Mealworm Colony

I started off my colony with 100 mealworms. Most of them have been fed off to my leo, Chibi, but a few have become pupa and a couple of beetles. From 100 mealworms I now have, 4 beetles and 10 pupa. My colony is on its way to producing me some wormies.

Does anyone know how to tell the difference between male and female beetles? I have four and there are two that are bigger than the other two. And when can I expect them to start producing babies once they become black? (two are still brown).

The larger beetles are females. They start to lay eggs within days of emerging as adults, but you won't have large mealworms for at least a couple months, so be sure to have another supply until they get up to size. I would recommend letting at least a dozen or so more worms pupate to get a steady supply in the future, and replacing them with each new batch of worms.

-Evan

I have a few hopeful worms in the container that I suspect will pupate soon. I'm starting to be able to recognize when a worm is about to pupate. They don't crawl around as much and when you pick them up, they wiggle in a way that the pupa does. I spotted at least 2 worms that have become sluggish, so I'll check tonight and tomorrow morning for more pupa.

I will be getting another 100 worms today from the store, so I will have a steady supply of worms until my colony gets going.

Thanks for the help!