Overcrowding Superworms

[gmagee]

Quick and simple question, can you overcrowd superworms? I have maybe a regular sized cricket keeper, I kept a dozen in there just fine, was going to buy 50 this run but saw at my store its 6.00 for 50 and 9.00 for 100 so I thought, why not. Now I have 100 superworms. Seriously, the guy handed me the bag, and after the largest number of insects I've bought at once being 50 medium crickets or 100 mealworms(just a cup) it was like... ohh.. 100.. superworms...

 

[Mediabandit]

I get 1000 at a time and keep them in a 20G rubbermaid bin with lots of eggs crates in it to give them places to climb and be seperate from the others. Keeping 100 in a small critter carrier is not good for them, depending on how long they will be in there. I also used rolled oats as my substrate for them and feed them a variety of veggies too. If I were you, I would go pick up a small rubbermaid, 5G or so bin, cut a hole in the lid and cover it with a piece of mesh, then fill it with egg crates.

 

[gmagee]

Yeah, I can't tell if its small or medium, but I know its not large. Its the length of 3 egg spots in an egg carton, if I wanted to cram them in I'd say its the width of 2. I didn't do that but just to give you an idea of size. I put an egg carton of 3 egg sizes to give them some more moving space and many of them just like to either hide in the substrate or in the egg holes. I use quick oats as substrate as well as a few wheat puffs. The puffs aren't quite as nutritious as the oats but they also open up the space, to provide more crawling places and increase air flow. I've been soaking the carton as a water source and they love it. Though I have to change the carton every day/every other day due to them chewing it apart. I'm wondering if I didn't soak it and just provided carrots or water crystals the carton would last longer. This was less of an issue with the smaller amount as I just had 1 egg sized carton in there at a time and changing it frequently never mattered(I buy 18 eggs every 2 weeks). I also might play around with toilet paper roll cut in half, maybe stack a few in a pattern that would really increase height and space.

As long as they don't suffocate, find it difficult to access food/water or cannibalize eachother I don't care much. I just don't want die-offs of what I just paid for, lol.

 

[esn]

Really? I keep 1000+ colonies of superworms in shoeboxes filled with oatmeal and one egg crate. "Overcrowding" is not a big deal. Just make sure to change their bedding as soon as it gets down. If they're eating through oatmeal within a week, there is probably too many. Other than that, they're incredibly easy to keep. Stop buying from the pet store. You can grow your own in just two shoeboxes with very little effort and very little money.

 

[kjinxx2]

Yeah, I keep 1,000 + in a rubbermaid shoebox as well!

 

[gmagee]

Yeah, I haven't taken on the growing my own situation yet fully. I have read on it and I know it takes months until your colony is up and running, and you may incur die-offs if you try the isolate and stress method to get them to pupate.

These last couple weeks I pretty much bought enough to get me by for two weeks so I haven't had any to play with. When I have an excess of funds I will buy many extra for cheap bulk prices and then start a breeding colony on my excess.

As of right now I'm just covering my feeders, although sometimes in my cups of mealworms I find a few pupated worms as well as over a couple weeks a few turn on their own. As of right now I have 1 beetle and 2 ready to turn, 2 died in the process. Very small I know but I'm not really doing it on purpose I'm just attempting to make use of what I have rather than throw it away or leave the pupae for the worms to eat it.

Oh and I dont buy necessarily from a pet store like petco or petsmart etc. Its a local reptile shop that sells in small or bulk quantities much like the online store systems. I was in complete and utter shock when I went into a Big Als Aquarium and a petsmart just to compare the costs as this kid was telling his parents how good the feeder prices were at the aquarium.

basically he was spending $5 for 25 supers, where I could get 50 for 6... or like what I did this run, 100 for 9. No bulk costs just.. buy more cups.. So this kid would have to spend $20 for 100 for what I pay 9... and thats just the tip of the iceberg as the price per worm price ratio goes down as you increase the increments. You can buy 1000s just like online setups, the only plus is no mass shipping fee. I quickly learned to ship live insects its not necessarily a cheap endeavor, not a surprise but I guess just something I didnt think about initially.

Will probably grow when this is all said and done with, just dipping my feet in at first.


Oh and you were right by the way, they dont need much space, they will find the moisture. I just make sure theres enough oatmeal as they travel through it as if its soil, almost as if the more I put in the container, the more moving room they have.

Not sure how often you should clean though, I guess it varies with how many you have. I buy 100 every 2 weeks and typically when(if) I have any left I take them out, clean the container, put them back with the new ones.

With the mealies, with their typically shorter lifespan, I like to keep the old ones seperate from the new. Call me crazy but it just has to do with possible die-offs as well as monitoring if any turn, as well as I like to know I am keeping a continuous rotation of the freshest worms. If you dont use the oldest first, then the oldest could just blend with the newest, and so on and so forth until death.

Ive been working at food plants for years so I guess product rotation is just burned into my skull at this point (haha)

 

[ToughPrincess]

I buy mine from Petco & I just paid $6 for 50. AND the manager picked me out all live ones from the mostly dead tins. (I'm so squeamish). She has done this twice for me. We probably went through 7 or more 25ct to get two full ones. This is just the easiest method for me.