Bran substitutes for growing mealworms

[monotwine]

It has taken me probably the better part of 2 years to get mealworms on the go. They don't like to perform for me and I don't have the perfect set up. They live and are reared in my garden shed as I don't have a garage or spare room for the set up. Finally I get them to breed successfully by seperating out the different life cycle stages. I have a small set up which makes it manageable to do this.
My one bug bear is the bran mites and moths which always seem to get in. I use bran destined for human consumption with insect gauze over the containers.... eek and still I get the mites and coddling moth (so glad I don't particularly like bran they must be inside already ).

I recently even changed over to using breakfast oats as a medium, but the mites are already in the system, so have infested that too.
I am probably going to have to turf the lot and start fresh again, so was reading up on other methods. I came across the super mealie worms that was posted by Greg H in Sept on how he saw it in the Philippines and was wondering. Those chicken starter crumbles... Would they make a good substitute as a growing medium to get rid of bran mites? or would they too come with mites or something worse?
What is in those starter crumbles and how would that affect my birds. Do you think they have unhealthy stuff in there that the worms would gut load on?

I can get mealies to grow time and again now that I have it working for me, but the mites always eventually arrive and stuff up the production line.

I reckon my options are to change my growing medium to a non-mite infested type (not bran) or alt how does one get rid of the blasted mites. They seem to over run everyone and kill off the pupae.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[GregH]

The mealies and superworm supply dried up last here here in Luzon becuse of heat and mite infestation. I visited a grower and he totally destocked and fumigated as the entire facility as it was infested. I don't know what he used but knowing this country you're probably still allowed to use methyl bromide! He was just restarting when I visited and I think quarantine and hygiene are important but in a practical sense unless you're a commerial grower having foot baths and clean clothes changes are impractical and this guy didn' t do it either and his place was still full of grain dust so I could see how feral beeteles and later mites could enter and build up in a dirty corner and then move into your cultures. Luckily I've not had them in my cultures but I don't even breed enough for myself. I use chicken starter crumbles as my medium but it's not sterile so one day I'm likely to introduce something but if it moves I don't buy from that shop. I think you work at Kirstenbosch so have a talk to the guys at the herbarium to see how they treat specimens before they place them into the collection. I seem to remember from by Melbourne Uni days that they place them in the deep freeze for 2 weeks to kill anything and that would work for the beetle food too. Just make sure that it's in a sealed plastic container and that you don't open it untill it gets to room temperature after it comes out of the freezer or moisture will condense on it.

[E Orix]

You are correct "M" Flour moths etc and mites to a lesser degree can be found in untreated grain foods for Humans on occasion.(not good!!!)
There is a method you can try.
Put your bran in a container and then put it in the microwave (time?) this should sort out any infestaion,insect or eggs.
Next step sieve your Worms or Beetles and put them in some cooled down zapped Bran. The reason for this is that there could be eggs and most likely Mites on the Mealworms. After a few hours or a day I guess sieve your worms out again. Micro the bran and repeat the process.
Once you have done that put your worms back into fresh ZAPPED bran and wait. If you zapped Bran before adding to your worm boxes this will assist in resticting infestation. Also clean your boxes out and leave them in the hot sun for most of the day.
We have noticed here in Aust. if the bran is cheap and comes in an unbranded bag we have to most likely treat it other wise we get a massive hatching of Flour moth. If they are not restricted then your productivity will crash. Mind you Flour Moth grubs are good live food. They are in silken tubes and are white with dark heads. Provided there are no hormes present you can use dog biscuits and other pellets to up the quality of food to your worms, those products are heat treated from memory and shouldn't do any harm.
Good luck
With regard Mealworms here in Australia. A friend purchased Mealworms from a big commercial breeder very recently and the worms were good but the amount of bugs in the shipment was not good,mini mealworms(beetles and worms) flour moth grubs but only a few plus a few other things and a proportion of rubbish. We have come to the decision that they are having trouble supplying and are buying worms in from backyard breeders so becareful especially if you want to set up a breeding colony.If you used these then you would struggle from day one.

[Fincho162]

As Mr Orix says those "mini mealies" or buffalo worms are highly carnivorous and I second his warning.........6 beetles eventually cost me 3 mealworms fridges once full of mealies!!!!!!

With your mites u can drop water on the surface of yoru boxes and the mites will glug together and u can scoop them out with a spoon - seen it dun a few times.............depends upon your keenenss but it can be cleaned in that manner.............time consuming!!!

Also if breeding don't forget that 65% humidity is the key to large breeding results..........

And of course the most important of all.......keep yoru mealies in pollard/mill run/ wheat germ.....for ongrowing before feeding to avoid calcium troubles from the use of bran............

[desertbirds]

i heard a large commercial mealworm breeder here had all the bran and pollard radiated before using it.I also heard that organic pollard is the best medium to use.

[monotwine]

Thank you all for your suggestions, thoughts and precautions. I already add safe dog crumbles to the mix and give additonal calcium to the birds just in case. The mircrowaving seems like the safest option and quicker over the big freeze. Silly me not for thinking that up. Thanks EOrix.
The most infested stuff I think I will just chuck. If I micro them then my meallie eggs will get fried too, so no point in keeping them. I will try saving adults and beetle set-ups with sieving and mircrowaving. Worth a shot.

I am thinking too I am going to have to start another "clean" mealworm set up in a new area just incase the lot I have now don't recover from the infestation. I can get more clean stock easily enough, but it won't do to add it to the current boxes if I want to keep it clean of mites. (perhaps my hubby won't notice strange going on's in my broom cupboard)
I will do some searching to see how long the mites life cycle is. I can fumigate the shed, but fear its too close to the birds. I will sanitise it by hand anyway, but I am sure some mites will slip away from me to reinfest again. Perhaps they can be starved to death without a "host substrate". (doubt it)

Fincho, the mites are in such large volumes that I can run my finger around the container to kill em! Not squeemish that way. They seem to climb the container walls after dark and I attack! A drop of water would catch a very small % of them. I'm tempted to just to watch the buggers drown!

[monotwine]

Desert bird thanks for that info too. I will see if I can get Pollard here. Surely it must be available, but I have not seen it at my stockist.

[monotwine]

Put your bran in a container and then put it in the microwave (time?) this should sort out any infestaion,insect or eggs.

Just on a side not... 5 min on high is too much!!! LOL almost started a fire. By the time hubby hauled out the bran it was SMOKIN!
1-2min seemed adequate and under supervision I got a nice batch done without any further mishap.

[Diane]

Danger! Woman at work!

[wellingtoncdm]

I added powdered garlic to my oats/oatmeal. I never used bran. This kept all of the flour moths away. I also froze all oatmeal before putting worms in it. I just recently stopped feeding mealies and am just using boiled egg and eggfood. The worms were too much work and hassle as well as attracting lizards. My birds all will eat boiled egg instead.