and never sift or move them? Even if the Beatles eat some I’m assuming we could get enough meal worms to feed one beardie?
Yeah you could totally do that. Sometimes I get lazy and just leave em. You wings get as much back but they will still reproduce
Hmmm sounds like heat is going to be a bigger challenge when we have winter half the year
Yes that is very true when they get cold they will not breed fast if at all and will slow growth tremendously
Good thing to know comod oatmeal is good for something! 😂
How long it take?
Don't forget to bake your outs at 175 for 20 minutes. Even store bought oats can have mites on them
Where do u buy the mealworms to start the colony?
Rainbow mealworms
Thanks alot,,,,,can I feed my chickens with mealworms???
Of course! Chickens love mealworms just make sure to breed a lot more than I did in this video haha. Might have to start with 3,000 mealworms cause chickens will eat a lot
Im scared of insects… and as soon as i saw that they evolve into beetles, i dont think its an option for me anymore 😂 theres a pupa thingy in my container from petco im getting rid of that immediately
So do the beetles go to the bottom of the container to lay the eggs ?Im confused on where they lay them
Yes they lay them on the bottom
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse thanks
If u use a 3 layer plastic shelf,beetles on top cut rectangle and hot glue screen. Eggs fall to next bin with mealworms then hand pick larva ,place in bottom bin. New beetles are white then brown then turn black..place into top container.
the eggs vaporise, you breathe them in, and they hatch in your lungs
@@cvspvr good to know lol
Hey man just wondering if I should be concerned about inbreeding I just started a cricket colony and now want to start a mealworm colony
I haven’t really ran into that issue but you can get new breeders once a year
thx man @@ChiefSweetsUniverse 👍
ughh beetles make me shiver 😭 they’re scary, idk why. I guess ima just have to deal with it, because I H8 ROACHES, I’ll never get them, and my gecko needs multiple types of insects. Thanks for this video :)
Happy to help!
I’m trying to start a mealworm farm for selling to chicken owners as it became legal in my area and for food! Fried mealworms taste like potato chips!
How long do the beetles live. I’d like to feed those to my green tree frogs before the beetles die get extra free food
They live a couple months but sometimes they do die quickly
So basically just protect the pupae. 👍
You got it! Protect them at all cost! 😂
Do I have to bake the oatmeal? I’ve been reading online..
No I never have never had a issue however some people do to make sure they don’t get grain mites
Can you use wheat bran as bedding?
Oh yeah that works
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse Great content! Easy to understand and to the point 👍
I was told that oatmeal has micro mites that eat the bugs that come out of grains, and those will eat and kill the mealworms.. aren’t we supposed to heat the oatmeal in the toaster oven for a while to kill those mites and any bug eggs in the grain?
Grain mites are a thing but I’ve never ever had them
Some say the beetles fly, some say they dont. Im unsure. Whats your experience with this?
I’ve never seen one fly at all.
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse Im probably just paranoid, but what species are your mealworms? I've read that ceartain species can rarely fly.
I've heard they have wings which are used as a mating ritual, if the enclosure gets too crowded and they can't get food they use the wings to jump and not fly. I may be wrong though!
No wings to fly it's impossible
I had a really successful mealworm farm and my chickens loved them but then aouse got in and ate all the mealworms, pupae and beetles and now I am beginning again
That’s unlucky. Good luck on the new start
can you use rolled oats?
Yes, I have mealworms that I'm pupating now and they eat them fine.
Corn meal works too right? 🤔
yeah but im not a fan of it however it does work
Mealworm farming is insanely easy, i thought it will be a little hard😂
Oh no it’s superrr easy haha.
Is humidity important ... If so how to keep humidity up and not have them die with 80 degree heat?
What’s the resale value of the worms
You can sell 250 for $10
😎
😁
Can they still lay eggs with nothing for carpeting? It’s just a plastic container
They will still lay the eggs but the worms and beetles will probably eat them if they don’t have substrate
I found using paper (of a sort) at the bottom of the container yield much more eggs. Replaced daily before the Beatles eat all the eggs. I can see where there was once eggs on the paper that got eaten. I estimate I got more eggs in 3 days than all the worms I started with.
Note: the eggs are very very fragile and can be damaged very easily
I used to keep mealworms and super worms and I kept getting mites how do I prevent that from happening?
Mites only come in if too high moisture i think.
bought 500 mealworms over a month ago..there are now only a few beatles and lots of black mealworms and black pupae?
can i save this bunch? are these all dead?
Yes the black pupae and mealworms means they died. The Beatles will breed tho so it’s good you have those. Did you seperate the pupae form everything else
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse yes, I separated pupa, worms and beetles aftr watching your video. How often do you put in new oatmeal?
@@101Cecilia I put in new oatmeal once it seems they have eaten all done to a powder. Maybe like once every 6 months but if you have a huge influx of mealworms maybe once every 3 months. That is peculiar that they died. Hmm maybe too hot. And you give fresh baby carrots every two days?
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse I prolly didn’t feed them enough, and my house does get a little warm. You’ve answered sooo many questions I had floating in my head
THANK YOU for taking the time to respond- AND SO QUICKLY!❤️
I have a question, can bearded dragons eat the beetles? I’m just wondering
They can most don’t like the taste tho
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse mine does seem to like them
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse I’m also asking because I let my dad take care of my bearded dragon for 2 weeks while I went to a trip, and somehow he let all the mealworms die and there’s only beetles now 😂
@@Johan_FRLN oh no I think they just grew up then lol.
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse i don’t think so, because there was over 400 mealworms, and there’s only about 100 beetles. They probably committed cannibalism as you mentioned in the video
if you start having worms in the beetle box then what is the point of moving them over??
It’s really just to keep the pupae alive. The worms like to eat the pupae. Sometimes the Beatles will too but in my experience not that often if at all. So you’ll start losing beetles and it slows down production
I think the beetles eat the baby mealworms a lot less often than the savage worms eat the pupae - that and they lay loads of eggs so while some will get munched, it's making the best of an imperfect setup.
I'm using a little (3rd) tub that the pet stores sell live insects in so I can seperate the baby worms and beetles if needed/as a backup.
I have started my mealworm farm back in November of 2023
Very nice!
So do I add carrots to the second container as well?
Yes beetles need carrots as well as the mealworms
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse ty so much the more I watch this video the more I think I can do this, lol.
@@jaynpenny oh yeah you definitely can super easy. The only thing you need to do is just make sure the pupae are safe and you will be getting tons of mealworms
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse perfect I have 30 hens and they love mealworms.
@@jaynpenny very nice! For 30 hens might have to start with around 3,000 mealworms and you should have tens of thousands in a couple months 😁
How long until they turn into pupae?
Maybe a week or two
@@ChiefSweetsUniverseI've got a good handful of pupae already in 1 week (live worms bought from pet store) - but how long do they pupate for before becoming beetles?
Do they bite?
No they are harmless
So I've finally got the black bugs,but they keep dying??????and sometimes they don't fully change to bug before they die??????? Am I doing something wrong or it's normal???
Congrats on the black beetles! So what you need to do is make sure they have access to fresh carrots at all times. Sometimes if it’s too dry they will just die
Thank you 😊
Do they need light at all?
They do not. So you can keep them in the dark
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse
Thank you.
What do you do with your beetles? Leave em? I want to feed my gecko the worms and perhaps the beetles can go to my chickens
this seems much easier to do than breeding other insects for feed.
I think so myself
What are the black bugs in there
Beetles. It’s what the mealworms evolve into
How long until beetles lay eggs?
Should be a month
@@ChiefSweetsUniverse Thank you
@@ChiefSweetsUniverseHave I got this thing wrong? Do the beetles have to be beetles for a month?
Can you eat the beetles aswell?
You’re not meant to eat either-
@@PatriceStair Could you please elaborate as to why? I've heard the worms are healthy and in my opinion they taste alright.
@@winterbirdwb8554 are you talking about humans eating them?
@@PatriceStair Yes.
@@winterbirdwb8554 what that’s weird man they’re meant for animals…
How to deal with their poop? I can’t separate the babies and their poop.
But I didn't quit understand how to separate the eggs from the Beatles
I just need enough for 1 regal jumping spider
With this you would have enough for 1,000 😂