S
steve75
Guest
I posted this on reptile rooms, but I felt a need to share this with the rest of you also.
A few days ago, in the middle of the night, I got out of bed (couldn't sleep, 1am) and went over to my mealworm colony. I looked at it and it was crawling with little, black bugs and my mealworms and pupates at the surface were squirming for life.
My colony was overrun with thousands of ants, aimed at eating as many mealworms as possible (they skipped the veggies...they only wanted MEAT). In short, I ended up losing over 1000 mealworms to the ants eating them and another 1000 can't be fed because of possible parasites carried by ants.
I am going to use the remaining mealworms to add to my breeding colony (the ants didn't dare enter the beetle tub which was right next to my worm tub). I started them over heat today to expedite pupating. Hopefully I can get another 1000 or so beetles to make an even more expansive mealworm colony. I usually only work with a couple hundred beetles and make plenty of worms, so this should be a pleasant experience.
Overall, it was a bad experience, but I'm also taking it as an oportunity for growth; to utilize the tainted worms to my advantage. The ants are now gone, destroyed by ant traps and carpet cleaner. I have enacted my revenge. TO THE FUTURE!
:main_thumbsup:
A few days ago, in the middle of the night, I got out of bed (couldn't sleep, 1am) and went over to my mealworm colony. I looked at it and it was crawling with little, black bugs and my mealworms and pupates at the surface were squirming for life.
My colony was overrun with thousands of ants, aimed at eating as many mealworms as possible (they skipped the veggies...they only wanted MEAT). In short, I ended up losing over 1000 mealworms to the ants eating them and another 1000 can't be fed because of possible parasites carried by ants.
I am going to use the remaining mealworms to add to my breeding colony (the ants didn't dare enter the beetle tub which was right next to my worm tub). I started them over heat today to expedite pupating. Hopefully I can get another 1000 or so beetles to make an even more expansive mealworm colony. I usually only work with a couple hundred beetles and make plenty of worms, so this should be a pleasant experience.
Overall, it was a bad experience, but I'm also taking it as an oportunity for growth; to utilize the tainted worms to my advantage. The ants are now gone, destroyed by ant traps and carpet cleaner. I have enacted my revenge. TO THE FUTURE!
:main_thumbsup:
