How to Set Up and Maintain a Mealworm Farm: A Complete Guide
Keeping a steady supply of mealworms for your invertebrates, reptiles, or other insectivores can be expensive and inconvenient if you're constantly buying feeders. But with a stackable mealworm farm, you can create a self-sustaining, low-maintenance system to ensure a continuous supply of nutritious live food for your pets.
This guide will walk you through the setup, maintenance, and best practices for using a mealworm farm effectively.
Why Start a Mealworm Farm?
Mealworms are one of the easiest feeder insects to breed at home. They require very little maintenance, don’t smell if properly cared for, and can thrive with just a basic setup. A stackable mealworm farm makes the process even easier by optimizing space, airflow, and egg collection while keeping everything organized.
Benefits of a Stackable Mealworm Farm
✔ Saves Money – No more frequent pet store trips for live feeders.
✔ Ensures a Consistent Supply – No risk of running out of mealworms when your pet needs them.
✔ Low Maintenance – Only requires occasional feeding and cleaning.
✔ Customizable & Expandable – Scale your farm as needed to match your pet's feeding schedule.
✔ Better Nutrition – Control your mealworms' diet to gut-load them with essential nutrients before feeding.
Setting Up Your Mealworm Farm
What You’ll Need
3D-printed stackable mealworm farm (worm bin, beetle bin, and lid)
Substrate (I like store bought mixes for worms, and oatmeal for the beetles)
Mealworms (starter colony)
Fresh food (customize to match the vitamin needs of the pet that will eat the worms. For example bits of orange can be great to gut-load vitamin c)
Optional
Egg crates for hiding
Small cup with water gel for hydration
Step-by-Step Setup
Print and Assemble the Farm – Stack the bins in the correct order: worm bin(s) on the bottom and beetle bin on top. You can continue this pattern for multiple layers if desired, simply place the lid on top the highest bin.
Add Substrate – Fill each bin with a layer of substrate to give the mealworms a place to burrow and feed.
Introduce the Mealworms – Place your starter colony in the worm bin. If you have pupae, move them directly into the beetle bin.
Let Nature Take Over – Over time, mealworms will pupate into beetles. Beetles will lay eggs, which will fall through the holes in the beetle bin into the worm bin below.
Provide Food & Hydration – Add occasional fresh vegetables and mist lightly to offer hydration.
Caring for Your Mealworm Farm
Once your farm is set up, ongoing care is simple. Here are a few best practices to keep your colony thriving:
Daily to Weekly Maintenance
✅ Check for Food & Hydration – Replace dried-out veggies and mist lightly if needed.
✅ Remove Dead Beetles & Molts – Regularly clear out debris to keep the farm clean.
✅ Monitor Population Growth – Keep an eye on the number of worms, pupae, and beetles to maintain a balanced cycle.
Preventing Common Issues
Mold Growth: Ensure airflow by slightly shifting the bins to one side to create a small ventilation gap. Avoid over-misting.
Pupae Being Eaten: Move pupae to a separate bin or jar before they become beetles to prevent predation by worms or adult beetles.
Overcrowding: If your population grows too large, separate worms into multiple bins to avoid competition for food.
Mites: Occasionally the substrate will have mite eggs that are awakened by moisture from offered vegetables. If that happens, remove sources of moisture and allow bin to dry (use side stacking for more airflow) the mites should die off without the water. If preferred you can also do a substrate change for a clean start.
Harvesting & Using Your Mealworms
When to Harvest Mealworms
This will vary based on what pet will be enjoying your mealworms. For my jumping spiders, I feed rather young worms to ensure they are appropriately small. My tarantulas like a larger more mature worm, and my reptiles are somewhere in between. I try to keep two worm bins sorting by size to make feeding easier. You can control the size in a bin by blocking new eggs and allowing the worms to age and grow.
How to Gut-Load Mealworms
Before feeding mealworms to your pets, gut-load them with high-nutrient foods to enhance their nutritional value. There are many pre-made substrates that contain most of the nutrients needed for a good gut load. Make sure to research the nutritional needs of your pet so that you can match accordingly. Keep in mind, the nutrients you give to the worms, will be the nutrients your pet receives.
Feeding Mealworms to Pets
Depending on your pet’s size and dietary needs, you can:
Offer mealworms live for natural hunting behavior.
Dust mealworms with calcium powder for reptiles.
Refrigerate excess mealworms to slow growth and keep them fresh for longer.
Conclusion
A stackable mealworm farm is a simple, efficient, and cost-effective way to raise feeders at home. With minimal maintenance and proper care, you’ll always have a fresh supply of nutritious mealworms for your pets. Whether you’re feeding reptiles, amphibians, birds, or even fish, this system makes mealworm farming easy and rewarding.
Ready to start your own farm? Download and print your stackable mealworm farm today!
