Memeworms

>>2275467
Super duper easy, my dude. So first you wanna get your set up ready. You have a couple options depending on how much work you want to do. Your first option is to set up a system of boxes that fit into each other with the top box having the floor replace with screen so the eggs can fall down into the worm box but the beetles cannot. This is helpful because you don't have to keep moving your beetles to a new cage every time eggs start to hatch, but you still have to pull the pupae out by hand there's no getting around that otherwise they'll be eaten alive. You just put them in a container, they don't move much, and put them into the beetle container when they finish their transformation. The downside to that method is that it involves the most work to set up. If you want to learn how to make yourself a set up like that just look up meal worm farm on youtube and you'll be able to figure out what works best for you. I'm a lazy piece of shit so I use the other method which is just periodically sorting the different stages into separate boxes.

>>2275476
Either way you choose the basics are pretty much the same. You go to your mealie supplier and grab as many as you want but you should start with no less than 100 if you want to get going in any sort of timely manner. Then you place your worms into the substrate which is also their main food supply. There are lots of choices that work well but I personally just use smashed up cheerios. They will also need a moisture source but they can't just drink water so you have to provide some kind of produce they can munch on for their water supply. I usually use apple, or carrots. Eventually the worms will turn into pupae and you will need to put them in a separate container so they don't get eaten since they can't travel they only wiggle a little. Once the pupae transform into beetles they will need to go into your beetle container with the same set up as the worms. If you set up the system where the eggs fall back into the worm container then you just wait but if you are sorting them yourself then you will need to keep an eye on the beetle container because when there are teeny weeny worms your eggs have started hatching and the beetles need to be moved to a new container or they will eat the babies and you'll have to start over.

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>>2275478
Awesome thanks my dude you explained it way better than the hicks on YouTube did

>>2275484
My pleasure, and best of luck to you.

>>2275484
Be patient when you're on your first life cycle. It takes quite a while for the eggs to hatch and the babies to be large enough to be visible to the naked eye. When I first started doing this as a renewable food source for my geckos, I thought I have screwed up somehow. Turns out nope, just takes a while. Like a couple months plus or minus depending on the temperature in the room.

Also I'd like to debunk a myth I have read on some mealworm breeding guides. The beetles can and will breed readily at regular room temperatures (68-73). They will breed in colder temps than that even. The process is just slower. If you have too many and need to cull off some of the colony, best time to do it is at pupa stage. Just put the pupa in the freezer instead of adult beetle bin for a while.

The tip about the false bottom container is a good one. I usually transfer the beetles from the bin in to a new one every three months or so. Clean the dust from the adult worm bin with a sphaghetti strainer. The screen bottom thing would save some time.

>>2275856

For substrate I use wheat bran. Food is a mixture of carrots, celery, bok choy, and other leafy greens. The variety isn't necessary really. Carrots alone is fine. I just do that to make sure the worms are gutloaded with as many vitamins as possible for my geckos.