a simple way to grow mealworms for your animals
You are wasting a lot of money if you are buying dried mealworms and not growing your own, it is super easy and inexpensive!
read this article to learn about a simple way to grow mealworms for your animals like chickens, reptiles, birds, hamsters, or hedgehogs!
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why should you grow your own mealworms?
Mealworms are not only a tasty treat for your chickens. They are also high in protein.
Buying dried mealworms can get pretty expensive and for some dried mealworms the insides have been taken out making them less nutritious.
Therefore, growing your own mealworms can be a great way to cut costs.
Growing your own mealworm is simple, does not cost much money, and doesn’t take much time.
You can have everything set up in 15 to 20 minutes.
I will say this it can be hard to grow enough mealworms to use as a stable food supply for your chickens.
Because their lifecycle is anywhere from four months to a year, it is hard to grow more than what your chickens will eat.
Because if they had the chance They would probably eat mealworms all day.
but like I said earlier, they make a tasty treat For chickens and have great nutritional benefits.
Mealworm life-cycle
Mealworms are a darkling beetle species and go through four life stages.
The adult beetle will lay eggs, and then they will hatch into tiny mealworms they will shed their shell a few times as they get older.
The life stage is the pupa after the mealworms have grown a few weeks to a few months,
They will turn into pupa they will be in this stage for a few weeks.
Then the pupa will turn into an adult beetle.
During the lifecycle of a mealworm, the time that they are in one stage of life depends on food availability and temperature.
For that reason, keeping them warm and making sure they have plenty of food can speed up their life cycle.
but you want to make sure that there is no old food in the container in which you keep your mealworm colony.
Because this can cause mold, and we don’t want that to happen.
As far as temperature, I have left mine outside over the winter and they were fine, but they did not grow.
Therefore, if you want to grow mealworms during the winter you will need to bring them inside.
Supplies you will need:
1. you will need a container, a tote or an aquarium will work just fine here is a link to a tote on Amazon.
The container will need to have some sort of ventilation if you are growing your mealworms in your chicken coop or somewhere that your chickens can get to,
You will need a lid with holes poked into it or an old screen of some sort to put on top.
Mealworms can’t climb on smooth surfaces like glass and plastic, so unless your chickens can get to the container, you do not necessarily need a lid
2. you will need some sort of substrate I like to use oatmeal or oat bran.
Oatmeal will give your mealworms a place to dig into, and they will also eat some of it.
3. you will need a place where the Beatles can lay their eggs.
For example, a cardboard, a carton, or a toilet paper roll, or you can even use a piece of paper towel.
4. you will need fruits and vegetables to feed your mealworms.
And of course, you will need to buy some mealworms to start your colony here is a link to the ones that I buy from Amazon.
How to set up your container:
1. get your container I like to use a black plastic tote
the reason I like using a black one is because mealworms like being in the dark and also because it keeps the temperature higher than a clear one does.
Then, if you are using a lid, you’re going to want to poke holes in the top.
Or you can use some sort of screen or if you don’t feel it necessary to cover your mealworms that is fine.
2. Get some substrate for your mealworms to live in.
You can use oats, oat bran, or even sawdust, which would work. You will most likely have one of these on hand.
Otherwise, you can just go to your local grocery store and get some quick workouts. They are inexpensive and work great.
3. Fill the bottom of your container.
You will want about 2 to 4 inches of substrate in the bottom of your container.
4. Add in your egg carton or paper towel roll.
This is for the adult Beatles to lay eggs on.
5. Add mealworms.
Now you are ready to add some mealworms. You can either buy them at your local pet store.
Or get them on Amazon for a very reasonable price here is the link to the ones that I like to get.
These mealworms came in great condition and there weren’t a lot of dead ones.
Plus these ones on Amazon are a lot cheaper than the ones at a pet store.
6. Feed the mealworms
So the next thing you want to do is feed your mealworms this will help them grow faster and bigger.
As far as what to feed them, they will eat a large variety of fruits and vegetables.
But you should be careful with some super juicy fruits and vegetables as this can cause mold easily.
Carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, apples, and lettuce are all great things to feed your mealworms.
You will want to add a few pieces of whatever you choose to feed them into the container.
And then you will need to change that out every few days to avoid mold.
After a few weeks
The mealworms should start to turn into Puppa and then into Beatles.
you can then leave the Beatles in the container so that they can lay eggs after that you can remove them.
And put the Beatles in a different container so that they don’t eat the eggs
Or you can just leave them in that same container. I have done it both ways and both ways have worked well
Although the latter one might have given a slightly smaller yield of mealworms But can save a lot of time.
They can be fed to your animals at any stage of their life cycle.
In conclusion
Growing your own mealworms is very basic and can be a great addition to your animal’s diet
whether that be chickens reptiles birds or maybe you even have a hedgehog.
This article was all about A simple way to grow mealworms for your animals.
