I Need A Colony of SOMETHING....

[jacqui778]

Hey guys,

I've gotten fed up with ridiculous prices and shipping rates for bulk orders of bugs, and then getting them out of boxes?! Fun!

Therefore, I'm coming to you for help. I had a cricket colony (it was beginning....) but the crickets I got had a lot of premature deaths (by the 100s) and by the time my first cricket reached adulthood, 2000 were dead out of my original 2500. I had to get them out somehow, but I didn't quickly enough-- they molded over, and the rest of the crickets died from eating their rotting bodies. Yuck. Then the stench? Don't get me started on that.

Roaches will not work. My mother is aggressively opposed to ANY roaches in the house, American or Dubia. I'm not sure why, but she hates them with a passion. Dubias will not do. Don't try giving me tips to convince her-- trust me, not going to happen.

So, I'm turning to worms.... does anyone have advice on species of worms I can breed? I've looked up threads on hornworms, silkworms, and phoenix worms, but on hornworm threads you all say they're harder than silkies, and on silky threads you all say they're extremely tough and expensive. I've also read, on the forums, that phoenix worm breeding is nearly impossible.

With that said, I have to ask, does anyone have advice on breeding these worms, or your two cents on a different species? Help me out here!

I would try supers, as I heard they are a favorite with dragons, but my baby is only 14'' and would probably become impacted, a milestone I don't want to reach. Hopefully he'll be fattened up soon-- if I can find feeders for reasonable prices around here....

Thanks in advance, and sorry if I sound irritable-- I am. A site just told me they don't want my business anyway just because I told them their PWs were ridiculously priced! ($20.00 for 100?!)

-- Jacqui

 

[Blind]

I would try supers. If you can't find any small enough for your beardie in the colony you could always chop them up.

 

[Seven65]

I feel your pain. Nef won't eat crickets (I hate them anyways) and where I live phoenix worms are $36 for 100. I've been living out of town for 2 months buying them for $17 for 100 but I'm moving back home next month and I have no idea what I'm going to do butters are $16.50 for 25. I'll breed supers when he's big enough but I'm a long way from that or roaches if I ever get a garage. From what I've seen we're just going to have buy feeders till they're big enough for supers.

 

[reptilianboy831]

Well, how much are you willing to spend?
Cause you can breed phoenix worms with this thing called a biopod, but to get everythings started up, the shipping and such, it would cost about 250 bucks, maybe more.
Right now, i am starting a superworms colony and so far, so good.

 

[bestcrickets]

http://www.wormman.com/pd_phoenix.cfm they sell pheonix worms for cheap.

 

[jacqui778]

bestcrickets-- typed in my zipcode and it said 'There are no shipping charges'. :shock: Whaaaaat? How did I miss this site?!

-- Jacqui

 

[mojo505]

you might want to do a search in the community regarding wormman. i thought you were referencing yet another site "bestcrickets" rather than this somewhat questionable vendor. not trying to stir the pot or jump on the bandwagon~ you just might want to read some common problems people have been having. based on that info, i never did go through with my order with them

 

[bestcrickets]

why do people hate wormman so much? i have ordered from them a few times and never had any problem.

 

[mojo505]

i tried to get a hold of them to ask some questions and was never able to over a couple of weeks. lots of people paid money and never got their orders. kinda risky... that's all i am saying. here in New Mexico we don't have a lot of choices for pet stores pricing nor local cricket farms. we have to go to some degree on reputation.

 

[jacqui778]

why do people hate wormman so much? i have ordered from them a few times and never had any problem.

Well, seeing as they're the cheapest I can find, I'm going to try this place out! I'll let everyone know how it goes. I'm thinking I'll start a superworm colony, though, and feed him the smaller, baby supers. I have a 10 gal tank that I can seperate, half for supers and half for waxies, or maybe half for beetles and half for egg cartons of 'aliens'. Either way, until then, PWs from WormMan it is!

-- Jacqui

 

[helix321]

Agreed I tried ordering from them and they never shipped my feeders - when I reported it to the NJ BBB - They told the BBB they were out of business. Heres from BBB reprot - http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/busin...worm-mans-worm-farm-in-monroe-twp-nj-26002854. Be very wary and good luck.

 

[Seven65]

You'd think that they would say something to them about having the website still up and accepting orders if they're supposedly out of business.

 

[helix321]

I agree, the BBB basically said that's as far as they could take it since they are not a goverment agency. They were nice about it but my understanding is they took the complaint as far as they could. The gentleman advised if I wanted to I could file a complaint with the AG office but by that time the credit card company had already refunded the $$. I'd just hat to have someone else needlessly go through that pain.

 

[mojo505]

WOW, that BBB report is an eye opener. 70+ complaints is safe to say their reputation is tarnished. thanks to the entire community for speaking up and protecting all of us who are giving the love all these animals deserve!

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

supers are pretty easy to breed, take a look at my post in the feeders section:

viewtopic.php?f=76&t=100703&hilit=

unless you already have taken a look, thats pretty much a compilation of all the info i have found and come across and learned in the process of breeding superworms.