Pupae to Beetle Management, a system which works for MY production and sales goals, is explained here. This is NOT necessary for MOST home-based mealworm farms. Counting and monitoring ages of pupae and beetles are helpful in managing population for breeding or quantities available for sales / quality control. For small producers and personal needs, one pupae container, like a good storage box, is enough, and easily managed without counts, labels or any type of complicated system, such as this!
PUPAE TO BEETLE MANAGEMENT
The "Pupae Hotels", as pictured below, are how I store mealworm pupae through metamorphosis. The drawers are individually about 4 x 6 inches, and will hold 400+ pupae. However, I prefer to house no more than 250, ideally 150-185 per drawer. These drawers are housed in a basement closet, the "Worman Cave", which is temperature controlled and monitored for humidity. In this area of my home and with average relative humidity of 55% in Tennessee USA, 35-60% and 78-82F degrees are acceptable realities for my farm, which includes superworms. [See the page, Superworm Farm, if interested.]
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| Each drawer is labeled using a dry erase marker with the day pupae are picked and the number of pupae the drawer contains, as well as any notes, such as DNS (do not sell). |
The pictures to the left (or possibly above on a cell phone or other device): Since one drawer represents one day or one session of "picking" pupae from larvae drawers, the pupae in that drawer will morph on the same day within a few days. For example, the beetles from this drawer were picked on Dec. 3 and were transferred to a beetle drawer on Dec. 13. I do not provide food or moisture during the time in the Pupae Hotel. The first photo close up of a pupae drawer is ready for the next step, as there are significant amount of beetles and few pupae. The second photo close up of the same pupae drawer is the result after exoskeletons, or sheds, are vacuumed off using the crevice tool of a standard household vacuum with the hose.
It is my experience that using enclosed drawers or loosely covered, small containers (pictured below) ensures enough humidity is available for proper emerging of pupae to beetles without using further methods to add humidity. As the pupae morphs into a beetle, it is quiet wet, creating enough humidity to complete the transformation. The damp exoskeletons may also act as food and drink during the time beetles are in the drawer without another source. In this system, a few living larvae may be cannibalize, some pupae die, or deformed beetles emerge, but, there is not significant loss to effect production nor warranting addition of bedding food, drink, or other sources of humidity. It is also my experience that healthy larvae, adequately fed and hydrated, will become healthy pupae, and in turn, able to complete metamorphosis easily into a healthy beetle!
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Sometimes, I put the drawer's contents into a large pan for ease in removing pupae, which have not transformed into beetles, dead pupae, and dead or deformed beetles, counting as I go. This number is subracted from the original count of pupae on the front of the drawer. The final total of beetles is logged on the beetle drawer or holding container. Dead or deformed are fed to the chickens. The non-transformed pupae are normally put in another drawer, again labelled with the count and original date.
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| When I run out of room in the Pupae Hotels, I do the same thing using these recycled Blue Cheese bowls! |
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The shelf in the Worman Cave is a handy place for an over-flow of pupae. Normally, when I have this many pupae, so that all drawers are full in the Pupae Hotel and Blue cheese containers are running out, I will sell them. [See the page on this blog for that information, Facebook Pages, Orders, Sales, Help.]
 In 2019, I added two more tiny units, gray, (no photo yet) which sit on top of the blue ones, near the light switch. Now, I am full up on these shelves. But, I do have a spare, just in case! |
Are the colirs of the pupae hotel for coding sizes or just happens to be what colors you bought?
ReplyDeleteThe colors were chosen because that is what was available at the store they were purchased. I recently bought 3 more of these little drawer units, which are gray.
ReplyDelete