Mealworm colony

[Pixie]

Ok, I've started a mealworm colony and all seems to be going great. I've had mature beetles now for a good 10 days running around every where and doing their thing. There's at least 25 of them now in the container if not more.

After how much time do I switch the beetles to another container to have them lay more eggs there?

I never thought in my life that I would be breeding bugs! But I have to admit it's been quite fascinating so far. It's pretty cool to see the life cycle of insects and their changes.

[Linds]

I never move my colonies around, I just keep them in the same container. Maybe I'm lazy, but the idea of transferring hundreds of beetles from container to container just seems too tedious, I'd rather just have more colonies. In my experience, the beetles don't have very long lifespan either. My 2cp on the subject

[Pixie]

I read on some website (can't find it anymore...) that you can start a second colony quicker by transferring the bettles over after a few weeks. That way, they will have laid in both containers and voilà, second batch running. I guess I'll try and do it in another week and a half to two weeks. It won't be a fun a fast job to do but, what the heck!

[silke]

well....i have 21 insect eaters and i have more mealies than i know what to do with...
i have a container with approx 200 beetles in a substrate of oatmeal, wheat germ, oat bran and other grains, spirulina flakes, fish flakes and alfalfa topped with collards or whatever is leftover from making beardie and iguana salad
about once a month i start a new colony by moving the beetles to a new container (while watching a movie since this is tedious work) and leave the eggs to hatch and new mealies to grow
i find they grow faster when you give them something moist to eat like carrots
you'll know they are getting bigger when you get the citin all over the top ... i vacuum this off or blow it into the tub

(sigh, sorry) so i recommend you keep the beetles in there for a few more weeks to do their thing
when the mealies have grown as big as they will get i also remove the pupae since i find the mealies nibble on them as do the beetles
hope i didn't totally bore you

[Pixie]

Thanks for the tips, I will wait a good 2 weeks before switching them to a new container. I'm sure I'll end up with more than I need but then I can always offer to sell my extras cheap to local herpers.