Why raise and/or breed meal worms? Well is you have any reptiles or amphibians they love to eat these.

If you have ever bought these to feed to your pet, you can see how the price may add up eventually. Especially if you have more then one of these types of pets. Also inside birds can be fed these meal worms. Also if you put them outside for the birds this is one of the bluebirds favorite foods. You may be able to attract bluebirds to your yard along with bluebird houses.

Meal worms are the larvae of the darkling beetle. These beetles undergo a complete metamorphosis. They have an egg, larva, pupa, and beetle stage. The female beetle lays between 500 to 1000 bean shaped white eggs.

This is what I do:

Use an old shallow Tupperware container. Put lots of wholes in the lid, I used a screwdriver to drill right through the plastic very easily. Fill the container, with a couple of inches of rolled oats. Then I put a small plastic lid in and filled it with a piece of potato and a piece of carrot and one quarter of an orange.

I change the veggies every couple of days so mold doesn't start. The meal worm which is also called the tenebrio will eat these, and eventually you will see some of them metamorphisize into pupa and the pupa into beetles. The beetles will mate and lay eggs, all you do is feed them, and you will have lots of mealworms to feed your pet or try to lure bluebirds to your back yard.