HOW do I prevent mold from growing in my mealworms' oatmeal??

I was putting cut vegetables in the oatmeal, but found mold was forming on and around them. I tried using only egg cartons and spritzing them with water every day, and just down I found mold forming in the oatmeal that was touching the egg cartons. I have switched to misting water on the inside of the bin lid. Is this going to work? What am I doing wrong and what is the right thing to do???????

Are you premixing the food? Why not cook everything seperate, and then add the carrots to your mix when it is feeding time. That way you can maybe keep it longer with out the oatmeal going funny. Or just do smaller batches that way it doesn't have a chance to go bad.

I would stop spritzing them with water. When you give them veggies, it should be enough moisture to keep them happy.

Do they have enough ventilation?

Um, Frizzle, there's no food to mix--just straight dry oatmeal, not cooked. Raw veggies, too.

Rhasputin, OK, less water. I've been told the more humid they are, the faster they grow, so I've been spritzing them every day. They're in a big sweater storage bin with holes drilled in the lid. Maybe I should drill more holes?

I would drill as many holes as possible, or even cut the top out like for a mouse bin, and replace it with window screen.

if you have something with smooth sides, they cannot climb, nor can the beetles fly...so a lid isn't even necessary. When I had them I think I used like a flat lid (like a margarine tub lid) or something to put the veggies on so they weren't right in all the oatmeal.

I totally glazed over the *mealworm food* bit. Totally thought we were talking about mice, boy do I feel silly. : / Still, I like Stina's idea of separating the carrots from the oatmeal if they are the mold growers.

Frizzle, that's funny! Now your comment makes sense to me.

Hm, I guess everything I've read has stressed how important it is to keep the mealworms' habitat humid. Perhaps the writers all lived in...non-tropical locations! Diplomats from other countries who get sent to Washington, DC, get tropical pay for the hardship of living in our climate. I guess between the climate and my spritzing I've overdone it.

Will drill more holes. Will spritz less. I have about 15 beetles in brand new oatmeal to lay eggs. They'd been in the oatmeal two weeks and I was just about to put it in a bin when it got all mouldy! Sheesh!

Hey, I read somewhere that I should cull all the beetles born with deformed wings because they won't lay strong eggs or something. Anybody know anything about this? Why do so many beetles have deformed wings, anyway? A good third of mine do.

**shrug** I never misted or added any extra humidity....nor did I ever cull anything.

Wow! Then I'm definitely over-humidifying! I left the lid half off the bin last night. Things are better...however, the beetles' environment is dry, dry, dry! They're in a small, separate container with lid and air holes. JUst this morning I put that container inside the mealworm bin to see if it would increase the humidity for the beetles.