To get straight to the point, what can I feed my meal worms, like oatmeal cuz I dont have bran. there are a couple white things in with them. theyre skinny at the end with flat like tails and fat and rounded at the top, what are they and if theyre going to be beetles should i throw them out because i heard they will kill my other worms. just need some advise because i used to refrigerate my worms but then i found they didnt wake up fast enough or at all in some cases.
Hi! You have some good questions You can definitely feed them oatmeal for the substrate. I prefer the slow cooking oatmeal instead of the microwaveable kind, but that might be just me. You also want to feed them a variety of vegetables for nutrients and water. I usually use veggies such as carrots, kale, collard/mustard/dandelion greens, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and fruits, but most veggies will work depending on what you have in the fridge. The only thing I wouldn't feed them is anything citrus or "sour" like onions. Other members may have some other ideas for you. Be careful not to get the substrate too moist or wet because you will run the risk of getting mold. I used to use egg cartons to raise the vegetables off the substrate and had good results. The white guys you found are mealworms that are becoming beetles. I have never had problems with the beetles killing the other worms, they usually just hang out. You can throw the white guys away if you want to. They are unnecessary unless you are breeding but they wont hurt anything if you leave them in there. So I wouldn't worry too much. : ) Hope this helps!
Mealworms also go crazy for yam slices. I wash the yam than slice of a piece and paper towel dry it. They seem to love this and carrots the most and if you do not mind spending the money they love goldfish fish flakes . I buy a large tetra size for like $4 at walmart and sprinkle it on top of my mealworm cultures and they devour it in a day or two. I read in a fish mag that it provides more nutrition for mealworms so do it and they do love it. Problem is they grow that much faster and turn to beetles that much faster.
you can also use cereal bedding - dry corn flakes, just crush it up a bit.when i was breeding them the worms just loved it. you can also use the cornflakes mixed with some oats. for moisture i used slices of potatoes/carrots. and those things you are describing sound like the "aliens" - they also have small black eyes, and they do not move. you should seperate these so that they don't get eaten by your worms or beetles. these are what turn into beetles, so if your breeding you want to save them and wait for them to morph into a beetle. If you don't want them then get rid of them.
I just feed meal worms carrots, stems from collard greens and sometimes tiny slices of apple they seem to go absolutely crazy for carrots.
We just feed wheat bran and carrots for moisture. They do love fish food though. From time to time we throw some fish food in their bins.
