CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to feed adult mealworms

How to feed mealworm adults

Rearing of mealworm adults:

Adults and larvae are omnivorous, feeding mainly on bran, rice bran, and adding some green feed. Adults should eat fish pre-good meal and soybean meal. Feed ratio can also be used to increase mealworm production.

For example, 50% wheat flour, 40% bran or bran, 5% fish meal or soybean meal, 3% yeast, 2% calcium powder. Add some chopped vegetable leaves and other green feed.

Additional information:

1. How to raise adult mealworms?

First, adults in different growth stages have different feed requirements and cannot be raised together. Second, the emerging adults are very delicate and have weak resistance. They cannot eat feed with too much water content. They can be fed more concentrated feed such as wheat bran and cornmeal. Third, in order to increase the egg-laying rate and the hatching rate of eggs, adults should be provided with sufficient nutrition and high-quality compound feed. The feed formula is: 70% wheat bran, 20% cornmeal, 9% sesame cake, and 1% bone meal. And feed a sufficient amount of concentrated feed. This can delay the aging of adults, prolong the egg-laying period, and increase the egg-laying rate. Fourth, when feeding, it is necessary to feed in small amounts and multiple times, 2-3 times a day, and the daily feeding amount should be appropriate, with the principle of no leftover food at the next feeding. There should be no lack of food, otherwise it will cause adults to eat eggs, and adults will bite each other and cause injuries.

2. How to manage mealworms during their adult stage?

First, adults at different growth stages have different requirements for feed and cannot be raised together.

Second, the newly emerged adults are very delicate and have weak resistance. They cannot eat feed with too much water content. They can be fed more concentrated feed such as wheat bran and cornmeal.

Third, in order to increase the egg-laying rate and egg hatching rate, the adults should be provided with sufficient nutrition and high-quality compound feed. The feed formula is: 70% wheat bran, 20% cornmeal, 9% sesame cake, 1% bone meal. And give enough concentrated feed. This can delay the aging of adults, prolong the egg-laying period, and increase the egg-laying rate.

Fourth, feed in small amounts and multiple times, 2 to 3 times a day, and feed in appropriate amounts every day, with the principle that there will be no leftovers at the next feeding. There should be no lack of food, otherwise the adults will eat the eggs, and the adults will bite each other and injure each other. Since the remaining feed is easy to mold and deteriorate, affecting egg laying, do not feed too much.

Fifth, male adults often die soon after mating, so the dead adults must be cleaned up in time to prevent them from rotting and spoiling and causing infectious diseases.

Sixth, place a layer of egg-receiving paper under the egg-laying screen, which is usually changed every 4 days. Sprinkle a 2 cm thick layer of wheat bran evenly on the egg-receiving paper under the egg-laying screen, and the eggs laid will be buried in the wheat bran, otherwise the adults will eat the eggs.

Seventh, in order to increase the egg-laying rate of adults and the hatching rate of eggs, the adults are generally replaced once every four months, that is, the aging adults are eliminated.

Bran is the best, and you can add some other crushed grains (don't make it too fine, it will easily suffocate the insects). In addition, you can feed a little green fodder. It is very easy to feed.

What do mealworms eat?

Prepare mealworm feed. Mealworm feed is simple, convenient and widely available. Mainly wheat bran, rice bran, leaves, weeds, etc. Be careful not to feed vegetable leaves that have just been sprayed with pesticides. It is best to wash the leaves with clean water and dry them before feeding. Too much water will cause the concentrate to moldy and cause large-scale death of mealworms. At present, the use of compound feed is more nutritionally complete and has better production effects.
The ingredients are as follows: 45% wheat bran, 45% rice bran, 10% fish meal, or wheat bran as the main ingredient, with a small amount of vitamin C and vitamin B added to the feed.
Artificially bred mealworms usually take coarse wheat bran as the staple food, supplemented with a variety of vegetables, melon and fruit peels (cabbage, cabbage, pumpkin, cucumber, and watermelon peel are the best) every other day. If conditions permit, mixed feed can be prepared.
The feed formula for each insect age is provided as follows:
Feeding formula for larvae:
Wheat bran 40%, corn flour 24%, soybean flour 5%, salt 0.5%, multivitamins for feeding 0.5%, insect droppings and sand 30%, and additives.
Feeding formula for adults:
Wheat bran 45%, corn flour 35%, soybean cake 18%, salt 1.5%, multivitamins for feeding 0.5%, additives.
Formula for feeding egg-laying adults:
Wheat bran 75%, fish meal 5%, corn meal 15%, sugar 3%, salt 1.2%, multivitamins for feeding 0.8%, additives.
Formula for feeding breeding adults:
Pure wheat flour (powder made from poor quality wheat or malt, etc.) 95%, sugar 2%, royal jelly 0.2%, salt 2.4%, multivitamins for feed 0.4%, additives.
Because mealworms are omnivorous animals, they should not be fed with the same feed for a long time. They often need to be supplemented with some vegetable leaves or fruit peels to replenish the water and vitamin C they need for growth in time and increase their growth rate. If they can add appropriate amounts of fish meal and animal waste, they will grow faster.
When processing feed, various feeds and additives can be mixed and stirred evenly, and then 10% of clean water can be added (complex vitamins can be added to the water and stirred evenly), mixed well and then dried for later use. For feed raw materials with a high starch content, they can be scalded with 15% boiling water first and then mixed with other feed raw materials, dried and set aside, but vitamins must not be scalded with boiling water. The water content of feed after processing generally cannot exceed 12% to prevent mold and deterioration. For moldy and insect-infested feed, it must be dried in time before use. Feed with insects can also be frozen at below -10℃ for 3 to 5 hours, or the pests can be killed at a high temperature of 70℃ and then dried for later use. Yellow mealworm breeding is called the third largest insect industry after "silkworm" and "bee" by insect experts because of its low investment, strong adaptability, high economic benefits, wide feed sources, simple breeding facilities, simple and easy-to-learn technology, and easy factory and family breeding. According to relevant expert research, insect active proteins not only contain a large amount of chitin, antimicrobial peptide defensins and exogenous lectins that have special effects on the human body; they are also rich in nine essential amino acids and proteins, free amino acids, vitamins, mineral elements, unsaturated fatty acids and other nutrients, and are consistent with the normal proportion of the human body, and are easily absorbed and utilized. The large-scale production and industrialization project of yellow mealworms is a key funded project of the National Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Harvest Plan; it has been listed as a key development project of the National 4050 Project and a National Spark Plan project. The market prospects for breeding yellow mealworms are attractive, and it is a good way to make a fortune in both urban and rural areas. The yellow mealworms currently supplied by the Group are new varieties of yellow mealworms cultivated by relevant experts from the Senior Expert Center of the Chinese Society of Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery Economics of the Chinese Agricultural Research Institute after many years. This variety has the characteristics of high fertility, short production period and large individuals.