First time breeding superworms, log, questions (1st BEETLE!)

[ashleyelsha]

Alright so I am embarking on the journey of breeding superworms and would like as much input as possible. Yes I have read the article that is a sticky and I have read several articles online. I have 50 isolated for about 3 days now, only 3 I've noticed have curled into a c- shape when I checked them today, one was dead, the others are still pretty active. I know this is a long process and since I am doing this for the first time I am going to keep a log here so that others can learn from my mistakes and those that are experienced can feel free to give me as much advice as possible. I will also be asking questions here.

Alright so right now I am trying to figure out what I am going to do for the bedding/food. The only thing I found at local supermarkets is wheat gluten, not wheat bran, so I ordered some wheat bran from amazon and it should be here in a couple of days, buy I also was wondering if I could mix in plain cornmeal? I know oatmeal can be used as well but it is recommended to grind it up, I am just wondering why it has to be ground up? What else do people on here that breed use for their bedding/food?

Another question I have, is when they worms turn into aliens, can I go ahead and move them to a container with the bedding and let them morph into beetles, or will the beetles that morph sooner eat the ones that are still turning? Should I check them daily and add only the completely changed ones to the bedding?

another thing, whenever I add slices of carrots to my live superworms, the next day all the substrate is clinging to it and damp around it and I have to remove all those pieces. I know the worms pull the carrots into the bedding, is there any better way to provide moisture without getting the bedding wet? Do the veggies have to be changed out every day or is 2-3 days sufficient?

Thanks, I know it is going to take a few months to get a colony up and running, but my plan is once I have enough live beetles, I am going to move the live beetles to a new container with fresh substrate every 2 weeks and then watch the old substrate for worms, when the worms get big enough in the old substrate (I think it takes another couple weeks?), I will transfer them to fresh substrate as well and throw out the old stuff at that point.

One last question.. in the long run, is it really worth it to breed supers compared to the cost of buying them? The cost of just making the substrate in general is it less than what the price would be of just buying superworms every week?

 

[ashleyelsha]

Anybody?


I know someone must breed superworms and have some sort of input?

 

[ashleyelsha]

well even though nobody replied, I am still going to update periodically with my progress. Today about 10 of the superworms are curled into c's so that is encouraging to me, that this might actually work. I bought another 50 supers from petsmart today as well and am going to feed for a few days, use some as feeders, and isolate the fattest ones after they've eaten for a few days. I put them in fresh wheat bran that I got in the mail yesterday from amazon and I put fresh carrot slices on top. I am still unsure of what else might be beneficial to add to the bedding so I am going to stick with plain wheat bran for now.

 

[Catalyst]

Alright so right now I am trying to figure out what I am going to do for the bedding/food. The only thing I found at local supermarkets is wheat gluten, not wheat bran, so I ordered some wheat bran from amazon and it should be here in a couple of days, buy I also was wondering if I could mix in plain cornmeal? I know oatmeal can be used as well but it is recommended to grind it up, I am just wondering why it has to be ground up? What else do people on here that breed use for their bedding/food?

When I bred superworms I used wheat bran as the main bedding and then added other things to it to pump up the nutritional value. I think I added in powdered milk but I can't remember what else (it's been a long time). My best guess about the oatmeal is that grinding it up makes it easier for the worms to move through and eat.

Another question I have, is when they worms turn into aliens, can I go ahead and move them to a container with the bedding and let them morph into beetles, or will the beetles that morph sooner eat the ones that are still turning? Should I check them daily and add only the completely changed ones to the bedding?

Don't move the aliens over until they have finished morphing completely into beetles. They have no defenses and the beetles can injure them.

another thing, whenever I add slices of carrots to my live superworms, the next day all the substrate is clinging to it and damp around it and I have to remove all those pieces. I know the worms pull the carrots into the bedding, is there any better way to provide moisture without getting the bedding wet? Do the veggies have to be changed out every day or is 2-3 days sufficient?

You could try sitting the veggies on top of a piece of egg crating or a piece of a paper plate - something that the worms can easily climb onto. Sometimes this works and sometimes the worms will just pull the veggies down into the bedding anyway. I switched out my potato slices whenever they started to look dried out or like they were getting icky - don't want to risk any mold which can then make your worms (and dragon) sick.

One last question.. in the long run, is it really worth it to breed supers compared to the cost of buying them? The cost of just making the substrate in general is it less than what the price would be of just buying superworms every week?

It takes a while to get going, but if you do it right you'll have a ton of worms. It will be up to you to decide whether the bit of work it takes is better than the cost of going out and buying your worms elsewhere. It worked for me to breed my own supers, I hope it works out great for you too!

 

[ashleyelsha]

Thank you for your reply! It definitely helps hearing from others experience and what they have done. I can read article after article, but someone still might have a better idea or something that might work better for me than what an article suggests.
It is definitely going to be nice to have a good supply of staple feeders without having to pay pet store prices, and the price of wheat bran isn't too bad, and I always have fresh carrots because me and my daughter love to munch on them raw.

 

[Bobbijo2u]

Well I can tell you it can take from a couple days to several weeks for a worm to turn to an alien. I currently have about seventy beetles on a substrate of oat and wheat. I did not grind the oats but for most part I think it is recommended to ground them for convenience it is easier to sift through etc.

 

[ashleyelsha]

Alright I have been checking on my isolated worms every couple of days and I have 18 that have gone dormant and turned into c's. Out of those today I found 2 aliens . These are pretty interesting looking and it got me very excited.

How long is it from the point of becoming an alien to turning into a beetle? I have their container all set up and ready to go.

 

[Bobbijo2u]

It will take a couple weeks. If you think aliens are exciting wait until all of a sudden they look like they sprouted inch long legs. That's pretty cool looking. If you actually catch that stage. I have only seen it once. For the most part I just find the beetles

 

[ashleyelsha]

3 aliens today, and even more curled into c's, no more dead ones. It's neat too because my kids are interested in what's going on as well so it's also like a little at home science project. They are 3 and 5 so it's a great learning experience for them.

 

[ashleyelsha]

I have another question, How long can I expect the beetles to live and breed for once they have finished turning? I currently have 60 isolated worms. As they morph to beetles and I transfer them into their breeding container so eventually I want to have 60 breeding beetles, but I don't think I need more than that. . Will I just find dead beetle's from time to time and have to remove them? I figure if the beetles live for say, 2-3 months, then after I've had a group alive for a month or two I can start isolating new worms in anticipation of die offs?

Thanks again for all the input.

 

[ashleyelsha]

UPDATE

Today out of 60, I have 9 aliens, and 19 more going dormant curled into circles. It is very exciting. Every 2-3 days I check the aliens hoping to find a beetle, lol. I did put a little wheat bran in the individual cups that hold the aliens only (not the worm cups) that way they have something to eat when they finish changing and before I transfer them to the breeding container.

 

[ashleyelsha]

3 more aliens today! That makes 12 total, it's kinda creepy how they go from curled up worm to alien in one day...

 

[ashleyelsha]

I have a total of 17 pupa today. I initially isolated 60 worms in the anticipation that about half of them might turn into beetles, but so far I have only found two dead ones. I was really hoping to get at least 20 beetles out of this, I don't know what I am going to do with 50-60 beetles!

 

[Catalyst]

That's awesome Glad things are going so well for you! I didn't have much of a die off either when I was doing it - maybe 3 of each 12 worms I isolated if I remember right.

 

[ashleyelsha]

That's awesome Glad things are going so well for you! I didn't have much of a die off either when I was doing it - maybe 3 of each 12 worms I isolated if I remember right.

Well I just took about 20 of the worms that were still crawling and active and put them in a cup of wheat bran and some carrots, I am going to feed those off over the next few days. I had 3 more pupa (aliens) today so that leaves me with 20 pupa and 20 worms that are curled into c shape. I can handle 30-40 beetles but I do not need 60 initially, especially not to feed just one dragon! I figure once a month I could isolate 10 more worms and eventually I will have a decent supply of beetles.