Well after watching Spring Watch for the past couple of weeks I've decided I'll do a bit more and put some mealworms out. Does anyone know where you can buy these in Sheffield.

Cheers

Mark

Sheffield Exotics or that other one across the road on Attercliffe.
Actually they aint that cheap anymore, maybe there are better outlets.

would white maggots be as good? if they're for the birds i've fed many a Robin them while sat fishing, it's quite sweet really, they get really bold and almost beg for food! Get to the maggot shop, put some in a shallow bowl and watch em go! Only on a dry day though, or they'll get everywhere!

Not sure where you can buy them in Sheffield, but you can buy them online from CJ Wildbirdfoods at www.birdfood.co.uk amongst other places.

If you want to get really serious, you only need to buy one batch and you can then cultivate your own - I've been doing this for over a year now - works out much cheaper. It's actually really interesting too - watching the mealworms gradually developing in to beetles!

Norbo

How do you raise your own mealworms, I've found instructions here (http://www.mealworms.com) is this how you do it. Also what sort of containers do you use and where do you keep the mealworms that you are breeding? somewhere warm or will they be OK for example in a garden shed?

Regards

Mark

Yes, that's pretty much exactly how I do it.

I actually use a bucket and put a mixture of porridge oats (simply because that's all I could think of when I started!) and some wheat bran to a depth of a few inches in the bucket with the mealworms, add a slice of potato for moisture every few days and leave them to pupate.

When they turn in to beetles, I move them to another bucket with the same mixture of oats and bran and leave them to get on with things and lay eggs. I then sieve the contents of the beetle bucket in to the worm bucket every few days, to transfer any eggs the beetles have laid (you can't see these) in with the other mealworms and then put the beetles back in their own bucket.

That's pretty much all there is to it - sounds a bit fiddly but it isn't really. If you feed some of the worms to the birds and allow some to pupate you should be able to have a constant supply of worms.

Note that it does take several weeks for any sign of the tiny new mealworms to appear, so just persevere.

Oh, and I keep mine in the airing cupboard. Keeping them warm speeds up the whole process - if you keep them in a cold garage or similar place then the process slows right down and can almost stop in winter.

Hope that helps - have fun!