MealWorms?
Written by scottology on October 31, 2009 – 11:26 am -
I need to display some mealworms for a project. Tell me if I have it right it has to be somewhat natural.
I have a 10 gallon fish tanks. I was going to split it fill have with about 2-3 inches of dirt, with various rocks, broken tree brances, cut leaves, a few plucked mushrooms.
The other half I was going to fill with 2-3 inches of cornmeal with a few boxes in the tank to show how they can live in both dirt and in corn mean if you keep in your cupboard.
Does everything sound okay?
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Posted in Mealworms | 6 Comments »
By Me on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
You’ll need cut potatoes or carrots to provide moisture for the worms. I’d add them to the cornmeal.
Everything else sounds good. Good luck!
By bronzeartist00 on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
That sounds like a neat project. Good luck!
By <3 Turtle Lover<3 on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
Mealworms are popular classroom observational insects. They are easy to obtain, and they undergo complete metamorphosis. The 4 stages of complete metamorphosis are egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Mealworms are the larval stage of darkling or flour beetles. They can be purchased very inexpensively from most pet stores where they are sold as food for fish, turtles, frogs, toads, lizards, and birds.
It’s easy to observe how mealworms grow and change form. Here’s how:
Purchase a scoop of mealworms from a local pet store
Fill a large glass jar with bran (a cereal grain available in grocery stores) or whole wheat flour or corn meal
Add a slice of apple, potato, or other moist fruit or vegetable to the jar for moisture (remove and replace it if it gets moldy or dries out)
Pour in the mealworms
This is what should happen:
The mealworms will begin to burrow into the bran or flour
The mealworms will grow. As they grow, they will shed their exoskeleton (hard outer covering). You will be able to see these used exoskeletons on the surface of the bran. You can even pour some of the bran from the jar onto a piece of paper and gently sort through it to see that the mealworms have grown and to find more of their shed exoskeletons. Each mealworm will shed its exoskeleton from 9 to 20- times depending upon environmental conditions such as temperature and moisture. They will stay in this larval stage for about 10 weeks.
The larva will turn into pupa more quickly if it is warm; it may take longer if temperatures are cooler. Mealworms can even overwinter in their larval form if it is very cold. The pupa of the beetle is a small and firm. It does not move or eat. Inside it, the larva is slowly changing form into an adult beetle.
In 2-3 weeks, the skin of the pupa will split open and the adult beetle will emerge. At first, the beetle will be lighter in color and soft. Within a few hours, its skin will darken and its exoskelton will harden.
With enough room, you can keep the adults beetles which will mate and produce eggs. The eggs will hatch into mealworms (larvae) in about 2 weeks, and the cycle will continue.
By Jess on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
thast sounds like a really fun project and ya everything sounds great good luck
By Kaska on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
Sounds good just add a few banana peelings for food and water.
By jplease on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
WHY mealworms…buy earth worms…theyre are cheaper…and more active……and bigger