The plastic upright drawer unit can be purchased at KMart, Target or anywhere storage units are sold. The drawer sizes vary about 12w"x15d"x4 to 7"h, the total unit is about 4feet tall & has wheels & 6 drawers. You can drill small holes in the top drawer where the beetles live since the eggs are tiny and will fall through to the next drawer(otherwise the beetles will eat the eggs). A better way is to cut out the bottom of the drawer (leaving about a 1" margin) & tape down or staple plastic window screening over the opening. Place any beetles you have in this drawer. Make sure you have a small refrigerator (set at no lower than 40 degrees)to keep the mealworms from transforming into pupae, then beetles. The beetles will die after laying eggs. You can feed the dead beetles to wild birds, bluebirds, bluejays, cardinals, etc. The beetles don't fly so you can set them on ground in a feeding dish. There are several excellent websites on growing mealworms, especially in you tube

Glad you got your shipments. I called and ordered another 5000 last night and discovered the price had gone up. I checked around and it appears everyone has. The shipping is expensive but I lost one shipment in this heat last year so guess I'll just have to pay. I'm afraid I'll need to cut back on the amount I feed them every day. I was putting out 200-300 mealies a day but I will have to cut back to 100-150. It is just getting too expensive. I have noticed one of the last brood is still coming to the feeder to get his share. Dad will usually try to keep him away from the meal worms as best he can so he and Mom can feed the latest brood up in the trees.

Hi all, I am in Australia and raising mealworms for the local Noisy Miners. I have tried this mealworm thing before to no avail. I have three full tubs of mealworms (from tiny to fully grown) under the house that are brimming with grain mites. I'm still going to strain these and feed them to the 'locals' but I need to buy more worms to begin a new farm. I've had to consider heating as the new colony will live under the house. The old one was inside the house and when the mites broke out, I had a LOT of cleaning to do! After looking into all heating options (and reading all of your advice), I am thinking of buying a ceramic heating lamp with a thermostat. The basic idea is to put the beetles/babies container directly under the lamp with empty containers either side (for the egg-filled strained beetle subtrate). These 'sister containers' will benefit from the lamp, but to avoid overheating of the beetles, I will put the thermostat sensor in that box. Hopefully, by keeping an eye on the temperature and humidity (with a cheap Thermometer & Humidity Gauge) I will avoid those horrible mites. Oh, and for anybody that is interested, I've been playing around with a beetle container that I saw on youtube with the mite infested beetles to find what works best before I begin the new colony. So far, the best that I have found was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKJ52gW8i9M He does call it a 'Superworm box' but I've found that it works really well for the mealies (in a smaller box). I used a different substrate though, a roughly blended mix of corn flakes, wheat bix and oats. Instead of filling the bottom box, I gave it a little shake and let the loose stuff fall. When the beetles began to lay, the eggs/babies fell through and thrived in the lower box. Oh, I also used two of the same containers (he used a plastic container and a kitty litter container) and drilled air holes (with mesh) in the sides so the babies can breathe. I'll let you all know how it goes :)

I raise mealworms for feeding birds. The cold weather will freeze the pupae. Fresh, frozen pupae are good for the birds, and they will eat them. Remember the birds are still hunting for whatever insects they can find, and surely they must be finding some frozen insects in 22 degree weather. I don't think you will have any problem. Perhaps you could put a bowl with slick sides out to put the pupae in. While I've never heard of mealworms damaging wood, it would keep them inside the bowl. Then the birds or other wildlife could get to them easier too.