I've been trying to breed mealworms for a while now. Lately, my colony seems to be establishing but I keep having issues with mold. It seems as soon as I have beetles I start to have extra moisture in my containers that cause the oats to turn moldy overtime. How do people combat this and is there any reason to combat this?
That's probably your problem. They do seem to need good air flow. I keep mine in those plastic 3 drawer organizers. There is plenty of air flow in those.
I'd look into either making more holes in your lid or bigger holes. Or remove the lid completely if they cant climb out.
Are you keeping the tupperware container in the fridge, or in the dark?
Both can promote mold growth.
Humidity rises as temperature drops, so if you keep it in the fridge, when you take the container out of the fridge and open it, warm moist air gets in. Then when you close it and put it back in the fridge, the temp drops, the humidity rises, and it's harder to get ventilation in a closed fridge. :wink:
If you don't keep it in the fridge... nevermind!
The 3 drawer organizers Brandon mentioned are used by many, and don't need to be refrigerated.
I keep them in a drawer in the dark. I opened the lid last night and it certainly reduced the moisture in there. I will look into getting those drawers