Also, live bait stores sometimes sell mealworms. They often are found in granaries, feed stores and poultry houses. Cages Use a large, galvanized metal washtub, large bucket, crock or wooden box. A suitable lid can be made by perforating small holes in a thin sheet of zinc cut to fit inside the box rim and resting the lid on a narrow wooden batten or strip all around. The cover is easily removed, allowing good ventilation.
Some people use a fine- mesh screen cover.
Cage Preparation Fill the box to within two inches of the top with wheat bran plus a small amount of dry brewer's yeast or graham flour and meat scraps. Alternating layers of chicken mash and burlap with about four layers of each may also be used. Spray the surface lightly with water and keep it damp with daily sprinkling - do not soak. The yellow mealworm is the kind most used for fish bait. Each female can lay some 275 eggs, with larvae completing their growth in six months or less at 80 degrees F. Larvae molt 9 to 20 times before reaching adulthood.