February--March Observations

February 18th	First day of mealie-wormies.  Gross.  The mealworms appear to be in a larva state--yellowish and squirmy.  I notice that several have shedded their skin, which means they are on their way to pupation.  However, mealworms shed their skin several times before pupating and I am not sure how long they have been in this stage.  I will have to watch for their transformation.
February 26th	Our mealworms are growing up.  Many of them have morphed into the pupa stage, which is evident from the little white/tan blobs embedded in the wheat germ.  Several larvae still squirm about and suck on the rotting apple left in their from when AnnaMarie babysat them.   So far I have kept them on top of my bookshelf in the living room.  It gets some sun in the daytime and since it is by the window, it may get a little cold at night.  I have not noticed a difference in their activity level between morning and night.  Maybe I will move them to a darker or warmer place and see how they react...
March 4th	Yes, I still have our mealworm teenagers.  All but two or so have morphed into the pupa stage and I believe they will stay this way for 2 or 3 weeks.  The bedding is starting to rot, but I am afraid to disrupt their pupating process by changing it.  Interestingly, some of the pupae are darker in color than others.
March 15th	Oh my goodness, they are beetles.  These guys are HUGE!  They are black with hard shells, and do not squirm quite as much as they did in the larva stage, but they are definitely active.  They are still feeding off this apple--is that bad?  They seem to be alive and well.  I have noticed that they tend to crawl up the sides more than they did when they were worms, probably because now they have little legs.  I’m also pretty sure they have begun to mate...Good luck Abby--you’re next--we are going to be grandparents...

Amber Jones

Pictures- Lindsay

Mealworm Observations- Lindsay

Well, these lovely little things are me and my husband's first official pets! And no longer are they in their mealworm stage, they are now officially "Darkling Beetles", also known as Tenebrio beetles. Before Amber passed them on to me, AnnaMarie was so kind as to change their bedding, which was a bit damp. Once the dry bedding was put in, they were much more active. This is something that led us to our investigation and experient of whether the beetles prefer wet or dry environments.

I did some research about Darkling Beetles and found out some other reasons they are so active. They are now mating! If the female beetle does not submit to the male, the male will chase her around until she does submit (hence the activeness of the beetles!) I also noticed that several of the beetles were burrowing in the bedding (which is wheat germ). I did research on that and found out that once the sperm is released into the female she will burrow and can lay up to 500 eggs.

The beetles are about at the end of their life cycle now, but their eggs will start a whole new generation!

Had the beetles from April 4-12

Abby Bess-Observation

The mealworms were thriving and great while I had them. I was too grossed out by them to change their bedding, so I just kept it as it was. They did not seem to mind. They moved around a lot and also didn't seem to mind the rotted apple that was in there either :). I could count 13 meal worms that have turned into beetles. I saw one worm that had not turned into a meal worm yet, but it was still alive.

I put a new piece of apple into their home and they all went towards the new piece.

I passed the mealworms onto Lindsay next :)