CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to raise newly born mealworm larvae?

1) Seed worms The most important thing in raising mealworms is to have seed worms. Adult larvae, pupae, and adults can all be used as seed worms. When they are raised to different stages, carefully select pupae and adults according to the breeding technology of mealworms, remove diseased insects, screen eggs, and make each stage reproduce synchronously to achieve purification and rejuvenation. After buying adult larvae, put them in a wooden tray filled with wheat bran and feed them with fresh vegetables. Carefully observe the pupation situation, put the sieve tray in the wooden tray filled with feed, and wait for the pupae to emerge into adults. If you also buy pupae at this time, put them together with the pupae that have emerged within two days. Put every 0.5 kg of pupae in a sieve tray filled with wheat bran, and then put them in a wooden tray filled with feed, number them and put them on the shelf, wait for them to emerge, and pay attention to removing dead pupae. For example, if you buy adults, put them in a sieve tray filled with feed, and screen out the adults and change the tray every 7 days. The sieved feed is mixed with eggs, which are placed in a wooden tray and continue to hatch. After careful selection and breeding, all stages of insects can be used for breeding, but it is better to use adult larvae as breeding. \x0d\x0a(II) Feed The main feed for mealworms is wheat bran, which can also be supplemented with bran bran (cornmeal is too fine and airtight, so it cannot be used as mealworm feed). Vegetables are mainly cabbage, radish, cabbage and other leafy vegetables. These feeds can meet the insect's needs for protein, vitamins, trace elements and water. In order to purify and rejuvenate the population and accelerate reproduction and growth, a small amount of glucose powder, fish meal, etc. can be added to the feed. Every 0.5 kg of mealworms can eat 1.5 kg of wheat bran and 3 kg of vegetables in a generation cycle. \x0d\x0a(III) Equipment\x0d\x0a1. There must be a breeding room for breeding mealworms. The breeding room must be light-permeable and ventilated, and it must be heated and insulated in winter. The size of the breeding room depends on the number of mealworms it breeds. Under normal circumstances, 300-500 trays can be raised in a room of 20 square meters. \x0d\x0a2. Wooden trays for raising mealworms. Drawer-shaped wooden trays are used as feeding trays. They are generally rectangular, with specifications of 50 cm long, 40 cm wide and 8 cm high. The board thickness is 1.5 cm, and the bottom is nailed with fiberboard. The sieve tray is also rectangular. It should be placed in the wooden tray. The specifications are 45 cm 35 cm 6 cm, the board thickness is 1.5 cm, and the bottom is nailed with 12 mesh iron screen strips. The wood used to make the feeding tray is preferably soft miscellaneous wood and has no odor. In order to prevent the worms from crawling out, plastic strips should be attached to the four frames of the feeding tray. \x0d\x0a3. Wooden racks for placing feeding trays. According to the amount of feeding and the number of feeding trays, wooden racks are made, and the wooden racks are connected and fixed with square wood to prevent skewing or tipping. Then the feeding trays can be placed on the shelves in order. \x0d\x0a4. Sieve trays and sieves use iron sieves of different thicknesses. The 12-mesh large-hole sieve can screen insect eggs. The 30-mesh medium-hole sieve can screen insect feces. The 60-mesh small-hole sieve can screen 1-2 instar larvae. \x0d\x0a5. The temperature inside the breeding room must be maintained between 15-25 degrees Celsius in both winter and summer. Below 10 degrees Celsius, the insects will not eat or grow. If the temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius, the insects will heat up and burn to death. The humidity should be maintained between 60-70%, and the ground should not be too wet. Heating should be provided in winter. If no breeding is done in winter, the insects can naturally overwinter. Ventilation should be provided in summer. A thermometer and a hygrometer should be provided indoors. \x0d\x0aII. Breeding technology\x0d\x0aDescribe them in order of each insect stage. \x0d\x0a(I) The process of pupae emerging into adults in the adult stage takes about 3-7 days. The head, chest, legs, and wings emerge first, and the abdomen and tail emerge later. Because the pupae are selected for eclosion at the same time, all eclosion can be completed within a few days. The newly eclosing adults are very tender and not very active. After about 5 days, the body color becomes darker and the elytra become hard. Male and female adults usually gather in the dark for mating, and the mating time is relatively long. When laying eggs, the female's tail is inserted into the sieve hole. It is best not to stir it at will during this period. When a layer of eggs is found attached to the bottom of the sieve plate, the plate can be changed. At this time, the adults are screened and placed in another plate containing feed, and the dead insects are removed. The egg plate is changed every 5-7 days. The survival period of adults is about 50 days. Adults in the egg-laying period need a lot of nutrition and water, so wheat bran and vegetables must be added in time, and fish meal can also be added. If the nutrition is insufficient, the adults will bite and kill each other, causing losses. \x0d\x0a(II) Egg stage: Adults lay eggs in a wooden tray containing feed. Replace the wooden tray containing eggs and put it on the shelf. Larvae will hatch naturally. Pay attention to observation and do not turn it over to prevent damage to the eggs or the hatching larvae. When the larval skin appears on the surface of the feed, the first instar worm has been born. \x0d\x0a(III) Larval stage: The period from the hatching of eggs to the larvae and before pupation is called the larval stage, and larvae of all ages are the best feed for Chinese forest frogs. \x0d\x0aAfter 7-9 days of incubation, when the molting body of the insect is more than 0.5 cm long, add wheat bran and fresh vegetables to the tray where the adults lay eggs. Put 1 kg of larvae in each wooden tray. The density should not be too large to prevent the insects from biting and killing each other due to insufficient feed and squeezing. As the larvae grow up, separate the trays in time. \x0d\x0aWheat bran is the main feed for larvae and also a place for them to live. Therefore, the feed should be kept at a natural temperature. Under normal circumstances, when the temperature is high, the larvae are mostly active on the surface of the feed, and when the temperature is low, they drill into the lower layer to live. The thickness of the feed in the wooden tray is within 5 cm. When the feed gradually decreases, use a sieve to sift out the insect feces and add new feed. When sieving feces for 1-2 instar larvae, a 60-mesh sieve should be used to prevent the larvae from leaking through the sieve holes. Prepare a wooden tray for new feed first, and put the sieved clean larvae on the wooden tray while sieving. \x0d\x0aThe growth of yellow mealworm larvae must break through the outer skin (shedding), and they can grow up after molting again and again. The larvae shed their skin 7 times during the larval stage. Each time they shed their skin, the insect body grows and the larvae grow one instar. They shed their skin once every 9 days on average. When the larvae shed their skin, the epidermis first splits from the thoracic and dorsal seams, and the head, chest, feet, and then the abdomen and tail gradually shed out. The larvae shed their skin generally on the surface of the feed, and after molting, they drill into the feed. The larvae that have just shed their skin are milky white and have a delicate epidermis. \x0d\x0a(IV) Larvae in the pupal stage pupate on the surface of the feed. Before pupation, the larvae crawl to the surface of the feed, lie still, and then slowly expand and contract. During the last molting process, the larvae pupate. Pupation can be completed within a few seconds. The newly formed pupae are white and yellow, with slightly longer pupae and wriggling abdominal segments. Gradually, the pupae shorten and turn dark yellow. \x0d\x0aThere are differences between individual larvae, which are reflected in the order of pupation time and the strength of individual abilities. Pupae that have just transformed and are mixed with larvae in a wooden tray are easily bitten by larvae in the chest and abdomen, and their internal organs are eaten, becoming empty shells; some pupae are infected by viruses during the pupation process and become dead pupae after pupation. This requires frequent inspection. If this situation is found, the space can be sprayed with 0.310-6 bleach solution to disinfect and sterilize. At the same time, the dead pupae should be picked out and disposed of in time. When picking pupae, pupae that have emerged within 2 days should be placed in the same sieve tray containing feed, insisting on synchronous reproduction and concentratedly emerging into adults.