The easiest method of raising mealworms (that I've found), I haven't seen many that used this set-up. There was a YouTube video that I used to link to, but it's been removed. Someone asked me about my mealworm set-up and since I had to type it up for them, I figured I'd share it here.
Materials
(Links only for example, I didn't buy anything online. The mesh is much cheaper at local stores)
2 totes
Fine Aluminum Mesh
Hot glue gun
Oatmeal
Wheat bran
1. On one tote, cut out the bottom leaving 1" of plastic around the perimeter.
2. Cut a piece of screen to fit over the hole overlapping the edges by 1"
3. Glue screen in place
4. Glue something on sides of tote to keep it from sitting too low when it's nested in other tote. You want about 3 -4" between the bottoms when the totes are together. Originally I was going to use a small piece of wood, like a furring strip, but ended up using a few nuts I had in my garage
5. Add bran to the tote that still has a bottom.
6. Sit mesh-bottomed tote inside of other tote. Add oats and then beetles
As the beetles lay eggs, the eggs fall through the screen to the bran where they hatch. This way you don't have to worry about the beetles eating the eggs/larvae and you don't have to move the beetles every other week or monthly. It's much easier to just swap out the bottom tote with a new one every couple of weeks, so that the worms are all about the same size. It probably doesn't make much difference if you only have a few dozen beetles, but once you get a few hundred it can be tedious. Even with the various 'tricks' out there for separating the beetles.
*I prefer wheat bran to oatmeal (cheaper and easier to buy in bulk). I only use oatmeal for the beetles because it doesn't fall through the screen as readily. It will eventually as they eat it and move around but it stays in the upper bin much longer than bran would.
*I don't like using potatoes, apples, or carrots to provide moisture- I usually use some sort of leafy green. Just pat them dry before laying them on top of the bedding.
* I don't feed straight from these bins, too hard to gutload. I'll usually have a few hundred in another container with some sort of gutload and greens.
Materials
(Links only for example, I didn't buy anything online. The mesh is much cheaper at local stores)
2 totes
Fine Aluminum Mesh
Hot glue gun
Oatmeal
Wheat bran
1. On one tote, cut out the bottom leaving 1" of plastic around the perimeter.
2. Cut a piece of screen to fit over the hole overlapping the edges by 1"
3. Glue screen in place
4. Glue something on sides of tote to keep it from sitting too low when it's nested in other tote. You want about 3 -4" between the bottoms when the totes are together. Originally I was going to use a small piece of wood, like a furring strip, but ended up using a few nuts I had in my garage
5. Add bran to the tote that still has a bottom.
6. Sit mesh-bottomed tote inside of other tote. Add oats and then beetles
As the beetles lay eggs, the eggs fall through the screen to the bran where they hatch. This way you don't have to worry about the beetles eating the eggs/larvae and you don't have to move the beetles every other week or monthly. It's much easier to just swap out the bottom tote with a new one every couple of weeks, so that the worms are all about the same size. It probably doesn't make much difference if you only have a few dozen beetles, but once you get a few hundred it can be tedious. Even with the various 'tricks' out there for separating the beetles.
*I prefer wheat bran to oatmeal (cheaper and easier to buy in bulk). I only use oatmeal for the beetles because it doesn't fall through the screen as readily. It will eventually as they eat it and move around but it stays in the upper bin much longer than bran would.
*I don't like using potatoes, apples, or carrots to provide moisture- I usually use some sort of leafy green. Just pat them dry before laying them on top of the bedding.
* I don't feed straight from these bins, too hard to gutload. I'll usually have a few hundred in another container with some sort of gutload and greens.
