Seekeroftruth
Active Member
- Messages
- 115
- Location
- Tenessee
About 6 months ago I purchased about 50 dollars in mealworms. Before the purchase, i called the vendor to make sure that these were not hormone treated and that they could be used to start a colony. He said they were not treated and yes i could use them as colony starters. They were eating and molting like crazy. Impatient with the process, i purchased 50 dollars worth of newly hatched darkling beetles from an online vendor, marketed as "colony starters". All of the mealworms I had purchased from the initial vendor have long pupated into beetles. Ive had a steady supply of hundreds of darkling beetles for about four months. I see them breeding every time I feed them.
I thought my farm was a success and that I was just being impatient, but the more I read, im beginning to think that my beetles are sterile. Im reading that it should take a few weeks for darkling beetles to begin laying eggs and a few weeks after that for them to hatch. At that point, the baby mealworm larve should be visible. It's been 4 months of waiting on baby larve, and I counted maybe 10 mini mealworms in my bin.
I've had them in self sorting bins with screen for the eggs to fall to the second level. Ive also checked the beetles bin and have found no larve in it.
I keep them at about 75 degrees, in a dark room, on wheat bran and oats, with potatoes, grapes and occasionally berries as moisture. It's really not rocket science and they are known as prolific breeders.
I was wondering if anyone has ever waited longer than four months for your beetles to produce mealworms large enough to see? If this is not typical, im disappointed to think that I've been scammed 100$ from two separate breeders who lied to me about their product. I'm seeing dead darkling beetles here and there in my beetle bin which makes sense as they tend to only live a few months before dying. All of these beetles and mealworms were purchased as breeding stock and were not used as feeders... So I have thus far not benefited anything from purchasing them. That's a lot of money down the drain for nothing. Does anyone have experience with this? Im seriously considering never buying mealworms again. Not even close to being worth the risk.
I thought my farm was a success and that I was just being impatient, but the more I read, im beginning to think that my beetles are sterile. Im reading that it should take a few weeks for darkling beetles to begin laying eggs and a few weeks after that for them to hatch. At that point, the baby mealworm larve should be visible. It's been 4 months of waiting on baby larve, and I counted maybe 10 mini mealworms in my bin.
I've had them in self sorting bins with screen for the eggs to fall to the second level. Ive also checked the beetles bin and have found no larve in it.
I keep them at about 75 degrees, in a dark room, on wheat bran and oats, with potatoes, grapes and occasionally berries as moisture. It's really not rocket science and they are known as prolific breeders.
I was wondering if anyone has ever waited longer than four months for your beetles to produce mealworms large enough to see? If this is not typical, im disappointed to think that I've been scammed 100$ from two separate breeders who lied to me about their product. I'm seeing dead darkling beetles here and there in my beetle bin which makes sense as they tend to only live a few months before dying. All of these beetles and mealworms were purchased as breeding stock and were not used as feeders... So I have thus far not benefited anything from purchasing them. That's a lot of money down the drain for nothing. Does anyone have experience with this? Im seriously considering never buying mealworms again. Not even close to being worth the risk.
