How to care for your vita-mealie order
Our mealworms are fed an all organic, vitamin enriched diet consisting of USDA certified organic wheat bran, non-GMO soy and Whey protein, calcium & Hawaiian spirulina. Provided you continue to feed them our vita-feed bedding, your pets will be provided added protein and calcium as well as other beneficial nutrients. The tips in this care sheet are intended to help you keep your order of vita-mealies® as healthy & lively as the day they arrived to you for up to 3 months.They are NOT, however, a guarantee that your worms will live for months, weeks, days, or even hours. That would depend on many factors, such as storage conditions, temperatures, & long term care. Your order of vita-mealies® is hand-picked, fresh from our farm, just before packaging them for shipment, and if cared for properly can be stored in dormancy successfully for “up to” 3 months at 45° to 50°. We’ve even kept orders of vita-mealies® (for feeding to our own critters) successfully in the larval stage by storing in the door of our fridge for as long as 4 months and caring for them properly using the below tips.
Upon arrival: It is very important to allow the worms to cool down slowly (or warm up slowly) to room temperature before placing into refrigerator dormancy. Placing into the fridge immediately upon arrival can be too much of a temperature shock and can kill the worms!! They also need to hydrate after being in transit , so the following tips will help get your worms ready for refrigerator dormancy.
Weekly Hydration Sessions: We recommend that you take the mealworms out of the refrigerator every 7 to 10 days for 16-24 hours & place slices of organic apple (or carrot if you prefer) in with them to hydrate at room temperature. IF the worms are stored in a deli style deep container, it is important to pour them in a wide container where the worms/bedding are no more than 2" deep with at least 2" clearance at the top to prevent escape without a lid for hydrating sessions. IMPORTANT: Take the lid off during the out of fridge hydrating sessions in order to keep them from overheating which will cause condensation (they generate lots of heat as they move & eat). After hydrating, REMOVE all remnants of the hydration source & any damp bedding & place back into the refrigerator. When the bedding becomes powdery & full of frass, it needs to be changed. Sift the worms out of the current bedding & replace with 2” of fresh vita-feed or organic wheat bran.
Upon arrival: It is very important to allow the worms to cool down slowly (or warm up slowly) to room temperature before placing into refrigerator dormancy. Placing into the fridge immediately upon arrival can be too much of a temperature shock and can kill the worms!! They also need to hydrate after being in transit , so the following tips will help get your worms ready for refrigerator dormancy.
- Container orders: In cooler months, some smaller orders will come in a complimentary, reusable food grade container. You can use the small 8 oz and 16 oz container to store your 300 and 500 count worms in refrigerator dormancy as long as the substrate and worms are no deeper than 2 inches, but it is recommended that you use a larger container for hydration sessions so they have room to move around. If you have ordered a 1000 count order in the cold months and it arrives in a 24 oz container of bedding, you CAN NOT store your worms long term in this container because the substrate and worms are deeper than 2 inches and this will cause moisture issues as well as the worms in the bottom to not get adequate air which can cause bacteria and mold, and death. Therefore, you will need to transfer to a larger storage container that allows for them to be no deeper than 2" with the bedding for storage as well as hydration sessions. Upon arrival, the worms should be poured out of the container they came in and into a larger food grade container for initial hydrating and to allow the worms to cool down (or warm up) to room temp slowly to prevent temperature shock before dormancy storage. The container should be large enough so that the worms with bedding are no more than 2 inches deep and still have at least 2 inches at the top to prevent escape while allowing the worms to cool down to/warm up to room temperature and hydrate without a lid. Store in dormancy at no deeper than 2 inches (worms and substrate combined) We also recommend storing them in dormancy without a lid if possible to prevent condenstation build up. IF you must have a lid for storing in dormancy, be sure that it has adequate ventilation.
- Orders shipped in bags: First, you want to get them out of the newspaper and bag without slinging them all over the place. it is best to put the entire bag in the fridge (find the warmest section that is 45° to 50° f ) for about 10 to 15 minutes so they begin to get cool and go into dormancy, and that way they aren't so clingy to the newspaper and bag and will unpack much easier (DO NOT DO THIS STEP until the worms have slowly cooled down to normal room temperature as the shock of the cold after being overly warm will kill them). Then pour the entire contents into a tall stock pot or clean wastebasket so that you can gently shake the worms from the newspaper without slinging them everywhere. Once you have gently shaken the worms from the newspaper (be sure that you check the newspaper carefully and straighten each piece), you can gently pour them into your container for dormancy storage.
Get your worms settled into a food grade plastic container with approx. 2” of organic vita-feed bedding in the bottom. The container should be large enough to store your worms comfortably with their bedding and deep enough (an extra 2 inches at the top) to prevent escape without a lid for hydration sessions (**IMPORTANT!!! Do not pack the worms and bedding tightly –THEY NEED ROOM TO MOVE & BREATHE**, and you want enough room at the top to prevent escape without a lid). If you use a lid on your container while refrigerated, make sure that lid has plenty of air holes to avoid condensation and moisture build-up on the inside, as this could result in mold growth. And, mold is not only dangerous for your critters, IT WILL KILL YOUR WORMS!! For the initial hydration session and to allow the worms to reach room temperature before dormancy storage after transit, place some thin slices of organic apple or carrot on top and allow them to rehydrate on the veggies for a few hours ( You are probably getting tired of reading the same thing over and over, but I'd rather repeat it again so you know the importancy of it- ALWAYS HYDRATE YOUR WORMS WITHOUT A LID AS THEY GENERATE LOTS OF HEAT WHEN THEY MOVE AROUND EATING/HYDRATING, and this causes condensation to build up on the inside of the container and moisture to build up in the bedding with the lid on and this will cause MOLD). - After a few hours of initial hydrating, take the remaining apple or carrot out, as well as any surface bedding that has gotten damp from the hydration source, and place the container of worms in the refrigerator at 45°-50° F (the door is the safest place to check for mild temps). If your smaller order of worms had arrived with or in a storage container, pour the worms/bedding back in the storage container and replace the screen lid before placing into dormancy, but always pour them back into the larger containers for all hydration sessions. The 45°-50° F temps causes the worms to go into a dormant state (kind of like hibernation) where the normal growth processes are slowed down almost to a halt, which allows you to keep the mealworms in the larval stage for up to 3 months.
Weekly Hydration Sessions: We recommend that you take the mealworms out of the refrigerator every 7 to 10 days for 16-24 hours & place slices of organic apple (or carrot if you prefer) in with them to hydrate at room temperature. IF the worms are stored in a deli style deep container, it is important to pour them in a wide container where the worms/bedding are no more than 2" deep with at least 2" clearance at the top to prevent escape without a lid for hydrating sessions. IMPORTANT: Take the lid off during the out of fridge hydrating sessions in order to keep them from overheating which will cause condensation (they generate lots of heat as they move & eat). After hydrating, REMOVE all remnants of the hydration source & any damp bedding & place back into the refrigerator. When the bedding becomes powdery & full of frass, it needs to be changed. Sift the worms out of the current bedding & replace with 2” of fresh vita-feed or organic wheat bran.
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