My superworm breeding kit Pic Heavy!

[SaNToX76]

This is interesting, no heat source needed? I just began my Dubia Colony :whip: but I may aswell go ahead and get something else started for a variety & superworms what would you guys suggest? where can I get started?

 

[clear]

no heat, just room temp.

 

[SaNToX76]

So your telling me...
No heat...No food for the worms...and they thrive? :shock:

Whats the catch? :? ...

 

[clear]

i have carrots in there for the worms and beetles.

 

[Chrissie]

I tried to use that divided thingy for my superworms and a surprising amount died. I had a lot more success using individual little portion cups (similar to this http://www.webstaurantstore.com/dart-p100-1-oz-translucent-plastic-souffle-portion-cup-125-pk/999P100.html ) and I had a LOT higher survival rate. Even with holes punched into the top of the divider over each space I'm not sure there was enough air flow. When I used the divider I had 10-15 die out of 25, when I used the cups I had maybe 5 die.

 

[Catalyst]

There is food in there for the worms and beetles - the worms eat the bedding itself, as well as the carrots, and the beetles drink off of the carrots. They are still very easy to take care of though, I'll take supers over crickets or many of the other feeders when it comes to care and breeding.

I've had almost no die offs using plastic containers just like the ones pictured. I took a nail, heated it and melted a couple air holes in the lid above each little compartment and that has worked well so far.

 

[clear]

I tried to use that divided thingy for my superworms and a surprising amount died. I had a lot more success using individual little portion cups (similar to this http://www.webstaurantstore.com/dart-p100-1-oz-translucent-plastic-souffle-portion-cup-125-pk/999P100.html ) and I had a LOT higher survival rate. Even with holes punched into the top of the divider over each space I'm not sure there was enough air flow. When I used the divider I had 10-15 die out of 25, when I used the cups I had maybe 5 die.

Did you use the same batch of supers both times? It could be that they, at the time, was not old enough. Make sure they are at least 2" long, always get the biggest ones you can find. I have probably 10 die out of 34ish

 

[Everend]

How long do the beetles live? I've been trying to get a colony of supers started for months. My beetles die after about a week, so I've never got any eggs/worms from them. I've probably gone through 20-40 beetles so far. I only have about 20 compartments in my seperation container (the small cups are a great idea film cannisters are too hard to find now days). I'll get a 3-5 to morph at the same time, by the time the next batch morphs the first batch of beetles are dead, with no eggs to show for it. My setup looks very simlar to the pictures, the plastic drawers, wheat bran substrait, quartered potatoe.

Q2: Does light make a difference? The drawers are clear/white. Should I paint them black or throw a towel over the whole thing?

thanks

 

[Everend]

Q3: Any idea how to get rid of fruit flies? I guess they are coming in on the potatoes, they were really bad last month, I ended up just throwing everything away and starting all over with 1000 worms from online. Now 2-3 weeks later and I'm starting to see them again.

Follow up from Q1 above, I now have two beetles and 20 aliens. I would really like to know what I'm doing wrong before these all die too.

thanks

 

[clear]

Q3: Any idea how to get rid of fruit flies? I guess they are coming in on the potatoes, they were really bad last month, I ended up just throwing everything away and starting all over with 1000 worms from online. Now 2-3 weeks later and I'm starting to see them again.


I still have beetles left over from my first batch that is 2-3months old. I throw in carrots for moisture and for food. I have built a different setup to experiment with and will post pictures once I get back from vacation and even do a breeding guide (IMO my setup has been successful). When I put the superworms in the dividers I leave them in my computer room that stays about 74F, lights are on randomly and it has sunlight. Once they are beetles I place them in my new container that is placed in my closet of roaches which are kept at 60% humidity and 84F constant. Are they fruit flies or just flies? I don't think fruit flies are attracted to potatoes but I could be wrong. In my closet I have a fly stripe to catch the random flies that go in there.


"Follow up from Q1 above, I now have two beetles and 20 aliens. I would really like to know what I'm doing wrong before these all die too."

I need a description of your whole setup to help with this, temps enclosure, food ect...

 

[Everend]

Ok, Here are a couple pics of my setup. This is kept in my living room so the temp varies from 75-83 degrees. The humidity is 40-50%. Right now the temp is 82 and the humidity is 41% in the room. Here is a pic of the overall setup.

Here are the worms I got in the mail three weeks ago, the fruit flies just appeared this week and are only in this drawer.

Last night after reading this thread I moved the two beetles I have left to a new drawer with bran, they had been in the oat meal. Here is the new drawer with new bran and new potatoes and two beetles a few days old.

Here is the the oatmeal drawer with the dead beetles. I've left the oatmeal and dead beetles here just in case there are a few eggs in the oats.

I'm now using the oatmeal drawer as a morphing drawer. If no worms appear in this drawer by the time worms appear in the new beetle drawer, I'll dump these oats out.

PS Is SO hard to type beetles without an "a"

 

[PuffPuff11]

Okay... I dont have answers to any of your questions...
I have a question myself.... HOW DO YOU BREED THEM???

I want to breed some of my superworms I have but it looks and sounds complicated and so many people are having problems, I dont know if I would have any luck!

Could someone give detailed instructions or tell me a good website?

 

[Everend]

run a google search for Superworm colony and you'll come up with quite a few sites. This is how I got started.

 

[darla200010]

Take a close look at your beetles. Do you see any parts of them missing? Look especially at the back end under their wings. If it looks like they have been eaten on I would say you have some baby worms in the bedding. How long have you been working on this? We'll see if we can't figure this out.

 

[Everend]

I don't see anything eaten on them. Here is a closeup picture of two of the beetles. They ALL have their back split like the one on the right. The two live ones I have also have their back split. Is this normal?

I don't really think the problem is baby worms, the beetles haven't really lived long enough to make worms I think. Usually they don't live more than a few days, two weeks at most.
I've probably gone through 30-40 beetles over the last 6 months. I would put 20 worms in the container but 1/2 would die and the others would change at different times. So I would only have a 1-3 beetles at a time, since the early changers would die before the late changers morphed.
Do I need to put anything else in the bin besides bran or oats and potatoes? Maybe water?

Thanks