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Jan 12, 2022 - 01:18 PM
Our pupate readily at a very specific temperature range. Any colder than 70° they will have slow metabolisms and it will take many, many weeks. Any warmer than 85° and they will become too warm, not allowing their metabolisms to slow enough for them to enter pupation. If you can keep them right between 75 and 80° that is the prime temperature for pupation to occur readily. They must be kept at a depth of no more than 1.5" and have their droppings (castings) sifted out every 2-3 days. You can do this with a large flour sifter (the semi-circle type with a handle). And sift the worms from one bin into another. When you have beetles who have laid eggs, you must stop sifting or you will lose your eggs as well. For the home breeder, we recommend using the good instructions found on either of these two websites: * http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworm... * https://bugible.com/2018/03/20/how-to... Our regular mealworms are naturally raised with no chemicals or vitamins added. Lots of people choose to eat our worms and we are extremely careful in our methodology in rearing them. We only feed them human-grade carrots and bran we buy from a mill that sells it to bakeries. We pay quite a bit more, but we are extremely cautious and conscientious.
PS: Regarding Giant Mealworms: To grow our Giant mealworms we alter the temperature, light hours, and diet of our mealworms in their last stages to delay pupation causing them to expend the energy reserved for metamorphosis and instead use it growing larger and longer. Once in your care, however, when Giant mealworms are in normal 'mealworm' conditions some (though not many) will pupate. The resulting beetles will be able to lay eggs, though they have used so many of their stored resources growing that the few eggs they lay will not be useful for breeding purposes. The resulting worms that hatch from those eggs will be regular mealworms.
PS: Regarding Giant Mealworms: To grow our Giant mealworms we alter the temperature, light hours, and diet of our mealworms in their last stages to delay pupation causing them to expend the energy reserved for metamorphosis and instead use it growing larger and longer. Once in your care, however, when Giant mealworms are in normal 'mealworm' conditions some (though not many) will pupate. The resulting beetles will be able to lay eggs, though they have used so many of their stored resources growing that the few eggs they lay will not be useful for breeding purposes. The resulting worms that hatch from those eggs will be regular mealworms.
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