So I just started breeding supers...

[mich]

Ok so here I go ... we'll see what happens over the next few weeks Fingers crossed for beetles (every girls dream I'm sure lmao) Hope those 2 air holes are enough. One site I was reading said to just cut the top completely off but these are very shallow and the worms can crawl out so I drilled 2 holes in each compartment.

 

[jarett_harrison]

i also just started a colony today. I put my worms into 35mm film containers. I just put them all in a rubbermaid bin. They are doing good so far. I have 16 in there now. Thats all the film containers i have. My room is a constant 75 degrees. I cant wait till they start to pupate and turn into beetles because i hate having to buy feeders. What do you do with the eggs? Just put the beetles into another bin and let the eggs hatch? I'm going to need some more bins... lol

 

[mich]

The containers I used above I bought at the $1 store, they hold 15 each, doesn't get much cheaper then that I had them in plastice cups, deep ones but with no lids and was paranoid somehow they'd get knocked over. So far as I know the beetles lay their eggs on the bottom of egg cartons, when the worms hatch they are too small to see and drop into the substrate, then take weeks to grow. I plan on leaving the beetles in there for a few weeks, maybe 3, to make sure they lay lots of eggs, then move the beetles to a fresh container. I bought stackable containers with sliding drawers and will use one drawer for each stage I guess.

This site was also helpful:
http://www.geckotime.com/how-to-breed-superworms/

It says a beetle can live for up to 5 months, glad they said that or else I would of just started the process over again right away, I assumed they'd live for a month or so, and considering it takes that long to even get a beetle I was afraid they'd die off before I had more to replace them. I could of been over run!! LOL Once mine turn to beetles I will prolly wait 2-3 months and start again. My goal is to have 500-600 superworms per month that are the right size for feeding.

I'm starting a mealworm colony too, read up on those, they are even easier, you don't need to separate them or anything apparently. My beardies don't care for them too much, but I will give them to them from time to time for variety and I also have geckos. I'm going to start with 50 mealworms max I think, I don't imagine they'll all pupate, and I only want a few hundred per month that are a suitable size for feeders.

Hopefully within a few months I'll only have to buy crickets

 

[DragonsInKansas]

Mealworms are a pain in the butt compared to supers. I just got my first "round" of supers grown to full size. Woohoo. Hopefully those beetles will keep it coming.

 

[mich]

Mealworms are a pain in the butt compared to supers. I just got my first "round" of supers grown to full size. Woohoo. Hopefully those beetles will keep it coming.

Oh really? Eeekk wil have to see how mine goes, or maybe I'll just let my geckos eat them LOL If they don't pan out I don't really care, it's the supers I really want to get going since they are my staple now.

 

[DragonsInKansas]

I've just produced 300 adult supers in the time it's taken for me to have itty bitty mealworms. Just frustrating, I'm probably going to just dump them so that I have another bin for supers. I figure anything that can eat mealworms can eat baby supers just as easy

 

[mich]

About 2 weeks and all my worms are curled up into liile "c" shapes. Good sign.

 

[jarett_harrison]

woohoo iv got pupae!

 

[mich]

LOL Nice!!! Every few weeks post an update! Mine haven't changed at all, aside from curling up, in another week tho they should be ready I hope. Think out of my 45 I have 4 or 5 dead, can't really tell yet. Think my husband is officially grossed out :shock:

And I took DragonsInKansas advise and ditched the mealworm idea .. my geckos stopped eating them all together over the past few weeks so there really is no point since my BD's wont eat them either.

I also made up my own worm bedding for the first time, that stuff was expensive enough to buy, another $5-$10 ontop of each superworm order I made. It cost me about $5 to make a small tub full of wheat bran/oatmeal/dried potato flakes. Someone also suggested I add dry baby cereal so I might. Then I just throw in chunks of the usual carrot, potato, celery type stuff for moisture.

If this works out it will save me about $60/month and that would be nice.

 

[jarett_harrison]

i put just oatmeal as my bedding and a veggie for water.

 

[mich]

woohoo iv got pupae!

How long did it take? Mine have been sitting in a closet for about 3 weeks now but no change yet, about 3/4 of them have curled up, hoping soon they will turn into little aliens.

 

[jarett_harrison]

myn only took a week. What temp are they at?

 

[mich]

Just room temp, I have them sitting on a shelf in the closet, we keep our house around 21 degrees (<- celcius, I'm canadian lol)
Ive read where lots of people kept them at room temp in the dark and they thrived but mine are slooooooowwwwwwww

 

[jarett_harrison]

really? Im from calgary.

 

[gearbox1001]

Funny enough ive just got my hands on a pot of super's and bloody hell i love them, Jodie loves them and my wife loves them, so im starting to breed them.

I also have a tackle box, but ive only done 4 worms so far (yes i know not enough for a coloney) but i just want to see the process before i go all out. I have another tackle box (trayed) that will be for the beatles.

Im quite excited

John