Hi everybody.
I am going to try to breed superworms and I'm looking for a cheaper alternative than grocery store oats. The Horse supply store sells 20kg bags for $15, so I am wondering if I can use those for superworms. And when I called for a price she asked me if I wanted whole oats or flattened oats. If the horse oats can be used, should I get whole oats or flattened oats?
Even if you buy one of the containers at the store for 3 or 4 bucks, it will last you months! The bedding doesn't really deteriorate or get eaten very quick at all.
If you use the horse feed oats, I'd microwave everything before you use it. Since it's not for human consumption, their is always the risk of grain mites or other nasties living in the oats that you wouldn't want.
You will want flattened oats.
I agree with Brandon, I've kept many 1,000's of superworms and the grocery store oats will last a long time and will not pump up your grocery bill at all. Don't mess with the other kind, the risk for mites is too high .
Even if you buy one of the containers at the store for 3 or 4 bucks, it will last you months! The bedding doesn't really deteriorate or get eaten very quick at all.
If you use the horse feed oats, I'd microwave everything before you use it. Since it's not for human consumption, their is always the risk of grain mites or other nasties living in the oats that you wouldn't want.
You will want flattened oats.
I was looking for a cheaper way because the oats are going mouldy on me. So have been going through quite a bit. But I don't want to take a risk of bugs in the oats , so I will stick with the grocery store kind. Thanks for answering
I agree with Brandon, I've kept many 1,000's of superworms and the grocery store oats will last a long time and will not pump up your grocery bill at all. Don't mess with the other kind, the risk for mites is too high .
Really ? Are they getting moldy in the superworm container, if so can you post pics of how you are keeping them ? I've never had mine go moldy, I keep them in a large sweater box with no lid since the supers can't crawl out and they seem to do well in open container. You can't have tooo much soft veggies in there either.
Yeah I don't have mold issues either, ever. So you most likely are just using food items that are too wet. I basically only use carrots. I used to use potatoes and carrots, but found that the potatoes were more likely to mold. Although it never really spread to the oats.
Really ? Are they getting moldy in the superworm container, if so can you post pics of how you are keeping them ? I've never had mine go moldy, I keep them in a large sweater box with no lid since the supers can't crawl out and they seem to do well in open container. You can't have tooo much soft veggies in there either.
Right now they are in a medium sized salad container that I cleaned out. They will be moved into a 3 drawer system so I can try to breed them once it arrives. I have a lid on it but I probably have about 15 holes punched into the top. Mine have gone moldy twice on me now in the last couple months.
Yeah I don't have mold issues either, ever. So you most likely are just using food items that are too wet. I basically only use carrots. I used to use potatoes and carrots, but found that the potatoes were more likely to mold. Although it never really spread to the oats.
Maybe it was the food items. I was giving them Apple and squash most of the time. The mold didn't spread throughout the whole oats oh, but I also didn't give it time to. When I opened lid and smelled the mold , I could see the mold around the edge of where the food was and figured it wasn't good to keep the other oats since there had been mold in the container and I just threw them all away and gave the worms completely fresh substrate