To Kendra, Gibby, and whoever else is knee-deep in mealworms:

I've had 2 major die-offs since I started all this. The first was when I put my first and only surplus worms in an un-tested refrigerator, and about 75% died. The second was recently when a ton of big fat worms and pupae died. I suspect they were overcrowded, though the bedding was kept fresh and I'm not sure why it would matter. Regardless, the mess of dead and live bugs mixed together is beyond overwhelming to me. The first time, I sat and picked out every single dead worm with a tweezer. It took many hours. It was awful.

This time, I found a better technique. I thought I'd share this with you, in case you have similarly bad luck.

First I dumped a cup or two of mixed mess onto a tray. I used a paint brush to sweep the live to one side and the dead to another. Then I scooped them off the tray to their destination. It saved me HOURS!!!!

Also, at Michael's crafts store, I found a jewelry making tool set (brand is Jewelry Essentials, and it comes in a pink & white package) with a tweezer that has a little shovel on the end. The other tool isn't useful to me, but it's like a long spoon. Anyway, that little shovel is the greatest! For scooping out dead things but especially for removing beetles from your pupae/worm bin. Very gentle and easy. Worked great with my tray sweeping technique above, too!

Hope you guys are doing better than me with this!

Ann