Does anyone here farm their own mealworms?

I do. It takes a little time before you have meal worms large enough to start feeding, but it is very very easy and I haven't had to buy meal worms in well over a year now, closer to 2 years I'd say. In total, it's cost me maybe 2 large containers of old fashioned oat meal... less than 3$ a pieace.

Hey sorry to but into your topic, I'd like to know how you go about makeing a meal worm farm?

I had a few old plastic shoe boxes... I put a few inches of oatmeal in one, bought lots of the biggest meal worms I could find, dumped them in. I put a piece of cardboard egg carton on top and on that put slices of potato (for moisture) and that was it. Change the potato every day (I keep a lid on it so it don't dry out). That's it.

When you notice them turn into alien looking things laying on top... scoop them out and put them in another container with oatmeal and potato and they will then turn into beetles. The beetle will mate for months laying eggs.

Every few weeks to a month I separate the eggs from the beetle so they don't eat them (don't know if they do or not... but just in case)

I keep my worms, eggs, beetle and alien things separate.

I have mine in a 3 drawer container. The top is my worms with a little container for the aliens and right now the second has my one beatle. The third.com using for storage right now.

So you use just oatmeal? I put some wheat germ in there too. I have been giving them fruit right now, but I'm changing it daily.

I'm having fun with it so far! ! At least till I get over run with mealworms!!!

I've also used apple and carrot. Certain times of year are best for certain stuffs. I was gong to use wheat germ too, but someone told me something that made me empty out the container and start fresh with the oatmeal.

I never get over run with the mealies... I have a back yard full of chickens that love them too.

I would not use the WHEAT GERM. It is semi-moist and if you are buying the Jar sold in the cereal aisle of the grocery store it contains other ingredients as well. Wheat germ must be refrigerated to prevent it from getting moldy.

If you can get WHEAT BRAN you can use that along with the Oatmeal as bedding for you mealworms.

When you put carrots or potato in to feed your meal worms always put it on a plastic lid (a yogurt container lid works well) to keep the oatmeal or wheat bran DRY.

Hmmm... i think ill give it a try!!! How long does it take for the new mealies? What wheat germ?

Whats wheat bran? And where can i buy it?

Try looking for Wheat Bran at a health food or Organic Food store. The ingredients should be ONLY "wheat bran", no other ingredients. You can order online also:

http://www.bobsredmill.com/wheat-bran.html

I would just stick with the plain old fashioned oats. When I had a mealworm farm they did just fine in plain oatmeal.

Im definetly going to try with plain oatmeal until i gind the wheat bran... one more question can u keep the mealie farm outside?

you can also get wheat bran in a fifty pound sack at the feed store for between ten and fifteen bucks. I have crashed and burned my farm every way there is. I do not believe there is a single stupid move that could be made that I have not done. In actual fact it is out of production at present and we have been buying worms. Now that I have got THAT outta the way, it's not like a worm farm is a shiny new car or one of your gliders. They are feeder insects. Take a swing at it and don't get too excited about buying the most expensive set up and materials. Get a bushel tote from Walmart and the fifty pounds of bran. Three thousand worms from whichever supplier and you are off and running. I live in the arid Southwest. I add fruit and vegetable matter for the critters to eat and to add moisture to the farm. Easterners who have more humidity and are constantly fighting mold and damp, say this is heresy. Learn what folks in your area do to keep worms going. Don't get too discouraged if you have a dieoff or two.

Wow that many worms jeez lol! But thanks alot that very good info and motivation!

There are people around here that sell them online, and that's what they start with, thousands of meal worms and use huge containers. They usually have them in their garage. I have mine in the house on top the long craft hutch in the ??? room of the house. (We do have dampness that causes a lot of mold, so I do change out their food every day and put the potato etc on a cardboard on a plastic lid 1/2.)

But I didn't start with huge amounts (with 5 gliders and no intent to sell, there is no reason for most of us to have a huge set up)

I started with 2 large containers of giant meal worms from petco, a plastic shoe box sized container, and a few cups of oatmeal. There have been several times had to "feed the birds" because I had so darned many of them! But not too much. You can always put them in a container in the fridge to keep them from turning into beetles and feed them later.

Never had anything kill them all off, although I have thrown out big scoops out of containers because mold got into the oatmeal.

Ufff... much better i didnt know where i was going to find thousands of mealies! But there is a petco around the corner so i will start small!

I have my own mealworm farm. Everyone says you need to start off with a bunch but that's not true, especially if you do not have a large colony of gliders. I started with 300 from Camillies worms and I already have good numbers of worms, pupae and beetles. Mealworm farms are so fun :) Camillies worms are organic too. You should try buying from her online.