I am having a problem with my mealworms changing from pupa to beetle. It looks like they are possibly too dry and do not completely shed the skin which results in no wings or badly deformed wings. I have tried increasing the humidity and the temp is kept at 77-80 degrees. I get probably 78-80% of these are bad. Please help. Here is a picture.
what kind of container do you keep them in? do you use a lid? and are they at room temperate or have an heat? oh, and do you separate them from everything else in their own container? when i was breeding mealworms i always took out the "alien" and kept them in a smaller container with just about 1cm of bedding/food. they had a ventilated lid. the container was a clear plastic cup with a screen lid. i never increased moisture, they sat mostly at room temperature. I only had about 5-10% of them dying. If you keep them in with your worms or beetles they may be getting eaten. Beetles and worms will eat the aliens in most cases. Also what are you using as bedding/food? I used wheat bran and whole wheat cereal crushed up. Don't use surgary cereal though. I stuck with "Shreddies or Plain Corn Flakes."
Thanks for the reply. To answer your questions, I am keeping them in litter pans with no lid. They have been separated from the worms as they appear. They are being kept on wheat bran with some chicken feed on top. The room I have them in is being kept at 77 degrees.
If the room is air conditioned then the air is very dry and this is usually the cause of the problem. You can try various things until you find what works best for you.. peat moss as a substrate is good to help keep the humidity up. putting the pupae in a semi-sealed container. Or you could even try a damp layer of sphagnum moss over them. If you have access to untreated sawdust.. that works as well.
The simplest way to the up the humidity would probably be to cover a good portion of the container, and add a small dish or cup of water. You can either lid the container up and add ventialtion holes or cover 3/4 of it with plastic wrap or something to that nature. The water dish should be tall enough so that the worms cannot enter and drown and so that the water cannot come into direct contact with the substrate (prevent mold and bacterial growth). Are you providing an aqequate amount of vegetable matter as a water source? Like AmandaCook, I've found that worms who are not hydrated tend to attack the pupae as a source of moisture as opposed to anything else. Perhaps a nibble here and there negatively affected some of the pupae in such a way that they could not properly complete their life cycle. They should leave each other alone with adequate moisture though, they aren't big on cannibalism like Zophobas sp. Also, these are standard mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) correct? While I was under the impression that the marketed "Giant" mealworms could not reach the pupae stage due to their growth hormone influence perhaps its actually keeping them from turning into beetles if these are the type you have (Not to be confused with superworms, Zophobas morio).
indeed i didn't think about air conditioning. i did not have air conditioning at the time so it was fairly warm in the room on a regular sunny day. for moisture i used pieces of carrots/potatoes/apples for the worms and beeetles. obviously as pupae they do not eat so no need to provide such things but the health of the worm itself will carry on through its life and help it develop properly, as said above. You definitely need to be careful when up-ing the humidity or adding moisture, even when you put in slices of potatoes etc.. put it on a swallow plastic dish or a few layers of paper towel under the slices., do not place it directly on the bedding, else you will end up with mold and bacteria. goodluck let us know how it goes.
