A Detailed Guide to Raising and Breeding Mealworms

The mealworm is the yellow mealworm beetle larva. This insect is rich in fat and protein and also contains other nutrients. Humans can eat it, and it can also be used as feed for scorpions, centipedes, tokay geckos, snakes, soft-shelled turtles, bullfrogs and so on. So, how do you raise and breed mealworms?

1. How do you raise mealworms?

1. Tools: An old washbasin can be used as the rearing container. The old washbasin must have no holes and a smooth inner wall; if the inner wall is not smooth, a ring of tape can be applied to form a smooth band to prevent the insects from escaping. A 60-mesh sieve is also needed. During rearing, it should be placed in a warm, ventilated, dry, dark, clean place free of chemical contamination.

2. Selecting stock: Choose larvae that are large, vigorous and bright in color as the stock, and put them in the washbasin to rear. An ordinary washbasin can rear 0.3-0.6 kg of larvae. In summer, when temperatures are high, the rearing density should be lower; in winter, the density can be somewhat higher.

3. Feed: Wheat bran, cornmeal and other feeds can be given. The amount of feed should be 10%-20% of the insect weight, or based on what the larvae can finish eating in 3-5 days. After the insects have eaten all the feed, sieve out the insect frass with a 60-mesh sieve, then continue to give feed, and appropriately add some vegetables, melon rind and other feeds with high water content.

4. Management: Mealworms are fairly cold-tolerant, but the optimum temperature for rearing larvae is 25-29°C. Below 10°C they are very seldom active, and below 0°C or above 35°C there is a risk of freezing or overheating to death. Mealworms are drought-tolerant; the ideal feed moisture content is 15%, and the air humidity is 50%-80%. Attention should be paid to preventing and controlling diseases and pests such as dry-withering disease, rot disease (soft rot), black-head disease and mites, and also to preventing rats, birds, geckos, ants and so on.

2. How do mealworms breed?

Mealworms reproduce by laying eggs. Adults mate on the 3rd and 4th days after emergence and lay eggs within 30 days after emergence. Its life can be divided into four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The egg is oval, milky white, with markings on the surface; the newly hatched larva is milky white, later turning yellow-brown; the pupa is initially white and semi-transparent with a rather soft body, gradually turning brown and then hardening; the adult is flat and long-oval, with the elytra initially cream yellow, turning reddish brown after 3 hours and dark brown after 3-4 days.