• Question: What type of environment would you need to farm insects?

    Asked by 12345giraffie to Alex, Claire, Kate, Marcus, Neil on 23 Jun 2014.
    • Photo: Alex Lyness

      Alex Lyness answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Hey @12345giraffie,

      Once again… I am no expert on insects… except from what I learnt in the garden as a kid.

      If you’re so interested in farming insects, why don’t you have a go yourself?! You can buy a kit here to farm meal worms: http://www.openbugfarm.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

      The kit is only $114 and meal worms are really high in protein, so are good for packed lunches. Do you think your mum will let you have one in your garden?

      If so, let me know how you get on! 😛

    • Photo: Marcus Johns

      Marcus Johns answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      I suppose it would be one that mimics the environment that you’d find the insect in if it was wild. Most of the edible ones – such as meal worms, crickets, ants, locusts, termites and bees – probably could be raised in a ventilated plastic bin (one that has holes in that are big enough to let air in, but not big enough to let the insects out) kept at room temperature with some form of food source – oats seem to be a popular choice.

    • Photo: Claire Brockett

      Claire Brockett answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      As the other guys have said – replicate the environment you’d find them in naturally. I’ve got no experience with insects apart from the wormery and ant farms we had at school – and I wasn’t that keen on creepy-crawlies then.
      If you do try farming anything, let us know how you get on 🙂

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