Abbott Ecology

An update about my mealworm colony. I recently reorganized after various iterations. What I’ve decided for setup is to use blended oats as substrate, and carrots as a regular water source.  The main setup (photo 1) is still in a 3-drawer system 14”x12”x3” per drawer.  The top drawer is the youngest mealworms that are recently hatched and about 1 cm long.  The middle drawer has the older mealworms ranging from 1cm-3cm with some pupating occasionally.  The bottom drawer has Generation 2 adult darkling beetles (photo 4 and 5) which are typically about 1.5 cm long This is where they get busy and have eggs.  When the mealworms turn into pupa they are transferred into a different bucket (photo 2 and 3) where they can hatch into beetles. This will be my 3rd generation of beetles. Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly Oct 2021 - took a creepy looking caterpillar home and thought I accidentally killed it. Turns out it pupated.  March 17, 2022 - butterfly emerged. May 26,...

  I’m gonna grow mealworms for my ducks! My son with a big ol’ handful of larvae!  Here’s the top drawer. I have the larval stage in the top drawer with plenty of fruit for the little guys to munch Shout out to my lemon cucumber plants! They’re the MVPs here for producing enough water source for three drawers and 7 ducks!  I think that this pale guy either just became the last instar of the cycle or is about to pupate. I’m not entirely sure at this point. He stays in the baby bin until later notice.  Update 08/27/22: This is what they look like right after molting into their last instar. Ugh. What a cute one with his little grape. I have pupa in the bottom drawer. I’m not feeling quite as confident about that move, because I’d like to turn the second drawer’s bottom into a screen for eggs to drow down into. However, I have neither the time nor the screen materials to accomplish that, so for now they’re gonna have their own beauty sleep area. I put them all under the ...