A Bug's Life and Insect Farming

Early in 2019 I saw a Facebook post from an old work mate saying that she had thousands of tadpoles in her swimming pool that had to go so that she could clean the pool and get it ready to use. I arranged to take the kids to catch a few tadpoles on Saturday morning. They thoroughly enjoyed the day and didn’t want to stop catching them - we left with 62 tadpoles!

Although we gave some away, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves with 27 little frogs to feed. I quickly learnt that catching enough flies to feed them was going to be a very time consuming exercise. I did some research and discovered insect farming and decided to give it a go. I soon had my very own mealworm farm growing in the hot water cupboard.

After the first Covid19 lockdown in 2020 I explored ways to turn this small hobby into a business. I am pleased to say that after a few headaches and trialling different options, I successfully set up an area for the insects and was able to give my wife her hot water cupboard back.

Since then I have been selling insects via Trade me when I had more than I needed for our frogs and my customer base increased through ‘word-of-mouth’. By late 2021 we were ready to launch Mandatory Insects so that customers can order direct from us via the new website.

Supporting Mandatory Insects is supporting a local Auckland family and helping to fund activities for our two young children who have enjoyed learning about insect farming, showing more interest in the insects than they do in the pet frogs that the insects are bred to feed. I would like to thank you for taking the time to get to know a little about us.

Matt Upson