Do Mealworms Need Water

They extract the nutrition and water they need from the grain that they live in.

Do mealworms need water. Mealworms eat decaying leaves sticks and grasses sometimes they feed on new roots and plant parts they can eat dead insects waste and stored grains. Mealworms are the larval stage of the darkling beetle insect. These critters are typically found in dark dry places like flour or stored chicken feed. Your second food choice is going to provide the moisture that mealworms need to survive.

Slices or pieces of fruits and vegetables like potatoes and apples work well for this purpose. Like any living thing mealworms need something to drink. They are not aquatic in nature preferring dark areas that are moist with cover. The excess waste produced by humans has made mealworms increasingly dependent on urban areas and less common in the wild.

Put slices of carrot celery potato or green pepper or any other fruit or vegetable on top of their bedding. Adult female beetles can lay up to five hundred eggs during her lifespan of five to six months. They may be easily reared on fresh oats wheat bran or grain with sliced potato carrots or apple as a moisture source. They get water from potatoes apples or other.

Use moist foods to provide the worms with water. A water bowl will just drown the mealworms or beetles. Most people select foods like chunks of potatoes or carrots as these take a while to mold. Don t put any water in the container.

No other water source is required. For more productive production you need to keep a constant temperature of 75 78 24 26 c. Because the mealworms can last up to a full year before transitioning into the pupa stage this will give them plenty of time to eat and grow. While their substrate should remain relatively dry so it does not mold or smell bad the meal worms still need some moisture to thrive in their habitat.

Acting as natural caretakers mealworms make their home anywhere excess biological waste occurs. A fresh cut potato or some fresh carrots will give the worms their needed water and nutrients. A little dish of water won t do it though mealworms need to get their water from something solid like a vegetable. However fattening up your mealworms is a delicate balancing act.

Baked or fried mealworms have been marketed as a healthy snack food in recent history though the consumption of mealworms goes back centuries.