Meal Worms

[decoy]

Just wanted to share my little success story with you all. Not having a readily accessible wax worm distributor in the area, I decided to try meal worms 2 yrs. ago. If you haven't tried these, it may be worth a look.

I did a simple search on line and found a bulk distributor where I purchased 1000 worms relatively cheap. I had enough to use and start growing them for myself. (email me if you want the company name)

They are easy to grow and take little or no effort at all. I check them once every 2 weeks. They are in between the size of a maggot and a wax worm. Right now I have a culture growing in my classroom as well as one on top of the fridge at home. There is no mess involved. I keep mine in a ice cream pail. No lid required either. I just put a paper plate over mine. I use oatmeal for food/bedding and a slice of potatoe. If you're interested, you'll need to do about 5 minutes of reading to learn about care and life cycle.

Anytime I'm going to go out panfishing, I just get my little bait cup, and put 100 or so in and I'm set.

Crappies love them, and you can't keep the sunnies off. So, for around $10 I will have my bait for the rest of my lifetime (if I can help it).

It's a great investment, well, at least it was for me.

Good luck,

decoy

[msm1018]

Thats very interesting. how have they worked on walleyes if at all?

[Oldtyme]

You've got mail.

This I gotta try, as many waxies as I buy I'd save a bundle...

[huckleberry]

How do you keep them from turning into beetles?

[msm1018]

Quote:

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How do you keep them from turning into beetles?

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I don't think you do, I read some stuff about em and I think its an every changing age structure in the mix.

[decoy]

Ok,

If I have some worms that are getting big enough to use for bait, I take them out and put them in the fridge. They last for over a month in the fridge and don't pupate. The Beetles are good, each female can lay hundreds of eggs and that means hundreds of worms. Thats why I have more than one batch going.

In the summer, I leave them to go through their cycle and build up numbers. You may even find that you have enough to make a new set and give it to a friend.

decoy

[jblabsnduck]

We used them all the time in CA. Bluegills love them.

[adam246]

I work for Three Rivers Park District as a naturalist and I've got a mealworm colony I've had going for years - I use 'em to feed the little critters we use in education programs - salamanders, frogs, toads, turtles, etc. I've got them in a med. size (24"Lx15"Wx6"D) plastic storage bin w/ a lid on it (holes punched in lid for a little air). Keep them in 4-5lbs. wheat bran and a few chunks of raw potato occaisionally - put a piece of wet burlap or a few pieces of wet newspaper on top so they've got some moisture and you're in business. You may want to pull some of the larvae and keep them in the fridge til you see alot of the others turn into beetles, then "re-seed" w/ the larvae and you should end up with all stages of metamorphosis going on at the same time - if not, you'll keep them all on the same cycle and end up not having any larvae for a while - (because they'll all be going through the same stage of metamorphosis at the same time - a real drag when you need the m-worms, not the beetles. Beetle shells have too much chitin in them - binds up the critters you're feeding them to.) Cheap and fun to do too - no muss, no fuss, and I'm saving your tax $$$! When it gets to smelling a little ammonia-ish, sift what you can out and re-start with a new batch of wheat bran (which you can buy in bulk at grocery stores for about 89 cents a lb.) - but that may only happen 1x a year or so. Good times!!