Proper Care of Mealworms

(Go back to duncraft.com)

 Some birds are not seed eaters: their main source of nutrition is live insects. Other birds that do eat seed also enjoy a supplemental snack of live insect protein. For both kinds of diets, live mealworms are an ideal food. When you add live mealworms to your bird food menu, you'll attract: bluebirds,  cardinals, jays, kinglets, orioles, robins, tanagers, thrushes, titmice, warblers, and waxwings. The following is a list of tips you need in order to properly store and care for this live bird food.

First, we recommend you purchase your mealworms from a reputable mail-order company, rather than a pet store. Mealworms commonly found in pet stores are likely to cost 10 times as much money as mail-order worms and the larvae are frequently dead or dying.

 Mealworms arrive packed in newspaper. Any attempt to dislodge them from the paper can become tricky, because they tend to cling. Put the entire shipping box in your fridge when the worms arrive, and leave them there for several hours. This will allow the worms to release their hold of the newspaper. Be sure to shake out the newspaper over a bucket or trash can. The worms will come off easily and none will escape.

• The worms can be refrigerated over a long-term period; however refrigeration causes them to go dormant and prevents them from eating and growing. If you do choose to keep them refrigerated be sure to remove them at least once a week in order for them to eat. If your worms are to be consumed relatively quickly, simply store them in a cool, dry place to keep them from becoming beetles.
• When storing your mealworms, it's important to use a shallow container. Mealworms require a lot of surface area and won't thrive in a deep container. Contrary to popular belief they can only climb up about an inch, so a plastic shoebox container makes an ideal mealworm home.
• Feed them old fashioned rolled oats, not the quick instant variety. Mealworms only eat bran, and quick oats have most of the bran removed. Worms will also thrive on wheat bran, although this is typically more difficult to find at the grocery store. Provide an inch of oats for every 1,000 worms and be sure to replenish the oats as the larvae grow. Should you find that flour moths have become a problem--brought on by having rolled oats around for a while--purchase an inexpensive flour moth trap. These traps are merely pieces of cardboard covered with stickums and baited with a pheromone that flour moths just can't resist. Flour moth traps are available at most locations that stock wild bird seed.
• Your worms require a source for moisture. Some experts suggest apple slices or potatoes but these tend to become moldy and can foster mites. A better choice would be carrot slices. Carrots are clean, free of waste and do not mold.
• Finally, when feeding mealworms to the birds, be sure to use a feeder designed specifically for mealworms. You can also serve mealworms in a heavy dish with slanted sides (like a dog bowl) and set them right out on a deck railing. If your feeding area is not protected from rain, do not put out mealworms when it is raining unless you can be sure the birds will scoop them up immediately. Mealworms can drown in as little as one drop of water.

(Go back to duncraft.com)

 

 

• Posted at Wednesday, January 30, 2008 10:28 AM
• In Wild Bird Feeding Category | Permalink