Observed both boxes at 11:30:

Cardboard box- 3 changed to the molting stage within 2 hours.  It was amazing!

Plastic- 1 dead

5 alive (1 almost dead- something coming out of its end- poop perhaps?

3 beetling

Hiding in the grooves of the box

The ones that were beetling were in the middle of the box not moving

Cardboard- 4 alive
1 beetling

The 4 alive were very sluggish and we couldn’t tell if they were dying or getting ready to move on to the next stage in their development.

Today we found our little mealworms cuddling together underneath several sheets of newspaper. With a little prodding they were soon happily scurrying about the box. As we prodded them along with a pen, we noticed that whenever we placed the tip of the pen in front of a mealworm, it would back away furiously. Curious, we decided to experiment to see if mealworms have an adverse effect to every object placed in front of them or just pens. We tried a metal spoon next. Same reaction, stopping briefly before making a hasty retreat. The same response was found when the path was obstructed with a toothpick, newspaper strip, a finger and a straw. Interestingly enough, this was not the case when the mealworms encountered an apple slice.

Plastic Box- all 7 were under the paper

One shedding new skin

Found in the cracks of the plastic box

Tried to escape out the cardboard box- got stuck