Silkworm and other questions

[andy65]

I would like to have my own feeder of some kind. My parents are 100% NO to roaches. They are afraid that if they will get out...ext. We live in Northern Indiana so they would die if they got out of there tote, but that still did not work.

I was looking at Mulberry farms and was looking at the silkworms.

Here are something I would like to know:

1) are they hard to keep?
2) what would the bare min. that I would need to keep them?
3) is there any kind of bug that I could breed and keep that are not roaches for feeders? I would not need something that are big breeders as my dragon is 4 so most of his diet is veggies.

Thanks

EDIT: I just remembered, silkworms turn into moths when they are doing cocooning. So breeding is out of the question.

 

[invictusrules]

Superworms would be a great feeder for your situation.

They don't stink (much) and they don't escape unless you dump them out on the carpet. They live for months and don't require much more than bran or oats and veggies that you feed to your beardie anyway.

You could order a big batch and keep them for months, or you could breed them. For one beardie, it probably wouldn't make sense to breed unless you just like to watch the worm-alien-beetle cycle. :laughing6:

 

[jbodkin]

How about the grain mite risk though?

 

[burt1016]

you can breed silkworms and its not that hard cause i have done it before...

 

[invictusrules]

How about the grain mite risk though?

I had to look this one up. I've never had any kind of problem with infested bedding, and I've been through a lot of supers. Well... Invictus has. I've restrained myself from sampling. :lol:

Anyone else had a problem with grain mites? Sounds like you could just transfer the supers to fresh, uninfested bedding it you ever got a bad batch.

 

[pscaulkins]

I have kept supers for a couple of years with no problems with mites. You have to keep their bedding/food clean is all. They are so easy to care for..

 

[jbodkin]

I have kept supers for a couple of years with no problems with mites. You have to keep their bedding/food clean is all. They are so easy to care for..

Can you share your setup and how you raise them? So pictures of setup would also be cool

 

[akingsley9000]

I'm just finishing up my last batch of supers from July. I havn't had any problems with mites but clear (another member of this site) has recommended microwaving the grains for a few minutes. If you have a concern about mites, i would suggest that you do so.

Here are some pictures of my setup:

 

[andy65]

I have a 10 gallon that we are not using, would that do?. You could also freeze the grains for a day or 2. That is what we do when we buy flour in 50# bags.

Ok, now that I know supers are not to hard to keep, Where is a good place to buy the supers and bedding?

 

[invictusrules]

I've always gotten fat, healthy supers from Premium Crickets in Georgia.

The bedding... most supermarkets sell wheat bran in boxes or clear bags. If they're out, I go to the healthfood store. But then I come home with things like goji berries and green stuff that tastes like grass because it is. :roll:

(I like your setup, akingsley9000! A lot fancier than my plastic box with everything all jumbled together...)

 

[akingsley9000]

Thanks invictusrules!

I have gotten my from MF and ReptileCity.

ReptileCity allows you to pick a size and i wanted some smaller ones so i ordered from there, unfortunately there were very few that were the size i wanted but they were healthily nonetheless. MF i have never had a problem getting good feeders from.

A 10 gallon should work just fine - i'm not sure if the egg crate will fit though but i suppose you could just rip it in half if it doesn't. The one in my picts is a 20 gallon i originally had for Chloe. I had 4000 in that setup so if you have less i doubt you would need something that big.

You can also get bedding at a feed store - i live in a large farming community so there is one down the street. If you live near somewhere that people have horses and chickens and things like that you should be able to find one near you. I think i paid about 8.00 for a 50lb bag of grains.

One important thing with supers is that they need moisture or they will eat each other. I swapped the greens out everyday. For greens i just used the stems from the mustard greens or whatever Chloe and Orion were getting that week and it worked perfect. Although they need the moisture, the greens should not touch the bedding. If the bedding gets wet, it will get moldy. To avoid this, just put a tupperware lid in the setup and they will climb on the to get the greens.

Also - supers will not breed unless they feel there is a threat to the colony so you can keep them for months without them morphing into bettles.