CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to breed mealworms

1. Selection and cultivation of good varieties: In any breeding or planting industry, the effect of varieties on production is huge. In the production of mealworms, the variety effect is also very important. Without good seed sources, large-scale or factory breeding is impossible.

2. Feed:

① Formula of concentrate feed for barleyworm: Barleyworm is an omnivorous insect. Concentrate feed can be prepared with 70% wheat bran, 10% corn flour, 5% flour, 3% bean dregs, 10% fine rice bran and 2% white tang. Green fodder can be vegetable leaves, melon and fruit peels, radish, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, etc.

② Feed - Rot (industrial and agricultural organic waste resources)

Both larvae and adults of mealworms prefer to eat relatively dry feed, and the moisture content of the feed should be kept at around 15%.

The breeding group is fed with fermented wheat bran or other compound concentrates throughout the whole process; the production group is fed with fermented wheat bran (0.2 catties) within 10 days after hatching, and then fed with fermented bran powder for 30 to 40 days (2.5 to 3.0 catties), and then fed with fermented wheat bran for another 10 days (0.3 to 0.5 catties).

3. Feeding equipment

The following basic breeding equipment is required for large-scale factory production of mealworms:

(1) Breeding site: Factory-scale production of mealworms can make full use of idle rooms, but for intensive management, it is best to build them in close proximity to form a certain production scale. The rooms used must have holes and gaps in the corners blocked, the floor smoothed with cement, and freshly painted to prevent rats, kill ants, block geckos, and keep them clean.

(2) Standard feeding tray: Factory-scale production requires consistent specifications of feeding equipment to facilitate the determination of process flow and technical parameters. Based on many years of breeding experience, our company has initially set the feeding box for mealworms as follows: outer diameter 80 cm long, 40 cm wide, 10 to 12 cm high, inner diameter 78.5 cm long, 38.5 cm wide, 12 cm high. The bottom of the feeding tray can be made of three-ply board or five-ply board. This can ensure that mealworm larvae and adults will not crawl out along the wall. In order to save costs, you can also use old wood to make wooden trays yourself, but the specifications must be consistent with the above standards.

(3) Feeding rack: In order to improve the utilization rate of production space, our company recommends that the feeding rack be 4 meters long, 2 meters high and 40 work minutes wide.

For the sake of practicality and cost reduction, rural areas can design their own products based on specific circumstances and local conditions while ensuring standard sizes.

(4) Separation sieve: Prepare 20-mesh, 40-mesh, and 50-mesh wire mesh or nylon mesh respectively, and use 1 cm thick wooden boards as a frame to make a separation sieve for separating larvae and insect feces.

(5) Egg-laying tray: The specifications of the egg-laying tray are consistent with those of the standard feeding tray, which facilitates the determination of technical parameters of the process flow.

(6) Incubation box and emergence box: The eggs and pupae of mealworms appear motionless during their development. In order to ensure their optimal temperature and humidity requirements and prevent the invasion of natural enemies such as ants, mites, mice, and geckos, we designed and manufactured incubation boxes and emergence boxes. The box is composed of double-row multi-layer partitions. The distance between the two layers is 1.5 times the height of the feeding tray, and a large space is left on the bottom layer for water storage and moisture retention.

(7) Others: You may also need to prepare a thermometer, a hygrometer, and old newspapers or rough paper.

4. Environmental condition control: The adaptability of mealworms to environmental conditions is relatively wide, but there is an optimal range. Among all environmental factors, temperature has the greatest impact on their growth and development. Therefore, controlling mealworms at the optimal temperature required for their growth and development is a favorable guarantee for achieving high-yield and stable factory-scale production of mealworms. The requirements of mealworms for environmental conditions for their growth and development.

5. Epidemic prevention

(1) The breeding room must be strictly prevented from entering by natural enemies such as ants, flies, cockroaches, mice, and geckos.

(2) It is strictly prohibited to place pesticides indoors.

(3) Remove dead insects promptly to prevent them from rotting and spoiling, leading to epidemics.

(4) It is strictly forbidden to allow water to accumulate in the feed or to form water droplets in the feeding tray.

(5) Disease prevention.

6. Breeding process

(1) Feeding of larvae and adults: Larvae and adults are raised in standard feeding trays of uniform specifications, but the feed formula used varies depending on the purpose of feeding. Larvae can be raised in two ways: seed keeping and production, while adults can only be raised in one way: seed keeping and breeding.

The feed for producing and harvesting larvae should be cooked on the basis of a certain formula, and supplemented with additives and attractants to promote larvae to feed and accelerate growth. The feed for seed larvae and egg-laying adults should be aimed at ensuring that they are nutritious and meet the nutritional needs of egg-laying (long egg-laying period and high vitality).

(2) Egg collection and hatching: Place a thin piece of rough paper at the bottom of a standard feeding tray, and spread 0.3-0.5 cm thick feed (or insect feces) on it. Place 600 adult insects (400 females and 200 males) in each box. The adult insects will evenly lay eggs on the egg-laying paper. Each piece of paper can lay 10,000-15,000 eggs in 2 days. Take out the egg-laying paper every two days to make an egg card. Some eggs are scattered in the feed, which can be ignored and can also be used as a covering during hatching.

Place the egg card in another standard feeding tray to make a hatching tray. First, lay a layer of waste paper (newspaper, tissue paper, packaging paper, rough paper, etc.) on the bottom of the standard feeding tray, cover it with 0.5 cm thick bran, and place the first egg card on it. On the first egg card, cover it with 0.5 cm thick bran, add 3 to 4 short support sticks in the middle, and place the second egg card on it. Repeat this process, placing 4 egg cards in each tray, totaling about 400,000 to 600,000 eggs. Then place the hatching tray in an incubator (see the attached picture at the end of the article for the incubator), take it out after 1 week, and send it to the production workshop.

(3) Collection and emergence of pupae: The emergence rate of mealworms can generally reach more than 97%. Only a very small number of weak or injured old larvae will die during the emergence process.

(4) Stock density: Barleyworms are social insects. If the stock density is too low, it will directly affect the insect's activity and feeding, and the average and total production cannot be maintained; if the density is too high, the friction between them will generate heat, and the probability of self-killing will increase, increasing the mortality rate. Therefore, the area density of larvae is generally maintained between 3.5 and 6 kg/m2. The larger the larvae, the smaller the relative density should be. When the room temperature is high and the humidity is high, the density should also be smaller. The area density of adults is generally between 1,000 and 12,000 heads/m2.

There are many breeding techniques on the Internet about how to breed mealworms. But one thing you need to understand is that almost none of the people who write these things have actually bred mealworms, so the theory written is different from the actual practice, and many details are not in line with reality. If you really want to learn breeding techniques, you have to find those predecessors who are breeding and have succeeded in breeding. In South China, you can go to Pengxiang Mealworm Breeding Professional Cooperative in Xinfeng County, Guangdong. They are the largest insect breeding base in South China. They have rich breeding experience, professionally solve breeding problems, and long-term supply and recycling of mealworms and mealworms. Provide breeding insects, breeding techniques, and recycling of commercial insects for cooperative franchisees.