Temperature & Humidity Mistakes That Kill Feeder Insects
The bar is pretty low for what insects need to stay healthy and “happy”. Your average feeder doesn’t need much more than a room temperature box to live in, plenty of stale breakfast cereal, and nooks to hide in. But when the seasons change, you might find yourself wondering “do I need to worry about these things dying of exposure?”
In this article, we’ll talk about how to keep your feeders from boiling in the summer (or freezing in the winter), so you can have a steady supply of food ready for your pet, whenever.
How Tolerant is My Feeder Insect to Heat, Cold, and Humidity?
To start, we should go over the different tolerances of each feeder species, so you know when your insects might be in trouble. Obviously, this varies quite a bit by species. They each have their own resistance to heat, cold, and humidity, and picking the right feeder is essential if you live in an especially hot, humid, or cold place. But more on that later.
The dangers of different climates vary, too. Too much heat will just plain old kill your whole colony pretty quickly. Too much cold will cause them to slow down first, but really extreme temperatures might have a death toll. Humidity is different because the danger is more about spreading disease than how it affects your insects’ biology.
Mealworms and Superworms
Mealworms and superworms are total crybabies about heat, and will start dying if the temperature gets into the 90°F range. This normally doesn’t matter much, because they are pretty easy to keep indoors.
But because they are substrate feeders, they’re prone to getting pockets of moisture in their substrate that can turn moldy and kill them. Watching for cleanliness is key with mealworms and superworms.
However, they’re one of the most cold tolerant species, and will do just fine taking a long nap in your fridge. If you ever need to save “snacks” for your pet, you can always fill a deli cup with mealworms for later and put it in the fridge.
Hornworms and Silkworms
Hornworms and silkworms fare a little better in the heat than the darkling beetles (mealworms and superworms), but not as well as other species. They can survive into the 90°F range, but will start to die above 95°F.
They are, however, very sensitive to cold. They will start to die around 45°F, so it’s best to keep your lepidtarium indoors to make sure a rogue frost doesn’t take them out.
Crickets
Crickets are fairly hardy. They can survive up to 95°F, and above 100°F is considered fatal. They will also survive down to the low 40°F range, but will start becoming dormant in the 50’s.
The main challenge of keeping crickets arises from humidity. Because they produce so much urea and other moisture with their bodily functions, humidity can rapidly spike in their enclosures, causing colony-wide die-offs. It’s important to make sure they don’t get overcrowded and clean your cricket colony very often to avoid this.
Dubia and Discoid Roaches
Feeder roaches do well with heat, and can survive over 100°F. Over 105°F is considered fatal for them. However, they don’t do very well in the cold, and start dying in the 50°F range.
This is usually considered a good thing, because people commonly keep them indoors- so if one gets out, it will likely just die before it can cause any chaos.
Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL)
BSFL are the hardiest insects on this list, and can survive up to 113°F! This is handy, because people usually keep them outdoors in specialized compost bins, where temps can soar in the summer.
They are also good in the cold, and can survive even freezing temperatures for short periods. However, this isn’t optimal, and the cold will slow their metabolism, so the best practice is to keep them above 50°F.
Tricks for Insect Climate Control
Choose Wisely!
The first mistake you can make is picking the wrong feeder. If you need to keep them outside, pick a hardy insect like BSFL or crickets (with a whole lot of cleaning).
And if you’re keeping them inside, put some thought into how much cleaning you can realistically do on a regular basis. If you travel regularly, something like a dubia roach will survive much better on its own for a few days than mealworms.
Surviving Delivery
We have a whole article about how to keep your feeders from dying on your porch after you buy them. The main key is to time everything as best as you can and try not to leave them out for too long. Buying feeders before summer is a good idea in general.
Ventilation Tricks
For general climate control, ventilation is the key. If you generally struggle with things being too hot and muggy, try cutting the lid out of your insects’ enclosure and gluing in mesh. If that’s too much, you can always just make a smaller hole with some screening to prevent escapes.
If that’s not enough, you can try adding a small fan to the outside of the enclosure. If you glue it in place over a ventilation hole, it will create a steady current of wind that will keep things cool and dry.
The other major thing to reiterate here is that you need to keep things clean, especially if you have crickets. Spot cleaning and occasional deep-cleans of the enclosure are imperative to keep disease out.
Keep Them Out of the Cold
There isn’t much to say about feeder insects in winter weather except to give them more shelter. It’s too unpredictable to try and heat an enclosure outside, so at least bring them into your garage or a shed. The best remedy for cold weather is just to pick a feeder that you don’t mind sharing a room with.