Today we adopted six mealworms. They seem to be photosensitive, because when placed in their shoebox home they immediately crawled for cover inside the folded seams of the box. We suspect that they are not afraid of the light, but of being in the light, where predators can see them clearly.
We gave them a mound of oat bran, which they buried themselves in for safety. A few of them have been poking their heads out to see what is going on in their new environment. Some seem more nervous – they hid quicker, and they are not inclined to poke out of the oat bran.
In examining them closely, we have noted that they have ten portions of exoskeleton plus a tiny head and tail. They are in average 2.5 cm long, and yellow in colour (closer to toffee near their head and tail). They have six feet, located near the front of their bodies, and are capable of walking frontwards and backwards. They can climb up the box, indicating that their feet have some amount of grip or stickiness.
Their tiny faces are too small to get a good look at, but when we placed a piece of apple in the box, they seemed to be sucking on it. Hopefully as they grow, we will be able to see more definition so that we can get a good idea of what their mouths and eyes look like.
Questions we have:
- How do they breathe?
- What do they eat?
- How do they reproduce?
- Do they sleep?
- What is their lifespan?
- What are their stages of development?
- Are they related to maggots?
Measurements:
Pink – 2.3 cm
Red – 2.5 cm
Blue – 2.3 cm
Light Blue – 2.3 cm
Gold – 2.6 cm
Teal – 2.3 cm
Neutral – 2.4 cm
We gave them a mound of oat bran, which they buried themselves in for safety. A few of them have been poking their heads out to see what is going on in their new environment. Some seem more nervous – they hid quicker, and they are not inclined to poke out of the oat bran.
In examining them closely, we have noted that they have ten portions of exoskeleton plus a tiny head and tail. They are in average 2.5 cm long, and yellow in colour (closer to toffee near their head and tail). They have six feet, located near the front of their bodies, and are capable of walking frontwards and backwards. They can climb up the box, indicating that their feet have some amount of grip or stickiness.
Their tiny faces are too small to get a good look at, but when we placed a piece of apple in the box, they seemed to be sucking on it. Hopefully as they grow, we will be able to see more definition so that we can get a good idea of what their mouths and eyes look like.
Questions we have:
- How do they breathe?
- What do they eat?
- How do they reproduce?
- Do they sleep?
- What is their lifespan?
- What are their stages of development?
- Are they related to maggots?
Measurements:
Pink – 2.3 cm
Red – 2.5 cm
Blue – 2.3 cm
Light Blue – 2.3 cm
Gold – 2.6 cm
Teal – 2.3 cm
Neutral – 2.4 cm