Breeding Superworms and have a few specific questions-Edited

[KairaandTaz08]

Hi everyone. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but I have a few questions about breeding superworms. I have tried before and successfully gotten worms to morph and got to the beetles, unfortunately, I couldn’t continue with the next step at that time.
So, I’m ready to try again to breed supers and have brushed-up on my research, but had a few new questions that weren’t specified in the posts I searched through.

Sorry ahead of time, I am always very detailed when I write something so this will most likely be fairly long. .

-I know most-used substrate mixtures, but one I have never seen used or asked about is bearded dragon pellets. And, well I thought it may make the supers better feeders. Has anyone attempted this? Or does anyone know if it would be a good or bad idea to try to mix some crushed pellets in with the more typical substrates? I don’t want to add anything that would harm the feeders, obviously, but I am always trying to think of ways that may make them healthier, too.

-Is there a safe soap or any specific products recommended to clean tubs with? I haven’t seen as much information on the cleaning methods with supers except for how often and no mold, no moisture, and to watch for grain mites.

-I’ve read that it is a good idea to use more than one supplier in order to prevent so much inbreeding. I realize, that if cared for properly can live in relative “peace”, without killing one another…but does anyone know if they become aggressive when introduced to a different “colony”? Or if anyone had a few suggestions on when would be the best time to try to introduce them (worm/larvae stage or beetle/adult stage)??
-Also, with the cricket and other feeder insect viruses/problems I’ve heard of over the past few years, should I worry about introducing different “colonies” with one another as one may not be immune to something the other is (though I don’t know that I’ve heard of any having to do with superworms, yet)? Or are these things not even an issue at all when it comes to superworms??

Sorry for the long post …any answers/suggestions are appreciated .

Thanks,
Abi

*EDITED TO TRY TO REDUCE POST SIZE AND CLEAR-UP MY QUESTIONS* (hope this helps a little :? )
*Edited again 1/5/11-reduced number of questions*

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Morning Ama and welcome aboard.
Try bullet points....lol
Put worms in individual cups till they change.
Aliens/beetles into wheatbran. Then wait....lol

 

[KairaandTaz08]

Morning Ama and welcome aboard.
Try bullet points....lol
Put worms in individual cups till they change.
Aliens/beetles into wheatbran. Then wait....lol

LOL...sorry about that . I hope I cleaned it up enough to understand what all I was asking. I did know those things though! lol :wink:

-Abi

 

[KairaandTaz08]

Anyone? I wanted to give this a "bump"...I have done numerous searches and can't find answers to these questions (I did manage to shorten it quite a bit though).

Any help would be appreciated.

Abi

 

[Trogdorpheus]

I can hopefully answer a few of these...

Cleaning the tubs you'd be safe using a dilute bleach solution if you rinsed it out really well after (like -can't smell any bleach at all with your face in it- well). If you don't like that... just a mild soap will probably do fine, and you can pop it in the freezer for a few hours to kill off any microbial life left over (microwave for 15-20 seconds would probably work too if your tub fits).

As for introducing colonies to each-other, I don't believe that supers have the cognitive function required to support any sort of familial ties or rejection to others, so I am relatively confident in saying you'd be fine to do that whenever.

I haven't heard of any issues with supers involving viruses.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[KairaandTaz08]

Thank you so much! It does help a lot.

You're right...I prefer not to use bleach (I can't be around it much myself, so I only use it if absolutely necessary). So, since the types of plastic tubs I decided to use melt easier than others and are too large for the microwave (unfortunately, lol)...a mild soap and possibly some time in the freezer are my only options. Not sure if this is an option, especially with the new information about it, but figured I'd ask...is Nolvasan a possible alternative? If not, I'll try a mild soap and hot water.

Thank you for clearing the matter of adding different colonies/using more than one supplier. I think I was over-thinking a lot. :roll:

And also, thank you for confirming that supers aren't known for viruses (I've had a very difficult time with finding healthy/safe feeders, glad to know supers are still considered one).


I'm guessing no one has tried using bearded dragon pellets...guess I'll have to do a little experiment with a few of my supers to see how or if a bit of them mixed in does anything. :?:

I have one more question...I haven't tried to breed supers in a long time and usually don't have to order them too often as 500-1000 last quite awhile...but since I'd like to get this started asap and don't currently have any supers...how low is too low of a temperature to have them shipped (if overnight air)? 50F? 40F? 30F? I waited way too long to do this .

Thanks for the help ,
Abi

 

[Trogdorpheus]

Those temps would all kill supers, but generally if you're overnighting them and such they can/might do a heated container of sorts for an additional shipping cost.

 

[KairaandTaz08]

Those temps would all kill supers, but generally if you're overnighting them and such they can/might do a heated container of sorts for an additional shipping cost.

Thank you for responding. I might have to contact them specifically then and ask if there's any way to get them here safely. I don't think the heat packs work under a certain temperature either...which is the main problem. I waited too long to order feeders in general and now have an extreme cold front coming through (it'll be below freezing for several days now).
I'll have to wait until the temperatures get a bit safer and then try (it's not the overnight shipping I'm worried about, I had planned on having that expense already, most places don't recommend shipping at all under 20F and it's an "at your own risk" under 40F).
Guess I'm on-hold with the breeding and even getting them supers for a few weeks.

Abi

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

As far as the shipping temps go- I ordered my supers in December from Great Lakes Hornworms and the weather was probably around 40-30*F, and I had them shipped w/ circkets as well and how they packaged them was like this:
They put the crickets box(no air ventalation for the crix and one heating pack in there) and bag of supers in a box. This box had two heating packs in it.
Then they put that box into another box. That one had no heating packs...
I opened up the boxes/bags and hardly any dead.
Only two or three of my 250 supers were dead, and that was because they didn't have enough moisture.
And there were probably some crix dead, because crix die easily, but bottom line:
They last three days in the mail with heating packs and double boxed and the heating pads were still warm 2 hours after I opened the box. All were healthy and alive.(Except for like, three, like I mentioned above)
So honestly, I think they'll be fine, depending on where you get them from.

 

[KairaandTaz08]

As far as the shipping temps go- I ordered my supers in December from Great Lakes Hornworms and the weather was probably around 40-30*F, and I had them shipped w/ circkets as well and how they packaged them was like this:
They put the crickets box(no air ventalation for the crix and one heating pack in there) and bag of supers in a box. This box had two heating packs in it.
Then they put that box into another box. That one had no heating packs...
I opened up the boxes/bags and hardly any dead.
Only two or three of my 250 supers were dead, and that was because they didn't have enough moisture.
And there were probably some crix dead, because crix die easily, but bottom line:
They last three days in the mail with heating packs and double boxed and the heating pads were still warm 2 hours after I opened the box. All were healthy and alive.(Except for like, three, like I mentioned above)
So honestly, I think they'll be fine, depending on where you get them from.

Thank you for replying .

This is actually exactly what I had done (shipped overnight with the double box and heat packs). I usually get my supers from Great Lakes Hornworms and they came through again (small supers and large both were alive when they arrived, just needed a little time and they were all over the place!). Now, I'm just waiting to see if my large supers morph (they are over 2") so we'll see, lol, I just need to learn to stop peeking at them every hour :roll: .

Abi

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Thank you for replying .

This is actually exactly what I had done (shipped overnight with the double box and heat packs). I usually get my supers from Great Lakes Hornworms and they came through again (small supers and large both were alive when they arrived, just needed a little time and they were all over the place!). Now, I'm just waiting to see if my large supers morph (they are over 2") so we'll see, lol, I just need to learn to stop peeking at them every hour :roll: .

Abi[/quote]
--
Ahha, I just put 33 more into morph since I don't have many aliens left! I have about 60 or so then morphing... I don't check on them as much, but I cant' stop peeking at my aliens to see if any more have turned into beetles! (I have 13 beetles I think)