Learn from My Mistake: Worm Farm

Ok - you know the saying "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"? Well, the same goes for meal worms, too!

I have a budding farm. It is doing really really well. I have been putting all the bedding from the "Beetle Tub" into one tub - and I see many sizes of little worms. The beetles really seem to be laying alot of eggs - because I have dozens of little mealies!

Thank HEAVENS I started sorting out the babies! When they get about a quarter of an inch long - easily visible and I can pick 'em up - I put them in a different tub. A sort of "Nursury Tub" - different from the "Hatching Tub".

Well, this morning, I discovered that something in the Nursury Tub mildewed! So I have to throw the whole thing away. I'm so upset! I feel like I have to start completely all over again! I'm REALLY relieved that I have ALOT of beetles -- all doin' their thing, and that I still have the "Hatching Tub" - with quite a few baby worms and eggs in there, unaffected by the mildew.

So - from now on, I'm going to have at least 2 of every one of my tubs going. I'll only have the one "worms to feed the gliders" tub - because I have backups of those in the fridge. And when those turn into Aliens, I have 1 "Alien Tub", because I don't give the Aliens food, so nothing to mildew. But now I'm going to have 2 active "Beetle Tubs", 2 active "Hatching Tubs" and 2 active "Nursury Tubs". That way, if I dumbly let something mildew, I won't loose everything and have to start from scratch!

Learn from my mistake!

awww. i'm sorry. that really stinks!!!

The SAME thing happen to us when we started our mealie farm! We learned the hard way and had to start alllllll over... NOW we have three different tubs . I am always in and out of them to make sure they are all doing well.

I've learned a long time ago you have to separate things...because another reason is, if you don't the beetles will start eating the eggs and young worms. So you won't get anywhere lol. I check on mine about 3 or 4 times a day to make sure everything is cool in there...give them water if they need it, clean fresh food every day or every other day depending on what I gave them and how fast they eat it or how likely it is to go bad....and yeah, all that jazz. It's a learning process, everything is. We have to make mistakes to learn how to do it right I think.
I'm sorry you lost everything!! That stinks!! (no pun intended )

WOW!! Sounds like having your own mealie farm is as much work as another pet! I think I'll contiune to just order mine from Grubco....Plus I hate touching thoes darn'd things!

What do you think made your farm get moldy? I have a very successful worm farm and have never had any trouble. All I ever put in there is baby carrots every other day. My bedding is real Oats and dry baby oatmeal. I do have 3 drawers - one for beetles, one for mealies and one for pupae.

I wrote an article on meal worm farming and you can read it on SugarGlider.com - under the link "gliderpedia".

It's not really difficult or time consuming. Just my experience! And my girls love their "home grown" mealies!!!

Over the winter, I was putting apple slices in there. And they would sort of petrify within a day, because the heater in the glider room made the room so dry and warm.

However, now I can't do that. The apple slices mildew. Also, over the winter, the worms wouldn't touch carrots. I think because they dried out TOO fast. So, now I've switched to carrots and everything seems fine for now.

Having a Mealie Farm isn't such hard work - I guess it is sort of like another pet - but a really low maintenance one! It amuses me, and I'm waiting for the day I can feed my babies home-grown mealies! Don't know if it would be any nutricional difference. In fact, I'm sure there is no difference. But if I can really get the worm farm kicking out worms, it would save me about $20 a month or so ...

I'm certain you are right about there not being any nutritional difference!!! I just really like knowing where they are coming from, what they are being fed and kept in, etc. Sounds crazy - but I don't see the home grown mealies as "yucky,dirty worms"!!!