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Insects are pretty simple… for the most part. They have a pretty low bar for “happy and healthy,” anyway. You can give them a plastic container, some cardboard and carbs, and so long as it doesn’t get too humid or hot, they’re just fine. But it can be tricky to keep it cozy in your insect colony, especially when the seasons change.
In this article, we’ll talk about how to avoid climate catastrophe in your feeder colony. These are all the tips you need to keep your feeders cool and dry all times of the year.
How Sensitive Are Feeder Insects to Temperature and Humidity?
Right off the bat, we should say that the main risks to your feeders come from things getting too hot or too humid. When it gets too cold, your feeders will slow down and stop reproducing, but unless you leave them outside below 50°F or so, they’re probably not going to die en masse.
Likewise, high humidity can kill your feeders off pretty quick as it allows disease to propagate and spread. The main risk in low humidity is dehydration, but most feeders get all the water they need out of their food. So it really just comes back to making sure they have the basics.
As far as heat and humidity tolerance goes, each species is different.
Feeder Insect Heat Tolerance
Mealworms are probably the least heat tolerant feeders, and will die if they get above 90°F. Superworms are about the same, and will die in the 90’s.
On the flip side, you can keep them in your fridge for weeks and they’ll just take a long nap. Once they get down into the 30’s, they will start to die, and below freezing is generally considered fatal.
Hornworms and silkworms are a little better than the darkling beetles (mealworms and superworms). They can typically survive into the 90’s, up to 95-100°F.
Hornworms and silkworms are pretty sensitive to the cold, though, and will die around 45°F. This normally isn’t too much of an issue, as most people keep them in a lepidtarium indoors.
Crickets do a little better in the heat, but they also vary and can have a lot of issues with humidity that will likely crop up before the heat gets them, if it starts to cook in their enclosure. Crickets start dying around 95°F and will die quickly above 100°F.
On the low end, crickets will survive down to 41°F, but they become dormant below 50°F. If you live in a cold place, this can be tricky in the winter, as it’s common to keep crickets outdoors. More on this in a minute.
Dubia and discoid roaches are some of the most heat tolerant feeders, and can survive over 100°F. They will usually start dying off around 105°F.
Dubias are less tolerant of cold, and will start to die in the 50’s. Normally, this isn’t a problem, as most people keep dubias indoors.
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are probably the most heat tolerant, and will survive up to 113°F or so in some cases. BSFL thrive in hotter environments and do just fine up to 100°F.
Black soldier flies are also hardy in the cold and can survive below freezing temperatures for short periods. Best practice is to keep them above 50°F at the coldest, if you can.
Keeping Your Feeder Colony Cool and Dry
Choosing Your Feeder Wisely
When choosing a feeder, consider where you’re going to have to keep them and your local climate. If you need to keep your feeders outside and live in Arizona, don’t pick hornworms. That’s just good common sense.
In any situation, indoor setups will give you the best control over climate. But that’s just not an option for some insects (we’re mostly talking about crickets here).
Rather than trying to engineer a climate-controlled feeder setup, you might consider just picking an insect you don’t mind sharing a room with. Dubia roaches especially make for great roommates. They don’t smell and are terrible at escaping.
For outdoor setups, we suggest something self-sustaining and hardy, like BSFL. You won’t have to fret about them as much as a colony of house crickets, and they compost your food scraps while they’re at it.
Ventilating for Heat and Humidity
Ventilation is the main key to keeping heat and humidity down. One of the easiest ways to do this is to create some holes in your feeders’ enclosure and cover them with mesh. You can even cut the center of the lid out and replace it with mesh, maximizing airflow and minimizing escape attempts.
If ventilating your colony isn’t keeping things cool enough, you can consider adding a fan. You can even glue one over the top of one of your airholes, creating a steady current of air pulling moisture out of the enclosure.
Cleaning to Reduce Humidity
Another major thing to keep an eye on is cleanliness. You can’t always eliminate humidity, because your insects create humid conditions with their bodily functions.
As an example, superworms and mealworms more or less need to be indoors. Which is okay, because they’re pretty good housemates, too.
As substrate feeders, they need to live on a bed of food. This can easily become a humidity trap if you’re not careful, so clean them often and check regularly for damp spots.
Crickets are also notorious for creating humidity with their urine, which can lead to disease and colony collapse. Regular cleaning is a must for crickets, but so is watching that they don’t crowd each other out. Crickets need at least one gallon of space per hundred, although they do better with more room.
How to Handle Your Feeder Insects in the Winter
Managing insects in the cold is definitely simpler than trying to battle the summer heat if you live somewhere hot. That is, if you can just bring them inside. If you live in a cold place and have a colony you plan to keep outside, you might run into trouble.
The simplest solution we can offer here is to pick an insect that you’re okay keeping indoors if you live somewhere cold. If that’s not an option, you might consider keeping your feeders in an attached garage or somewhere that you can provide a space heater.