Originally Posted by
T_om
Beetles mean eggs. Leave the beetles in a bin for a month keeping them fed on bran or egg laying mash and "watered" with fresh carrots or potato slices. Then sift them out, toss the dead ones, and put them in another bin to keep laying eggs. This batch of beetles will last about 3 months, depending on the exact species of darkling beetle you have (there are hundreds in North America alone).
The beetles are just your egg layers. Keep them away from the tiny mealworms because they are cannibalistic in some conditions. You will get way more worms by keeping the beetles separate.
Each months bin will have LOTS of eggs and they will hatch and develop into your bait size mealworms.
As the bait size mealworms reach maturity, they will start to pupate. You will notice that some of your large mealworms are getting lethargic and slow moving,. They are getting ready to pupate and in an ideal situation, should be moved to a separate bin. They have stopped eating and are preparing to turn into pupae... little white "aliens".
Both the worm and the beetle stage will feed on these pupae in some conditions so its best to move them. As they turn into beetles, move the beetles to another "egg laying" bin and keep the cycle going.
Tom