CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Mealworm breeding methods and techniques

1. Living habits of mealworms

Mealworms start to mate and lay eggs 4-5 days after they emerge from adulthood. Mating occurs at all times of the day and night, but more often at night than during the day. A single mating takes several hours, and they mate and lay eggs multiple times in their lifetime, with 6-15 eggs laid each time. Each female adult can lay 30-350 eggs in its lifetime, with most laying 150-200 eggs. The eggs stick to the bottom of the container or on the feed. The lifespan of an adult is 3-4 months.

1. The omnivorous mealworm originally fed on grains. When raised artificially, it feeds on processed grain bran, leafy vegetables, rhizomes, fruits, etc. It also eats dead pupae, dead adults and other animal carcasses, becoming omnivorous.

2. Aggregation: Both larvae and adults of this insect live in groups, and they grow, develop and reproduce better in groups. This lays the foundation for high-density factory farming.

3. Both the larvae and adults of negatively phototactic mealworms prefer strong light and are highly active in weak light or darkness.

4. Female-male ratio and mating The natural female-male ratio of mealworms can reach 3.5-5:1. If the living environment is not good and there is a lack of feed, the number of male mealworms will exceed that of females, and the female-male ratio will be 1:4, and the survival rate will be low. When artificially breeding mealworms, the female-male ratio is required to be 1:1 when the breeding insects are released.

2. Mealworm breeding sites and equipment

1. Selection of mealworm breeding sites

The insect farm for yellow mealworms should have power supply and convenient transportation to facilitate the transportation of feed, insect feces and yellow mealworms. It is best to have a feed planting site nearby. The insect room should face north and south, and have ventilation, temperature control, humidity control and light-shielding facilities. The insect room can be divided into a breeding room and a larvae room. The indoor floor is generally cement.

2. Mealworm breeding room

The temperature inside the breeding room should be maintained at 15-25℃ in both winter and summer. If the temperature is below 10℃, the insects will not eat and will not grow. If the temperature exceeds 30℃, the insects will burn to death. The temperature should be maintained at 60-70%, the ground should not be too wet, heating should be provided in winter, ventilation should be provided in summer, and thermometers and hygrometers should be available indoors.

The breeding room is used to raise adult mealworms and lay eggs, and the collected eggs are regularly hatched. The larvae are raised in the larval room after 1-2 months of age, and the breeding insects are raised in the breeding boxes. The breeding room should be protected from light and ventilated, and there should be heating and heat preservation equipment in winter. The size of the breeding room depends on the number of mealworms raised. Generally, a room of 20m2 can raise 300-500 boxes.

3. Mealworm breeding box

The specifications and size of the breeding box can be determined according to the scale of breeding and the space used. It can be large or small, but the inner wall of the box must be smooth to prevent larvae from crawling out and adults from escaping. The size of the breeding box is generally 80cm long, 40cm wide and 8cm high. The bottom is a 18-mesh wire mesh. The mesh size should be large enough for adults to extend their ovipositors at the end of their abdomen to lay eggs in the bran under the wire mesh, but should not allow the entire body of the insect to drill out of the mesh. A transparent tape should be attached to the inside of the frame to prevent adults from crawling out of the box.

Each insect breeding box is placed under the net with a plywood larger than the net bottom, and a piece of old newspaper of the same size is placed on the plywood. Bran is evenly spread between the wire mesh and the old newspaper, and some granular bait and leafy vegetables are placed on the wire mesh. Each insect breeding box contains 0.1-1 kg of adult worms, and each insect breeding box and the padding paper are stacked at a certain angle to a height of about 1.5m.

The hatching box is the same size as the larval box. It is 80cm long, 40cm wide and 8cm high. It can be made of plastic or wood. There should be no gaps between the four walls and the bottom of the wooden insect box. Tape should also be attached to the upper edge of the side wall to prevent the larvae from escaping. Larvae over 1-2 months old should be kept in a wooden box to increase air permeability and prevent water vapor condensation. The bottom of the hatching box and larval box does not use wire mesh, but plastic or wooden bottom boards. Each box is stacked at a certain angle to 1.5m high. A sidewalk or a gap of more than 20cm is left between the box stacks for easy management or ventilation.

Sieve plates and sieves: Use iron sieves of different sizes. The 12-mesh large-hole sieve can sift insect eggs; the 30-mesh medium-hole sieve can sift insect feces; the 60-mesh small-hole sieve can sift 1-2 instar larvae.

3. Mealworm breeding and management

1. Feeding and management of mealworm larvae

After the mealworm eggs hatch after 6-7 days, the head will first drill out of the egg shell. The body length is about 2 mm. After eating part of the egg membrane, it will crawl into the bran in the hatching box and feed on the bran. At this time, the old newspaper should be removed, and the bran together with the small larvae should be shaken into the box for feeding. When they grow to 4-5 mm, the body color will become lighter, and they will start the first molting after stopping eating for 1-2 days. After molting, the body is white, and turns light yellow after about 2 days. Generally, it molts every 4-6 days. Within a month, it gradually grows up through 4 molts to become a medium larvae with a body length of 6-10mm and a body width of 0.6-1mm. The feeding of larvae is very important. When the temperature is 20-35℃, the relative humidity of the air is 50-70%, and the larvae are fed with bran and leafy vegetables, the larval period is about 120 days. For the convenience of feeding and management, 0-1 month old larvae are called small larvae; 1-2 month old larvae are called medium larvae, 2-4 month old larvae are called large larvae, and larvae before pupation are called mature larvae. The feeding and management during this period are simple, mainly as follows:

The relative humidity of the air is 65-70%. The feed temperature is controlled at 20-32℃, and the optimum feed temperature is 27-32℃. A small amount of leafy vegetable fragments are often sprinkled on the surface of the bran to make its moisture content reach 20%. When the bran is eaten and turned into micro-spherical insect feces, some more bran can be sprinkled appropriately. When the larvae reach 1 month old, they are sieved with an 80-mesh net and the remaining larvae are evenly divided into 2 larval boxes for feeding.

It is worth noting that although the small larvae consume little, they should be fed immediately after hatching, otherwise the small larvae will eat the larvae that have just hatched from the egg box.

2. Feeding and management of mealworm larvae

The growth and development of 1-2 month old larvae accelerates, their consumption gradually increases, and their excretion also increases. After one month of feeding and management, the larvae undergo 5-8 molts, and their body length can reach 10-20mm, with an average individual weight of 0.07-0.15g. The following should be achieved in management:

The feces should be screened out every 7-10 days, with a sieve opening of about 40 mesh.

Feed bran and leafy vegetable fragments once in the morning and evening every day, with a feeding amount of about 10% of the insect body weight, or feed 70% wheat bran, 25% corn flour, 4.5% soybeans, and 0.5% multivitamins for feeding. The actual feeding amount depends on the health of the insect body, the age of the insect, and the environmental conditions. The temperature in the insect colony is controlled at 20-32℃, the optimum temperature is 27-32℃, the relative humidity of the air is 65%-70%, and the room is dark or weakly illuminated.

3. Feeding and management of large mealworm larvae

Yellow mealworms molt 8 times, and the large larvae after about 2 months of age, under normal feeding and management, eat a lot, grow and develop fast, and excrete a lot. After molting 13-15 times, they become mature larvae. The thickness of the large larvae cluster is 1-1.5cm, and must not be thicker than 2cm. When sparse density is raised, each box can reach 5,000. The mature larvae eat less and soon become pupae. When the mature larvae reach 22-32mm in length, their weight reaches the maximum. According to the actual food intake of the large larvae, they are fully supplied with bran and leafy vegetables, so that they can be fed and eaten on the same day, and the fecal conversion rate can reach more than 90%.

4. Management of mealworm pupae during their emergence

The pupal period is 1-2 weeks from the time when the mature larvae turn into pupae to the time when they emerge as adults. Although they appear to be not eating or moving during the pupal period, huge changes occur in their bodies, and they are very sensitive to external environmental conditions. In order to ensure the smooth and high-quality completion of the emergence process, the pupal management work should be done carefully.

So, 6 hours after pupation, separate it from the larvae, but be gentle when separating, and then sprinkle bran, because the pupae will emerge as adults in about 7 days, and they will need to eat at this time. Do not turn or squeeze the pupae. Provide the appropriate temperature for emergence, 24-32℃ and relative humidity of 65%. Take out the emerged adults in time to prevent biting the unemerged pupae. Keep the room clean and hygienic, and prohibit smoking, spraying pesticides and sanitary chemicals indoors.

5. Feeding and management of mealworm adults

During the breeding period of mealworm adults, some adults die after breeding. For these naturally dead adults, there is no need to pick them out. They will soon be eaten by living adults, leaving only the elytra and head, which can make up for the nutrition of the adults. When raising seed adults, check the seed boxes frequently, plug the holes and gaps in the seed boxes in time, keep the tape intact and smooth, and prevent the room temperature from being too high and the invasion of natural enemies. Two months after the seed adults lay eggs, in order to improve the utilization rate of the seed boxes and space, and improve the hatching rate and survival rate, it is best to eliminate all the seed insects in the box and replace them with new adults. In order to control the appropriate temperature and humidity in the seed room, ventilation, cooling and dehumidification should be done in summer, and door curtains and screens should be set up to prevent flies from entering. Chemical pesticides cannot be used to kill mosquitoes and flies in the adult room, otherwise they will kill the mealworm adults and larvae. Similarly, leafy vegetables that have been exposed to insecticides cannot be fed to adults. In winter, seed adults should be well kept warm and humidified.

The room temperature is controlled at 25-32℃, the relative humidity is 65%-70%, and the room is dark or weak light. 1-3 days after emergence, the outer wings of the adult change from white to yellow and black, and the activity changes from weak to strong. No feed is needed during this period. 4 days after emergence, the adult begins to mate and lay eggs, entering the peak breeding period. Every morning, an appropriate amount of complete granular feed should be put in, such as 45% bran, 20% flour, 6% cornmeal, 5% fish meal, 24% bean cake or 40% wheat bran, 40% corn meal, 18% bean cake, 0.5% feeding vitamins, 1.5% mixed salt. This formula is mainly used to feed adults and larvae; or 75% wheat bran, 4% fish meal, 15% corn meal, 4% sugar, 0.8% feeding compound vitamins, 1.2% mixed salt is mainly used to feed adults in the egg-laying period. Add an appropriate amount of leafy vegetables with multiple moisture content, and change the egg-laying paper and the bran on it every 2 days. It should be noted that the concentrated feed must be disinfected and dried before use. Fresh wheat bran can also be used directly. Do not bring too much water into the feeding box to prevent the feed from getting moldy. It is best not to feed moldy feed.

6. Management of mealworm hatching period

During the egg stage, you should feed them more foods with high sugar content, which can increase their reproduction rate. A female adult will lay more than 600 eggs in her lifetime. These are the eggs of mealworms, which are about 1 mm long and have thin egg shells. If the room temperature is controlled at around 28 degrees, the larvae will hatch in 7 days. The growth and development of the larvae is carried out through molting, which takes place every 5 to 7 days. It takes 6 molts to become a commercial insect. At this time, the dustpan is used. Don't underestimate the insect skin, which can be used to extract chitin. The insect feces are also very useful, and can be used as poultry feed.

5. Issues to pay attention to during mealworm breeding

1. Non-breeding personnel are prohibited from entering the breeding room. If they enter the room, they must disinfect the door with quicklime.

2. During the larval stage, change the feed every time it sheds its skin, sift the feces in time, and add new feed. During the adult stage, there are eggs and insect feces at the bottom of the feed, which is easy to mold, so the tray should be changed in time.

3. The feed should be fresh, the bran should not be deteriorated, and the vegetables should not be rotten.

4. The breeders should check the conditions of each insect stage every day. If diseased or dead insects are found, they should be removed in time to prevent bacterial infection.

5. In order to speed up reproduction and growth, add appropriate amount of glucose powder or vitamin powder, fish meal to the feed of larvae and adults after emergence, and feed fresh vegetables every day.

6. Prevent the invasion of natural enemies of mealworms.