August 4th, 2009 . Posted in Mealworms | 1 Comment »
Tags: Mealworms
I was changing the water in the mealworms’ container today, and I noticed a few babies crawling around in the oatmeal! They’re so cute – and by cute I obviously mean small, maggot-like and disgusting!
Now that I have seen some evidence that the adult beetles are producing offspring, I have divided the beetles into two containers – one containing adult beetles and one containing the larva. I will now empty all of the food from the adults’ container into the other container every so often – this is because the adults will lay the eggs in the food, and will also eat the eggs. By transferring the food to another container I will hopefully prevent them from eating too many eggs and produce more mealworms.
I haven’t enclosed any photos because they are too small to get in the shot, but expect some lovely baby pics when they get a bit bigger!
August 2nd, 2009 . Posted in Mealworms | Comments Off
Tags: Mealworms
Last night, I was sitting on my sofa, watching an episode of House, when I heard a weird noise – kind of like a moth hitting a window. I heard it a few times, and after a while I realised it was coming from the spot where I keep my insects. When I went to have a look, one of the meal worm beetles kept trying to fly against the side of the container!
I already knew that most beetles are capable of flight, but I thought it was ok to keep the lid off because a couple of websites had said you could do that. Apparently not! At least this explains how one of them escaped…
July 31st, 2009 . Posted in Mealworms | Comments Off
Tags: Mealworms
Yesterday, I had a look at my mealworm beetles and they seemed perfectly happy, running around and trying to hide under a piece of wood in their container. When I looked more closely, I realised I could only see 3 of them. I checked through all of the bedding, but there were no dead bodies.
I think 1 of them has either escaped, or been thrown away when I changed their paper towel (I put a damp paper towel in with them for moisture).
Also, I still haven’t found any babies in there, which is odd because I have seen them mating a few times. I think I will have to give in a buy a starter mealworm colony.
July 24th, 2009 . Posted in Chickens | Comments Off
Tags: Chickens, Mealworms, mites, parasites, sick, sleepy
Since I discovered the mites I have been cleaning out the bedding each day and lining the bottom of the coop with newspaper. When I removed the newspaper again today it was covered in tiny red mites. I also emptied the area that they lay eggs and gave it a good sprinkling of stalosan f.
In general the girls have seemed happier the past couple of days – I think the reason that they have been making so much noise in the mornings has been because they were being eaten alive by mites. When I let the girls out today they all seemed fine, but after about an hour I noticed that Meg was wandering around slowly and not scratching around in the mud like the others. I gave her some meal worms and some poultry spice, but she has been getting more and more lethargic as the day has gone on. She has spent the last few hours standing by herself under a tree.
Meg has been sitting all by herself for hours
I’m not sure if she is sick or just tired – the last few times that I went out to look at her she had her eyes half closed, and kept closing them for a while. I’m wondering if the mites have made her slightly anemic or something…
I hope she is just tired...
July 2nd, 2009 . Posted in Mealworms | Comments Off
Tags: Mealworms
Last night when I went upstairs there was another mealworm beetle in my bedroom – my girlfriend trod on it by accident when she went upstairs. It still seems pretty healthy so I put it in the container with the others. I wonder if they are breeding in my house or something…