The Best Food for Mealworms

Mealworms, the larval stage stage of the darkling beetle, make an excellent food source for several animal specials. Birds, reptiles, frogs and fish all benefit from the high protein content of what is also known as the "golden grub." As their name implies, these insects are reared on various types of grain meal. Raising your own mealworms for use in a bird feeder, as a source of food for your pets, or as bait for fishing will cut down on excess expenses and will provide your animals with the freshest source of food possible..

  1. Food

    • Much like earthworms live in the soil and depend on obtaining their nutrients from surrounding sediment, mealworms also inhabit their primary food source. While mealworms will feed on decaying plant matter, dead insects and even animal droppings, they thrive best on a diet consisting of grain, flour, cereal, bran or chicken feed. The food is best when dry, as this avoids contamination by bacteria and other microbial pests that could cause illness and death in a mealworm colony. Dr. Adrian Lawler, a retired aquarium supervisor, states in an article about raising mealworms for food that he finds chicken laying crumbles to produce the best result while being the easiest type of feed to work with. At the commercial level, growers may add hormones to the meal to lengthen the larval stage in order to obtain much larger mealworm growth.

    Setup

    • Setting up your own mealworm colony requires only a few easy steps, and with minimal maintenance will produce hundreds--even thousands--of mealworms a year. All you need is a container, chicken laying crumbles (or other food) and a water source. The water source can be a piece of sliced vegetable or a damp sponge. Put a few inches of your laying crumbles in the bottom of your container. Place the water source in your container. If you are using a piece of vegetable or fruit, place it directly on the feed. Place a damp sponge in a dish to avoid your feed getting too moist. Drop in your mealworms and let nature do the rest. You need only replace the water source as it becomes dry and the food source as it runs low.

    Life Cycle

    • The mealworm life cycle can last from 100 to several hundred days. The actual mealworms, the larval stage, will molt 10 to 20 times before pupating into a white pupa (much like the cocoon stage for a butterfly). This pupa will be inactive and will not eat or drink. The flightless darkling beetle will emerge from the pupa, and will then lay eggs, starting the process over again. When raising your own mealworms, you can allow this entire cycle to take place in the same container, or you may choose to place your beetles in a separate container to collect their eggs.