Mealworm/superworm business and other business questions.

[packer43064]

Hi everyone, i've always wanted to breed mealworms and superworms on a larger scale and now that I have a decent paying job I can start this up again. I've done it loads of time when I was younger for various animals I have kept. The plan would be to do just the 'worms now then cockroaches, butterworms, crickets the whole lot. Essentially a feeder business, but not really anything huge just something to take up a basement worth of space.

Questions:
Is it profitable, I'm not talking hundred of dollars every week, but anything would be nice?

Do I have to have a permit or anything to sell (I live in Ohio)? I think you have to make so much a year to even qualify as a business.

How do I get the word out that I'm selling. Will pet stores buy from me?

I already bought 5k mealworms and 1k superworms to get everything going. I know it'll take some time to even get a good supply going.

[Rorschach]

Take into consideration how cheap you got your inventory for. These big time breeders breed so many worms that they are able to sell to stores for way less than we can even fathom

[packer43064]

I know, I understand I won't be able to sell like them. I should still be able to sell though, something on the side won't hurt.

[jfreels]

The pet store I frequent would buy them from me. I had just decided to get out of breeding the mealworms. If I were you, I'd concentrate on the supers, they are more versatile.

I "surrendered" about 20k mealworms to the petstore last week lol.

[packer43064]

Lol,nice. How long it took to get 20k, where did you start from? I'll get more supers.

[jfreels]

Lol,nice. How long it took to get 20k, where did you start from? I'll get more supers.

The whole thing is space. I have a 10 rack system. The top three racks housed 200-300 beetles each. I found that keeping them around 80 F did really good for production.

I started my colony with only about 100 beetles. I didn't ramp up production until about July-August of this year. I'm hoping the supers take off like that. So far so good!

[Rorschach]

People have the ability to grow their own flowers, yet still buy zillions. I think you'll make a profit

[Clear]

I have stopped selling mealworms and superworms. I hate counting and sorting them. I would buy 100k mealworms and 25k superworms a month. The problem with selling is you will be competing with a ton of people, you will need to separate yourself from others. If you have some direct questions just PM me.