Breeding Superworms - A work in progress

[SuzukiRider]

After reading and re-reading the thread on breeding supers, I've decided to give it a shot myself. I thought I'd provide details and updates on what I'm doing in case someone else decides to give it a shot.

Today my shipment of 1000 supers have arrived. They are now in a 20gallon long glass aquarium with a mesh lid. The current substrate is ground oats and wheat bran. Tomorrow I'm adding baby cereal and wheat germ. Hopefully I can find the wheat germ and soy bean powder that's also recommended.

These supers are pretty large now so I'll be forcing some to go into the pupa stage next week. That's if I have any left. My little guy is awake from a semi brumation and ate over 20 so far. Here's a couple of pics of the superworm tank as well as the baby I'm doing this for.

 

[SuzukiRider]

Merry Christmas everyone. I never thought I'd be doing this of all days but I transferred 30 nice fat superworms to their containers so they can transform into beetles. There's no reason I chose 30, I just thought that would be enough as I know there may be deaths, deformations, etc when they become beetles. Here's a couple of pics. I put them all in a rubbermaid container until I have the spare room organized.

 

[Paradon]

Very nice!

I like to feed the freshly molted worms to mine...they love them.

 

[SuzukiRider]

Very nice!

I like to feed the freshly molted worms to mine...they love them.

You like feeding them to your beardies? I just seen one newly molted so far but I didn't give it to Houdini because he's semi brumating.

 

[Pixall]

With star at 15" I am going to be starting a colony of supers this week, Just wanted to post so I could keep an eye on this thread.

 

[SuzukiRider]

With star at 15" I am going to be starting a colony of supers this week, Just wanted to post so I could keep an eye on this thread.

Thanks Pixall, I'm flattered.

I've moved the supers that are in the containers to a warmer room. Some are still moving around, others hardly move at all. Seems every container has a fair amount of poop so they are either stressed or clearing themselves out before the change. I have seem some with white dots on them so that may be a start. I've come across a few pupa's in Houdini's viv. They are ones that weren't eaten because they got out of the dish.

 

[Paradon]

Very nice!

I like to feed the freshly molted worms to mine...they love them.

You like feeding them to your beardies? I just seen one newly molted so far but I didn't give it to Houdini because he's semi brumating.

Well, I feed them to my bearded to vary their diet. I don't usually give them too many because they're so hard to digest if given too many. I notice their poop is not fully form if they eat too many of these of guys, just like adult roaches. That's why I only feed the nymphs of the roach to them.

 

[SuzukiRider]

Very nice!

I like to feed the freshly molted worms to mine...they love them.

You like feeding them to your beardies? I just seen one newly molted so far but I didn't give it to Houdini because he's semi brumating.

Well, I feed them to my bearded to vary their diet. I don't usually give them too many because they're so hard to digest if given too many. I notice their poop is not fully form if they eat too many of these of guys, just like adult roaches. That's why I only feed the nymphs of the roach to them.

I am unable to get roaches here in Canada as it's illegal to ship them here. I've read on here that these are better nutritiously than crickets and have chilitn (?) than mealworms. These are my only option to breed and the easiest. I also read on here supers are a very good staple and I've noticed no difference in Houdini's poop. Beardies just need to be over 15" before they should be fed supers and you need to start them off slowly like any other new food.

 

[SuzukiRider]

Well, it's been well over 10 days and not one of the worms have converted to the pupa state. That's pretty disappointing. Tomorrow I will pick out 30 more and try it again. I will also throw out any of the orginals that have died. I don't know why they're not changing, too warm maybe, too much light, too much flucuation of room temperature?

 

[Paradon]

Did have a source of moisture?

 

[SuzukiRider]

Did have a source of moisture?

They're not suppose to have any food or water source as that's to cause them to go into shock, then into the pupa stage.

 

[SuzukiRider]

I finally have around a half dozen worms now at the pupa stage. I was beginning to have doubts this was going to happen but it has. So, over the next few days I'll have a separate container ready with substrate to move them to when they become a beetle. I hope they're not all going to be the same sex. That would pose a problem. Also, I'm not a fan of beetles and they apparently give off a smell when disturbed so this will probably be my least liked stage. I'll post some pics of my setup at a later date.

 

[Pixall]

Yay! congrats! I finally got my supers and I am so paranoid that I haven't tried pupating mine yet... Probably should do that soon, though. Star loves them, so if I don't do it soon there will be none left. :laughhard:

 

[SuzukiRider]

Yay! congrats! I finally got my supers and I am so paranoid that I haven't tried pupating mine yet... Probably should do that soon, though. Star loves them, so if I don't do it soon there will be none left. :laughhard:

6

Thanks. Mine are dying before they are getting eaten unfortunately. Houdini is in and out of brumation since November so he's eating very few. Maybe 6 max and a tiny bit of greens when he's awake. He should have plenty when he comes out of it completely, hopefully soon.

 

[nicksmom]

Nice work. Please keep updating. I'm considering breeding them myself. I am currently breeding dubias.