How to Breed Meal Worms

Meal worms are often used to feed pet reptiles and amphibians. These golden brown larvae can be purchased at pet stores and are often kept refrigerated when used as food. In order to breed meal worms, they must be kept at a warmer temperature so that the worms can metamorphose into the pupa stage before becoming a darkling beetle. The beetles will then lay eggs which hatch into meal worms.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Shallow container with lid
• Old fashioned oats
• Shallow dish
• Potato
• Carrot
• Orange

1. Poke small air holes in the lid of a shallow plastic container. Rubbermaid and Tupperware containers work well.

2. Pour two inches of old fashioned oats into the bottom of the container. This will provide food for the meal worms.

3. Place a shallow dish containing 1/2 of a potato, a few slices of carrot and 1/2 of an orange. These will provide moisture for the meal worms when eaten.

4. Purchase meal worms from a pet store and place them in the container. Place the lid on the container and keep it at room temperature.

5. Change the vegetables every two to three days so that they do not become moldy. Refill the oatmeal as needed.

References

• Raising mealworms

[mattkauffman]

on 12/1/2009 Is flour ok to use i have about 150mealworms and i wasnt sure they seem to be doing fine??