# breeding mealworms wtf!



## daniel-james (Jan 10, 2012)

About 4-6 weeks ago I started putting all
My mealworm pupay (aliens) into a rub with oats and eggcrates in. they then all hatched into beetles inhad roughly 100 beetles atone point I saw them mating every evening and slowly but surely over the last week about 10/15 beetles have died off or been eaten by other beetles. I've not seen any baby mealworms or eggs or anything that resembles new mealworms untilthis morning when cleaning out he old food I noticed thousands of litle White dots moving on the carrot which I had previously assumed it was the White dusty stuff off the oats ! closer inspection has made me question weather it's the mealworms eggs/babies or Just some kind of mite!

I have no idea but if it's mealworms Theres thousands. Every piece of food I put in is covered by the morning and I only had 100 beetles in there for 4/5 weeks. any ideas peeps? 

if those tiny White dots crawling around on the carrot on theright hand side if the tub are mealworms I have probably thrown away about 80% of what was in the tub when cleaning out old food over the last week. I didn't look close enough and I looked like oat dust at first.. 
Tragic.. 

short video from My iPhone sorry if it's not clear.. 
Mealworm breeding (success?) - YouTube


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## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

sorry to spoil your excitement but those are grain mites, its what probably killed your beetles, baby mealworms look like tiny mealworms about 2mm long.


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## Junior13reptilez (Oct 17, 2010)

LFBP-NEIL said:


> sorry to spoil your excitement but those are grain mites, its what probably killed your beetles, baby mealworms look like tiny mealworms about 2mm long.


 This. And just to add another kick in the teeth, I've bred them without even trying!:whistling2:


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## daniel-james (Jan 10, 2012)

lol I was expecting that to be the reply. where have the mites come from? and why? Any ideas. Cheers


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

Depending on the temps in your enclosure will depend on how long it takes for the mealworms to develop. Don't give up hope  just warm them a bit more to speed the process.


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## daniel-james (Jan 10, 2012)

any ideas why theres thousands of these White mites, the tub has plenty of ventilation and is situated on top of a warm Viv. fresh food every 2 days and oats as substrate, no mould, any condensation is whiped away same day.


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## Wolflore (Mar 3, 2010)

They've been attracted to the oats.


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## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

the presence of condensation indicates its too humid even if it is wiped away. humidity, warmth and food = mites, they just come from nowhere. Ideally you will be breeding these in an open topped container.


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## Paul112 (Apr 6, 2007)

I found the same thing when I transferred the left overs of an old mealworm colony to a plastic box with a lid, from a rack system. If you're getting mites, you've got too much moisture in the tub, either from lack of ventilation, or too much vegetable matter.

Best,
Paul


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## daniel-james (Jan 10, 2012)

Not enough ventilation is the problem then inknly have lines of holes at each end of the lid, full mesh lid conversion will benon the way tomorrow! 
is there and recovery from This mite problem or vest to bin it all an start over? if these little White buggers are on my beetles and under there wings and all over the carrots is there any point in keeping it going if I have no baby mealworms. I'm Thinking of throwing it away an starting fresh. 

Will mealworms still hatch and grow with the presence of
These White mites


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

Think you need to bin and start over.

Thats the problems with breeding mealworms the higher humidity the more likely you are to get mites but at low humidity they breed really slow.


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