14 replies to this topic

[dermy]

1 Day after being in the System:

Frass Level:

New Food:

I haven't checked on the progress but I'm guessing it's going well!
That's:
15 Carrots
5 Pieces of Cat Food

Woops Double Post sorry!

[AntsAreUs]

If they lay eggs in there and they hatch wouldn't they go down into the frass level? Also just restarted my colony with 300 mealworms!  There is going to be sooo much mealworms when I'm done breeding then! 

You put way too many carrots in there by the way.

[Crystals]

The mealworms eat way more than the beetles do.

The mealworms would likely go down the holes.

 

Most people who try composting with mealworms, use an over sized plastic shoebox with an inch of bran, and they place veggie scraps in (no more than can be eaten within 14 hours).

They tend to remove the pupae into another container to start the new cycle, or else they wait until the bran is completely depleted and use a sieve to collect worms/beetles and transfer them to a new setup.  They usually keep the old stuff in another container for a month so they can collect the smaller mealworms  (which is easier when they are bigger).  Then everything left in the bin you just toss in the compost.

[dermy]

Meh I'm not too worried about mealworms, I know they will fall to the bottom, that's my hope anyway. They all fall to the bottom with the frass so I can just dump it into a small container to grow the mealworms to a certain size and then place them in a new container, or into this one.

 

They have been eating multiple carrots like this their whole lives, I assume as long as they don't mould the are good, they still have the carrots from before in there too!

 

These are my meh beetles anyway, I've already got a bunch of baby mealworms from them, just really small ones.

 

Do you guys really think something bad will happen from me feeding them this much? I don't think anything bad will happen. Although my judgement is pretty impaired these last few days.

[dermy]

Here is what things look like today:
Carrots:

Frass:

[dermy]

All the carrots are pretty much gone. Need to feed them more.

[Gregory2455]

This would be a great idea for anyone with Cyphomyrmex.

[AntsAreUs]

This would be a great idea for anyone with Cyphomyrmex.

Do you want Cyphomyrmex or something?

[Gregory2455]

Cyphomyrmex is around the level of MYrmecocystus and Acromyrmex for me. That level is marked as the following: MUST CATCH ONE!!! 

[dermy]

Thought I'd update, the frass has doubled and has been removed, I've also since then forced 24 carrots [including the ones pictured above] through the System, it's working great, can't wait to really test it out in the next months to come!

[Chromerust]

I think I missed something. What is this frass and what is the purpose of it?


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[Mads]

Frass is simply a fancy term for insect manure.....

[AntsAreUs]

I think I missed something. What is this frass and what is the purpose of it?


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Frass is insect poop basicly. It can be used for composting, substrate (not recommended), and fertilizer. It can also turn into a great maggot catcher if you add water and put it outside in a bucket.

[Chromerust]

I see, thanks for clearing that up. I have a couple tubs of brown crud from my mealworms. I never toss it because there might be eggs in it from the beetles. Maybe when I get a bunch more mealworms it won't matter if I throw some out


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[dermy]

Yeah I'm not tossing it I'm keeping it just in case there are eggs that haven't hatched or babies that are tiny [unlikely at this point]