How to Make a Mealworm Habitat at Home

Choose a small plastic container with a lid. Most mealworms sold in pet stores come in small, round, oat-containing tubs with air holes already drilled in. If you've purchased this variety of container, there's no need to make any alterations to the habitat. Proceed to Step 3. Otherwise, a container measuring 3 inches deep by 3 inches wide is sufficient for as many as 50 mealworms.

Place uncooked oatmeal, flour or whole grain cereal flakes in the plastic container. Change the substrate when it becomes soiled, when you notice that it is decreasing and when you move mealworms to a different container. Drill small air holes on the top of the container. Holes should be spaced about 1 centimeter apart.

Store the mealworms in the refrigerator. This keeps them in a suspended state during which they require little food or water. Once a week, bring the mealworms out of the refrigerator to warm up for 24 hours. This increases their survival rate and encourages some to metamorphose into pupae and adult beetles. Place a piece of watermelon, apple, carrot or potato in the container while the mealworms are out of the refrigerator. This provides the worms with both nutrients and water. Remove any uneaten food before returning them to the cold.

Move pupae to fresh containers and when the pupae turn into beetles, move these to separate containers as well. Both pupae and beetles can continue to subsist on oats and fruit. Some pet stores sell cubes designed to be a complete diet for darkling beetles and their larvae. If you choose to use these as sustenance for the beetles, you can leave them in the container when you place it in the refrigerator.