Caring for your mealworms
1. Transfer your mealies into a Suitable Container
When your mealworms arrive in their cardboard box, you can keep them in the box or better yet...transfer them into a glass or plastic container (an ice-cream container works well) with tall sides so that they can't climb out. This keeps them safe and allows airflow to prevent mould and overheating.
2. Provide a Nutritious Diet
Keep your mealworms healthy with:
Bran or Porridge Oats: A nutritious bedding and food source. Just add a handful or so at a time.
Fresh Slices of Apple, Carrot, or Potato: These provide hydration and extra nutrients, ensuring the mealworms stay fresh and full of goodness. Remove any food that goes mouldy.
3. Maintain Cleanliness
Sieve Out Frass Regularly: Frass is the waste and shed skins produced by mealworms. Removing it prevents bacteria build-up and keeps your worms thriving. Use a fine mesh sieve to separate mealworms from frass. Then put the frass on your garden.. it is literally "Garden Gold" :)
4. Optimal Storage Conditions
Store mealworms at 8–10°C (a cool shed or refrigerator vegetable drawer works well).
Avoid extreme temperatures. Keep them cool to slow their development into beetles, but don’t allow them to freeze.
If you do keep them in the fridge, then bring them out into the warm for half a day or so at least once a week. This enables their metabolism to speed up so that they can properly digest food and expel waste. If you leave them in the fridge for longer than 2 weeks you may find that they start to go black and die off, that's because it is not warm enough for them to digest their food.
