I got beatles!

[jakejeff]

I am trying to bread mealies and after 2 weeks i finally got my first beetles! was wondering if i should seperate the beetles from the alien looking things? also should i have the same substrate as the mealies?
yes i am easily amused lol

[ReneeB]

I keep all my mealies together [worms, pupae [alien things], and beetles..

[fade2black]

Me too. I don't bothger seperating any of them. You can take some of the beetles out and place them in another container with some oatmeal, wheat bran, etc and get them to lay eggs in that to start another culture. I just grab a handful of mealworms, pupae and beetles and throw them in another container. In about a month I've got a start to a flourishing colony :)

Fade

[jakejeff]

great thx for the info cant wait till they start laying!

[tai_pan1]

Hey, Fade2black, were you a Marine? When? What was you MOS? I was in from 83 to 93. I was a 6541.

SEMPER FI!

[fade2black]

Yes I was. I was in from 93-99. Spent most of my time with 2/6. I was in Comm Plt as a 2818 (Computer Tech)

Fade

[silke]

i separate my pupae from the mealworms and my beetles from the pupae
i have found the beetlesand mealworms nibbling on the pupae
after about a month of breeding i remove the beetles and put them into another container with mixed grains as substrate and carrots for moisture
I have more mealies than i know what to do with and they are fat and juicy
:P

[Alicewave]

I agree with Silke. I separate all three so that the pupae and mealies don't get nibbles on. I have one of those three tiered plastic drawer things and it works great. I have a pretty regular rotation schedule going where once I have beetles I move them to an empty drawer. Every month or so they get moved and I have quite a sustained yield of mealies now.

[BILLP]

just my 2 cent. I have raised mealies for a couple of years now and I never sperate any thing out I just keep them in a large rubbermaid container with oatmeal and grain in the bottom. I use potatos for water and food. I also put a few lids from butter bowls in there and for some reason they hid under it so when I need some I just lift the lid and there are hundreds under it. The only time that I seperate any thing out is if I start another container.