My superworm breeding kit Pic Heavy!

[Peter Griffin]

Peter how are you doing with yours?

I almost forgot about them. Today I went in to check on them and have about 15-20 Beetles. I still have about 30 aliens and 8-10 Supers that haven't converted yet. Im happy I was able to get to them and feed them, before they died or ate my Aliens.

OK, so Now I have 1 drawer with some worms, then the drawer below it has some aliens on the bedding. The 3rd drawer contains my beetles with a small dish of carrots.

Now, I wait about a month then take, the beetles and put them on fresh bedding. And wait for the old bedding to show sign of worms. Do the beetles continue to lay eggs into the new bedding? How long do the beetles live, do I just wait for them to pass away or can I put them into a nice soup?

 

[fresnowitte]

Now, I wait about a month then take, the beetles and put them on fresh bedding. And wait for the old bedding to show sign of worms. Do the beetles continue to lay eggs into the new bedding? How long do the beetles live, do I just wait for them to pass away or can I put them into a nice soup?

:wave: Hi Peter!
I've been giving my beetles about 3 weeks before moving them to another container. I started in the beggining of July with beetles and so far only 2 have died. I must say I didn't think that the beetles would live this long. An yes they definately continue to lay eggs as I have moved them into new containers 5 times now an in each old container there were babies. I have now dumped all the baby supers into one large container. I started with several smaller containers as I was having a problem with the little moths(silverfish is what they are called I think). Now that I have that problem under control all is going great my largest baby supers are now 2 centimeters long. Remember I had to throw out my first couple of batches due to the pesky moths. The baby supers that I have now are only about a month old. I also noticed that they are growing at a faster rate since I started using cornmeal in my substrate mixture. The cornmeal I am now adding more every couple of days as it disapears quickly.

I would just wait for them to pass and them remove them.
But if economy is that bad for you I guess you could make a mmmmmm yummy beetle soup. :laughing6:

I had to adjust my system a bit by cuttin out the center of the lid to my worm bin and cover it with screen so that those pesky moths couldn't get in. Because it only takes one of them to lay eggs in your supers to destroy the entire process.

Mmmm....maybe I should have made a moth stew. After breeding them I definately had more than enough. :lol:

 

[Peter Griffin]

Sounds like you are quickly going to have more Supers than you can handle. No wonder people start selling these things. Im worried I'm going to have so many, I'll have to give them away.

 

[fresnowitte]

Sounds like you are quickly going to have more Supers than you can handle. No wonder people start selling these things. Im worried I'm going to have so many, I'll have to give them away.

Yes an I only started out with about 2 dozen beetles. Can you imagine how many your going to have? :lol:
I did the same thing with my Turks(roaches) I have to give them to my friends with beardies. Even with a minimun of 8 beardies in my house there's no way I could ever feed them all off.

I so like the idea of not having to buy feeders though.
Well of course I'll still buy them some of their treat feeders.(Phoenix, butters, silkies, and hornedworms)
But it sure does help. I was spending $300+ a month to feed my crew, heck I spend maybe $60 a month now. Much better! I can afford to give them variety without going hungry myself. :lol:

 

[Peter Griffin]

Word!

 

[fresnowitte]

Word!

Okay that's something I haven't heard in about a year or two. :laughing6:
I thought the new word was SWEET!

 

[Peter Griffin]

Old Skool Babay, Yeah!!!!!!!!

 

[MAJ]

Even with a minimun of 8 beardies in my house there's no way I could ever feed them all off.

I so like the idea of not having to buy feeders though.
Well of course I'll still buy them some of their treat feeders.(Phoenix, butters, silkies, and hornedworms)

You won't necessarily have to buy the other feeders! I have had standing offers to trade extra supers for occasional treat feeders such as butters, silkworms and hornworms.

I'll have to remember cornmeal as way to speed up the growth of the little guys.

Another pest to watch for that can force you to start over is an infestation of grain mites. I lost about 50 beetles and two bins of baby worms to them. There is a section on them here (towards the bottom):
http://mealwormstore.com/raising_mealworms.php
At the time, it took me forever to figure out what all of that fine flour-like powder was that was showing up everywhere. Now I know!

 

[fresnowitte]

MAJ Thank-you for the heads up and the link I appreciate that. I really wouldn't want to have to start over again. But I will if I have to until I get this down.

I never thought about microwaving my substrate first. :roll: :idea:

I tried the cornmeal because I couldn't make it to a feed store for common chicken mash an figured that chicken mash is mainly corn right? I've been wanting to give a try after I read it here;
http://www.wormman.com/breeding_superworms.cfm

Thanks Again!

 

[MAJ]

MAJ Thank-you for the heads up and the link I appreciate that. I really wouldn't want to have to start over again. But I will if I have to until I get this down.

I never thought about microwaving my substrate first. :roll: :idea:

I tried the cornmeal because I couldn't make it to a feed store for common chicken mash an figured that chicken mash is mainly corn right? I've been wanting to give a try after I read it here;
http://www.wormman.com/breeding_superworms.cfm

Thanks Again!

A word of warning about microwaving your substrate...
I usually add a box of multigrain baby cereal to my substrate for extra vitamins and calcium, etc. Turns out that the baby cereal does not like to be microwaved in its powdered state. It goes very "clumpy" and you end up having to break it all up by hand.
Microwave everything else, and then add any baby cereal. It is (hopefully) as clean and sterile as possible when purchased.

 

[fresnowitte]

Thanks MAJ!

 

[LittleRob]

Kinda funny a recieved 2000 superworms by mistake. Kept them put them in the same 3 drawer rubbermaid container. Used them as feeder lost track next thing i knew there was bettle in there. hehehe. I'm gunna have to start breeding them.

 

[bigmonkeyjoe]

great setup. I have started mine, the worms have turned to beetles but my question is; How long after they turn to beetle do they mate and lay eggs? What do the eggs look like and do I have to do anything special with them?

 

[Peter Griffin]

great setup. I have started mine, the worms have turned to beetles but my question is; How long after they turn to beetle do they mate and lay eggs? What do the eggs look like and do I have to do anything special with them?

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[fresnowitte]

Woo Whooo!
Check it out Peter.

For size comparison