The main reason I go through phases of breeding them is when they get a grain mite infestation in their bran - it is impossible to get rid of and grosses me out. I tried freezing and microwaving the bran before the eggs hatch, but it seems inevitable that they survive and take over. I've researched these guys a lot trying to find a different bedding solution but all I kept finding was bran or oats, so I started experimenting.
First up I tried no bedding but it ends up with a lot of moisture on the bottom and the worms started dying off. Then I tried sand but it also ended up holding a lot of moisture on the bottom of the container. I had tried them on fresh mulberry leaves, which they liked so I dehydrated and crushed so many leaves which worked well, but was a lot of work!
Now occasionally when I garden where I used to compost all the quail bedding I kept finding what looked like elongated mealworms so I thought what about plain dirt? Obviously I didn't want to bring garden dirt in to hatch who knows what to contaminate my worm colonies (or my house!) - so what about those coir blocks that you add water to and they expand?
Yep it works great - they eat it just like they do with the bran and it doesn't hold a lot of moisture in the bottom as the worms help move it around, which in turn helps it dry out faster. And I've found it doesn't get as smelly as the bran either, I tried with a lid and without a lid - without a lid they stay even drier of course, but even with a lid I don't have moisture issues.
It wouldn't be as easy to sift out mealworms as the coir isn't as consistently fine as bran, but it's great for the superworms.
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