Q&A for How to Breed Mealworms

You can cut out the bottom of the container you keep your beetles in, the beetles will dig down to the bottom to lay their eggs, the eggs will hatch, and the little hatchling will burrow down further to prevent being eaten. Thus it crawls through the cheesecloth, into the bin beneath with the other mealworms. Check YouTube for tutorial videos.

Those are the larvae that just hatched. If you haven't already, move the adult beetles immediately, so they don't eat the larvae.

May not be the right temperature or enough good food sources.

Attach a thermostat to a heat mat. Don't use a light, as they don't like lights.

If there are left over mealworms in your lizard's enclosure, they should be removed. Otherwise, yes, it is natural for them to reproduce.

Just leave them in bran or oatmeal. You don't need to do anything but wait for them to change into pupae by themselves. They will turn a cream color and you can pick them out and put them into a separate container until they turn into beetles.

Yes. Any form of a substrate with the word "meal" in it will be perfect for the worms.

This is only if you don't want to wait for a long time, as mentioned, the chance of meal worms turning into pupae is a lot higher, with a higher number of worms, therefore the cycle will start up sooner, and you will have meal worms within a couple of weeks instead of couple of months.

No, but if you want your worms to be extra healthy and grow a bit faster, add bran.

Yes, as long as you aren't feeding them to animals yet; otherwise, you'll run out.

To obtain a constant supply of food for whatever pet/animal/wild birds they wish to feed.

If this is an organic product, made of grains, or similar in any way to oats then yes, you could use this. But it is recommended to use normal oats because they're cheap and easy to get at any supermarket.

You should put the beetles in a separate bin. You will need at least 2 bins.

Yes, but keep them stored in the refrigerator.

Bone meal provides calcium, so if your mealworms eat it and they are then fed to your animals, the animals will get that extra calcium boost they need. It's always a good idea to fill your feeder insects with the nutrients your animals need.

They probably would, but there are better foods you can give them.

Yes. It would take 6 extra weeks or so to get to a colony than if you would've started with 100.

Yes, but it would be a good idea to add more healthy things to your oatmeal/bran mixture.You could add almonds, kale, broccoli, etc.

Technically, yes - but start with at least 100, or it will take ages for your mealworms to grow and reproduce.

They live in a lot of places, most of them cool and damp. Unfortunately, they also like to live in your cupboards and can be pesky in stored grain.

They can lay up to thirty a day once they mate, but the number will vary.

That is a sign that a mealworm or pupae has died. It is normal for a small percentage of the population to die off throughout the life cycle process.

It wouldn't do any good to do so. They need oatmeal, bran cereal, etc. They need all their bedding as food so when they hatch, they grow up much faster surrounded by food. You could put some really fine sawdust; just remember the more you put in, the longer it will take for them to grow. However, note that wood can also mold.

They can be found at any pet store, or online. Don't use a heat mat if you have a plastic container. Only use a heat mat if you have glass.

Just to be clear, what we commonly call a mealworm is the larvae. The adult form is actually the darkling beetle. As the larvae grow, they will molt and shed their exoskeleton several times. They will only grow to a certain size, at which point they will pupate (turn into a pupa). They do not eat during this phase and barely move. In a couple weeks they will emerge as beetles, which is the adult form.

The beetles live and reproduce for around four to sixteen weeks, depending on how they are fed and how healthy they are.

Unfortunately you can't, but I don't think it would matter that much. You might be able to tell the gender of the beetles but you wouldn't be able to tell the gender of the actual meal worms.

Anything below room temperature is bad. Try to keep them warm for the best results.

Yes. Any type of tank should be okay. Plastic bins tend to be cheaper, however.

Yes. Actually, bloodworms are better for your betta than mealworms. They have more nutrients.