# How do you 'clean out' meal worms



## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

Hiya

I have some mealworms, some of which are in a 'starter colony' and some of which are in a tub in the fridge which I'm using as my feeders until the colony gets going (no sign yet) but my question is, how do you clean them out ?

I take out any uneaten vegetables but there are now loads of shed skins in both containers, is it a case of picking them all out ? Or is there an easier way? Should I be transferring the occupants to a new box and throwing out all the leftovers? With only 2 young geckos who both seem to have a preference for roaches it's taking me ages to get through a tub of mealies but I do like to offer them variety


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

I use a metal sieve to clean mine. Just shake the whole tub ( a bit at a time) into it and shake over the bin. Once all the small stuff and poop has gone through I tip the worms and skins into an empty tub. Repeat until the whole colony has been sieved, then I take it outside and blow into the tub to remove the skins. Close your eyes and mouth after you blow though or you could get a faceful depending on the wind direction, lol! hen I just add more substrate to the original tub and leave them to it. They may not grow and breed that fat if kept in the fridge. I just keep mine in a cool cupboard and they do just fine. They are easy to breed once they start pupating.


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## Antw23uk (Jan 12, 2009)

I've been thinking the same thing recently. I have a very productive colony and its been going for months now but ive never cleaned it out. I remove un eaten veg and i've topped up with crushed cereal and oats a couple of times.

If your using a sieve surely your throwing out all the eggs and tiny meal worms because they are SOOOOO small!

I keep my colony in a high sided RUB with no lid so they get the maximum ventilation so dont smell.

Ant.


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

The breeding colony aren't in the fridge, just the feeders  good thought about blowing the skins off 

:hmm: also good thought about sieving though, I don't want to destroy the eggs and baby worms, any other thoughts anyone ?


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

I have only bred on a small scale, and literally picked through the poop to remove the baby worms! It makes your eyes go funny concentrating on such small things! The sieve method is ok for the feeder worms, but I have no idea how people clean their breeding colonies out. There has to be an easier way for that! I guess the best way would be to separate the pupa and beetles so that there is only going to be beetles and baby worms and eggs in one tub, but they don't smell too great!


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## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

How much you all willing to pay to see how its done on a bigger scale.....


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## REDDEV1L (Nov 27, 2008)

I've wound my colony down now... but what I used to do was the same, sieve,BUT...

I'd sieve the colony into a stacking box, the worms would be picked through and any dead removed, then they'd be chucked back in the fresh colony tub.
The stuff left in the stacking box, would be sieved again, this time with a tea strainer. The eggs and baby mealies (most of em anynway) would be caught up in the tea strainer, whereas the frass would fall through into a bag. I'd then freeze the bag just incase for 48hrs then bin it.

Or, do the above but instead of sieving with a tea strainer (Never found a large one so a decent colony could take hours!!) I ended up leaving it in the stacking box (no lid!!) for a few months... adding very small pieces of potato or carrot etc.
Then, sieve it with the normal sieve, by which time most of the eggs will have hatched and baby mealies will have grown enough to be caught in the normaml sieve.


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

LFBP-NEIL said:


> How much you all willing to pay to see how its done on a bigger scale.....


Come on then Neil! We wanna see how the big guys do it! 

This thread has reminded me that mine need cleaning too! Trouble is the damn worms grow faster than my baby Jackson cham can eat them, lol!


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

Yeah Neil I want to see too :2thumb:

I'm hoping my babies will eat more as they grow, my crestie isn't too keen at the moment, my Leo likes them but prefers roaches :mf_dribble:


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

My baby Jackson chameleon love the newly moulted mealies and silkworms too. I have been over-run with silkworms and most of them grew to be bigger than Monty himself, lol! At least mealies don't get THAT big!


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

not tried them on silkworms yet, getting some soon, I'm hoping long term that I can offer them enough variety without getting pesky crickets, they will hopefully have

mealies
the occasional treat of a waxworm
Dubai Roaches
silkworms

and maybe I can put up with a few pesky locusts, I do hate insects that hop though :lol2:, 

but if its for the best of my pets I'll put up with them :flrt:


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## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

Breeding mealworms - YouTube


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## heatherjhenshaw (Jan 30, 2010)

That's a really interesting video, so sieving is the way they do it, unfortunately it still didn't show how to clean out the shed skins etc of the worms


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

Take the tub outside and gently blow into it. The shed skin should just blow up out of the tub. Did mine just this morning. Thankfully it wasn't windy so I didn't get a face full this time!


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## Oxide (Dec 31, 2011)

Nice info.

I have a small scale colony,beetles and aliens.

I clean out the dead aliens etc daily.

How long a does a beetle live? im just wondering as i may move them to a different tub :whistling2:


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