Harvesting Your Mealworms

Raising mealworms is a delicate balancing act; the longer you feed them, the larger they will become. But, if you feed them for too long, then they will transform into the pupa phase, then into the darkling beetle. So this fight against time maybe be a little emotionally corrosive, however, corralling the appropriate balance will reward your efforts with fruitful mealworms that are everything your birds and reptiles are looking for.

Let’s assume that you’ve mastered this delicate balance, and are prepared to harvest the mealworms, and let’s also assume that you’ve raised the mealworms in some form of bran or corn meal. And let us also assume that you are about to separate the worms from the bedding material so that you can feed to your anxious reptiles or birds. You have a few options; one method is by lightly blowing the bran off the mealworms. You can easily do this with your own lung-capacity, because the bran is lighter than the mealworms. Don’t go any stronger than your own breath, because the mealworms aren’t that heavy either, and can easily be blown away with the bran.

But a simpler method is to get a screen and construct your own filtration device, that will separate your mealworms from the bran. Basically, get some lumber, and construct a square that is 16” x 16.” Then, take the screen and staple it to the bottom, like you are making basket. But make sure that the screen is wide enough so that the mealworms won’t fall through, but so that the bran will fall through. You can expect a few mealworms to fall through the screen, but for the most part, you’ll have a majority of mealworms left inside of the tray. It is similar to panning for gold, however, you are panning for mealworms in this case.

The benefits of successfully harvesting mealworms is that you can now provide your reptiles and birds with a diet made strictly from protein substance. Remember, the mealworms are filled with protein. And the benefits that the protein-happy mealworms provide for your pets are excellent growth and strength. If you mix in too much bedding material with the mealworms, then the reptiles and birds can develop a distaste for the mealworms. What will happen is the birds or reptiles will consume more bedding than mealworms, and that over-potent bedding will train the pets to think that mealworms share the same dissatisfying taste as the bedding. So it is crucial to help train your pet to know the tasteful benefits of mealworms. And it is even more crucial for the mealworms farmer to know how to effectively remove the bedding material from the mealworms.

Although separating the mealworms from the bedding may be tedious and not nearly as exciting as feeding them, it is still a necessary step in supplying your birds and reptiles with adequate, nutritional substance. As always, you can purchase organic mealworms directly from our website. We ship only on Mondays, and the mealworms are guaranteed to arrive to your location by Wednesday or Thursday of that same week. Happy mealworming!