How are mealworms bred? A detailed guide to the methods and steps
How do you breed mealworms?
The breeding technique for mealworms is relatively simple. Depending on production needs, you can carry out large-scale commercial breeding or small-scale home breeding.
(1) Breeding methods
① Commercial breeding This production method can supply mealworms on a large scale as feed, suited to the needs of ornamental fish farming. Commercial breeding is carried out indoors. The doors and windows of the rearing room must be fitted with screen mesh to prevent predators from entering. Several rows of wooden or iron racks are arranged in the room, each wooden (iron) rack divided into 3 to 4 tiers, with 50 cm between tiers, and one rearing trough placed on each tier. The size of the rearing trough matches the rack. The rearing trough can be made of sheet metal or wooden boards. The usual specifications are 2 m long, 1 m wide and 20 cm high. The inner walls of the frame are lined with waxed paper to make them smooth and prevent the mealworms from crawling out.
② Home breeding Home breeding of mealworms is smaller in scale and very low in yield. You can use basins, wooden boxes, cardboard boxes and other containers placed on a balcony or under a bed. Take care to prevent bites from rats and flies, and also prevent chickens from pecking at them.
(2) Rearing models
① Box rearing: make a rearing box from wooden boards (60 cm long, 40 cm wide, 30 cm high), and nail plastic window screen on top to keep out flies and mosquitoes. Place in the box a frame fastened around the box on all sides, with a 10-mesh screen cloth as the bottom, for rearing mealworms; below the frame is the egg-collecting tray, with a wooden board as the bottom. The boxes are stacked in multiple layers on wooden racks for three-dimensional production.
② Plastic bucket rearing: plastic buckets of any size will do. But the inner wall must be smooth and must not be damaged or have fuzzy edges. Place a layer of mesh at 1/3 of the bucket's height, rear the mealworms on the upper layer of the mesh, and collect the eggs below. Cover the bucket with window screen and secure it firmly.
③ Pond rearing: build a rearing pond of 1 sq m in area and 30 cm high from brick and stone, and smooth the inner walls with cement to prevent the mealworms from crawling out and escaping.
④ Rearing room for large areas Rearing usually adopts three-dimensional breeding, that is, multi-tiered racks are set up indoors, with rectangular small trays (60 cm long, 40 cm wide, 15 cm high) placed on the racks, and mealworms reared in the trays. Each tray can rear 2 to 3 kg of larvae.
(3) Rearing management Mealworms can overwinter safely above 0°C, can move about and feed above 10°C, and their optimum growth temperature is 25°C to 36°C, not exceeding 39°C; the indoor air humidity is best at around 60%. South of the Yangtze River, they can be reared all year round. Under particularly dry conditions, mealworms (especially adults) have the habit of cannibalising one another. Mealworm larvae and adults are active both day and night, but are more active at night.
Before rearing, first put fine wheat bran sifted through screen mesh and other feed into containers such as boxes and basins, then put in the mealworm larvae, with a density that just fills the container or at most does not exceed 2 to 3 cm thick. Finally cover with vegetable leaves on top, so the insects live among the bran and leaves and feed freely. The insect-to-feed ratio is 1 kg of insects, 1 kg of bran, 1 kg of vegetable leaves. Of course, newly hatched larvae must be reared intensively, mainly by feeding more cornmeal and wheat bran. As the individuals grow, increase the variety of feed. About every 1 week, replace with fresh feed and promptly top up feed such as wheat bran, rice bran, cake meal, cornmeal, carrot slices and green vegetable leaves; an appropriate amount of fishmeal can also be added. Clean out the excrement about once every 7 days. The suitable growth temperature for larvae is 25°C to 30°C, and the suitable humidity is 80% to 85%; the larvae must moult 15 to 17 times. Each moult makes them a little bigger. When the larvae grow to 20 mm, they can be used to feed animals. Generally the larvae continue growing until they reach a body length of 30 mm and a body thickness of 8 mm; when the largest individuals reach a body length of 33 mm and a body thickness of 8.5 mm, the colour changes from yellowish-brown to paler and their food intake decreases; this is the late stage of mature larvae, and they will soon enter the pupation stage. Early pupae are silvery white and gradually turn pale yellowish-brown. Early pupae should be picked out from the larvae in good time and managed together. During the pupal stage, temperature and humidity must be adjusted well to avoid mould.
The mealworm rearing cycle is about 100 days. Eggs hatch into larvae after 3 to 5 days, and the larvae moult 8 times in succession before turning into pupae. The pupae themselves lie in the feed heap and sometimes move about on their own; after 7 to 9 days, they emerge as adults (moths). When about to emerge as adults, they keep rotating left and right, and after a few minutes or several tens of minutes they can shed the pupal case and emerge as adults. Adults live 30 to 60 days. During the rearing process, the hatching of eggs and the larvae, pupae and adults must be reared separately. When older larvae stop feeding, pick them out and put them in another container to let them pupate, emerge and lay eggs. After 1 to 2 months of rearing, they enter the peak egg-laying period. At this time the egg-collecting paper must be changed frequently, once every 5 to 7 days, and each time the collected eggs are placed separately in hatching boxes for collective hatching. After 7 to 10 days they hatch into larvae. The hatched larvae are then divided out and placed in rearing boxes for rearing. In this way the cycle repeats and they multiply continuously. As long as the room temperature stays at 15°C to 32°C, they can breed all year round. Each female adult can reproduce more than 3 000 larvae each time.
(1) Breeding methods
① Commercial breeding This production method can supply mealworms on a large scale as feed, suited to the needs of ornamental fish farming. Commercial breeding is carried out indoors. The doors and windows of the rearing room must be fitted with screen mesh to prevent predators from entering. Several rows of wooden or iron racks are arranged in the room, each wooden (iron) rack divided into 3 to 4 tiers, with 50 cm between tiers, and one rearing trough placed on each tier. The size of the rearing trough matches the rack. The rearing trough can be made of sheet metal or wooden boards. The usual specifications are 2 m long, 1 m wide and 20 cm high. The inner walls of the frame are lined with waxed paper to make them smooth and prevent the mealworms from crawling out.
② Home breeding Home breeding of mealworms is smaller in scale and very low in yield. You can use basins, wooden boxes, cardboard boxes and other containers placed on a balcony or under a bed. Take care to prevent bites from rats and flies, and also prevent chickens from pecking at them.
(2) Rearing models
① Box rearing: make a rearing box from wooden boards (60 cm long, 40 cm wide, 30 cm high), and nail plastic window screen on top to keep out flies and mosquitoes. Place in the box a frame fastened around the box on all sides, with a 10-mesh screen cloth as the bottom, for rearing mealworms; below the frame is the egg-collecting tray, with a wooden board as the bottom. The boxes are stacked in multiple layers on wooden racks for three-dimensional production.
② Plastic bucket rearing: plastic buckets of any size will do. But the inner wall must be smooth and must not be damaged or have fuzzy edges. Place a layer of mesh at 1/3 of the bucket's height, rear the mealworms on the upper layer of the mesh, and collect the eggs below. Cover the bucket with window screen and secure it firmly.
③ Pond rearing: build a rearing pond of 1 sq m in area and 30 cm high from brick and stone, and smooth the inner walls with cement to prevent the mealworms from crawling out and escaping.
④ Rearing room for large areas Rearing usually adopts three-dimensional breeding, that is, multi-tiered racks are set up indoors, with rectangular small trays (60 cm long, 40 cm wide, 15 cm high) placed on the racks, and mealworms reared in the trays. Each tray can rear 2 to 3 kg of larvae.
(3) Rearing management Mealworms can overwinter safely above 0°C, can move about and feed above 10°C, and their optimum growth temperature is 25°C to 36°C, not exceeding 39°C; the indoor air humidity is best at around 60%. South of the Yangtze River, they can be reared all year round. Under particularly dry conditions, mealworms (especially adults) have the habit of cannibalising one another. Mealworm larvae and adults are active both day and night, but are more active at night.
Before rearing, first put fine wheat bran sifted through screen mesh and other feed into containers such as boxes and basins, then put in the mealworm larvae, with a density that just fills the container or at most does not exceed 2 to 3 cm thick. Finally cover with vegetable leaves on top, so the insects live among the bran and leaves and feed freely. The insect-to-feed ratio is 1 kg of insects, 1 kg of bran, 1 kg of vegetable leaves. Of course, newly hatched larvae must be reared intensively, mainly by feeding more cornmeal and wheat bran. As the individuals grow, increase the variety of feed. About every 1 week, replace with fresh feed and promptly top up feed such as wheat bran, rice bran, cake meal, cornmeal, carrot slices and green vegetable leaves; an appropriate amount of fishmeal can also be added. Clean out the excrement about once every 7 days. The suitable growth temperature for larvae is 25°C to 30°C, and the suitable humidity is 80% to 85%; the larvae must moult 15 to 17 times. Each moult makes them a little bigger. When the larvae grow to 20 mm, they can be used to feed animals. Generally the larvae continue growing until they reach a body length of 30 mm and a body thickness of 8 mm; when the largest individuals reach a body length of 33 mm and a body thickness of 8.5 mm, the colour changes from yellowish-brown to paler and their food intake decreases; this is the late stage of mature larvae, and they will soon enter the pupation stage. Early pupae are silvery white and gradually turn pale yellowish-brown. Early pupae should be picked out from the larvae in good time and managed together. During the pupal stage, temperature and humidity must be adjusted well to avoid mould.
The mealworm rearing cycle is about 100 days. Eggs hatch into larvae after 3 to 5 days, and the larvae moult 8 times in succession before turning into pupae. The pupae themselves lie in the feed heap and sometimes move about on their own; after 7 to 9 days, they emerge as adults (moths). When about to emerge as adults, they keep rotating left and right, and after a few minutes or several tens of minutes they can shed the pupal case and emerge as adults. Adults live 30 to 60 days. During the rearing process, the hatching of eggs and the larvae, pupae and adults must be reared separately. When older larvae stop feeding, pick them out and put them in another container to let them pupate, emerge and lay eggs. After 1 to 2 months of rearing, they enter the peak egg-laying period. At this time the egg-collecting paper must be changed frequently, once every 5 to 7 days, and each time the collected eggs are placed separately in hatching boxes for collective hatching. After 7 to 10 days they hatch into larvae. The hatched larvae are then divided out and placed in rearing boxes for rearing. In this way the cycle repeats and they multiply continuously. As long as the room temperature stays at 15°C to 32°C, they can breed all year round. Each female adult can reproduce more than 3 000 larvae each time.