Posted on the forum in Feb 2009, ianandjoy want to know is it cruel to chill mealworms?
“I have up until now kept my medium sized mealworms on the top shelf of the fridge supplied with porridge oats to supplement their bran. They appear to have kept OK for 2-3 weeks but I must admit to not knowing what a poorly worm looks or behaves like.
The current recommendation to not keep them in the fridge – are they more likely to go into the beetle phase being out of the fridge and is it cruel to chill them?
I have fed them apple and banana and they are eating these, so I am expecting to see more beetles in future.
Ian”
Many customers tend to keep their mealworms in a fridge but usually this is a bit too chilly, they tend to go dormant and this slows their feeding down, like all living creatures, lack of food leads to losing condition, however, as you say, the warmer you keep them the quicker they will turn to pupae and then beetles, the pupae are almost immobile and look like little aliens but birds will still feed on them quite happily.
We find the ideal temperature to keep them is around 10degC so possibly the top part of a warmer fridge may be fine or at this time of year a garage or somewhere similar, freezing temperatures will definitely harm them. If they are feeding ok they will continue to shed light brown dried skin as they grow and you will see white, fairly soft mealworms in the container that have recently shed their skin, they will also consume more food.
The dry, dusty material that collects should be sieved off every now and then. Apple and Banana, particularly Banana skin is a great source of food and moisture but don’t put too much on causing the dry food to become damp and mouldy creating problems.
A poorly worm just dies off, dries and turns black and its not cruel to chill them as they would experience colder temperatures in the “wild” Hope this helps.