Tenebrio aquaculture is one of the fast-developing industries in recent years, with broad prospects. Mealworm is one of the insects with the highest protein content and has high nutritional and medicinal value, and its demand is expanding rapidly. In Tenebrio molitor farming, it is often necessary to regularly and timely separate pupae and larvae. An automatic mealworm pupa sorting machine (mealworm sifting machine) is one of the popular options. Let’s get an overview of the usual methods for selecting mealworm larvae and pupae (also immobile or dead mealworms).
5 common screening methods for Tenebrio larvae and pupae
1. Light and dark separation method using photophobia characteristics of mealworm
- Method 1: Put the active larvae and the immobile pupae in the sun, cover half of the worm box with newspaper, and the larvae will immediately crawl to the dark and separate.
- Method 2: Put the larvae and pupae in a wooden box with thick insect excrement at the same time, irradiate with strong light (or sunlight), the larvae will quickly drill into the insect excrement, and the pupae cannot move on the surface of the insect excrement, and then use a broom. Or the pupae can be separated by sweeping them in a dustpan with a brush. The above method can also be used for the separation of dead and live insects.
2. Place the screen to shake and sieve
The body of the larva is slender and the body of the pupa is fat and wide. When it is placed on a screen of about 8 mm and shakes slightly, the larvae will leak out and separate.
3. Food lure method using the characteristics of moving larvae and unmovable pupa
Put some larger pieces of vegetable leaves in the worm box, and the larvae will quickly climb to the vegetable leaves to feed, and the vegetable leaves can be separated.
4. Manual picking method
The advantage is that it is simple and easy to implement, but the disadvantage is that it is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Since the pupae are too small, the pupae may die if people use more force when picking.
5. Automatic mealworm sorting machine
The mealworm pupa sorting machine uses the vibrating screen to automatically separate large insects and small insects, live insects and dead insects, adult insects and pupae, larvae and pupae as well as remove insect excrement, insect skin, dust.
Functions and advantages of mealworm pupa sorting machine
The traditional manual screening method with a separation sieve is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and cannot meet the needs of large-scale farming. The multi-function Tenebrio sieving machine is a commonly used equipment in the breeding of Tenebrio monitor.
Mealworm screening machine functions
Automatic bug separation technology, which can separate: large worms and small worms, live and dead worms, adult and pupa, larvae and pupae, commercial and common larvae, insect droppings, skin dust, and Tenebrio monitor.
Advantages of mealworm pupa sorting machine
- This mealworm pupa sorting machine is an all-in-one machine that can simultaneously separate feces, dead skin, impurities, pupae, dead insects, large insects and small insects from their respective outlets.
- The cleaning speed is fast, clean without residue, and the efficiency is 10 times higher than that of conventional cleaning methods;
- Fully automatic, only one person is needed to operate the whole program;
- The stronger the vitality, the cleaner the screening, and the separation rate is close to 100%;
- The medium-speed and small-amplitude sieve of automatic mealworm separator has less impact on insects than manual picking.
Multi-functional mealworm separator machine is widely used in the Tenebrio breeding industry, with strong applicability and mature technology. If you have any questions about the machine, please contact us.
