Superworm Care and Breeding, a Step by Step Guide

[JenFid]

This is a cool thread, we need something like this for dubias! Have you tried PM'ing a mod to get it stickied?

 

[goblinsly]

fluffpuffgerbil: Well i hope you will lose less hair on supers then i did. I am just suck of watching this all over again. Its the same thing all over again. I get 100+ bettles ( which should produce 1000s and 1000s of supers. They lay eggs, i see 100s or 1000s of small worms moving hapily around, i move bettles to another box and after a while, the small worms in first bin just dissapear and in the end its like i barely end up with enough supers to make new bettles from them. And then i end up with about 100 superworms which continue to grow just fine, grow, grow for about 3-4 months and not a single dead, and then suddenly they start dying. Since i suspect mites i took some drastic measures. First, my apartment is now soo dry that my skin is completely dry and itchy. I only add moisture to supers every 2-3 days ( everyday to bettles though ), etc. I also added a duck tape. One thing i found out also, if i grind the dog food and add it to oats, bettles start rapidly dying off. Soo this time they are on oats only. I am wondering if dogfood has anything in it that kills the critters. I read somewhere some dogfoods have stuff that kills roaches and i seriously doubt they would write that on the dogfood, i mean, like 99.999% wouldnt mind if dogfood was poisnous to insects.

JenFid: No, you seriously dont need it. Throw male and female dubias into plastic box, add food, add moisture. Everything else is time, you simply cant go wrong. Seriously. Now superworms, they deserve more then 1 topic because they are impossible critters, i hate them.

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

fluffpuffgerbil: Well i hope you will lose less hair on supers then i did. I am just suck of watching this all over again. Its the same thing all over again. I get 100+ bettles ( which should produce 1000s and 1000s of supers. They lay eggs, i see 100s or 1000s of small worms moving hapily around, i move bettles to another box and after a while, the small worms in first bin just dissapear and in the end its like i barely end up with enough supers to make new bettles from them. And then i end up with about 100 superworms which continue to grow just fine, grow, grow for about 3-4 months and not a single dead, and then suddenly they start dying. Since i suspect mites i took some drastic measures. First, my apartment is now soo dry that my skin is completely dry and itchy. I only add moisture to supers every 2-3 days ( everyday to bettles though ), etc. I also added a duck tape. One thing i found out also, if i grind the dog food and add it to oats, bettles start rapidly dying off. Soo this time they are on oats only. I am wondering if dogfood has anything in it that kills the critters. I read somewhere some dogfoods have stuff that kills roaches and i seriously doubt they would write that on the dogfood, i mean, like 99.999% wouldnt mind if dogfood was poisnous to insects.

JenFid: No, you seriously dont need it. Throw male and female dubias into plastic box, add food, add moisture. Everything else is time, you simply cant go wrong. Seriously. Now superworms, they deserve more then 1 topic because they are impossible critters, i hate them.

Ah that sucks. I have 21 aliens that I know of(I should check the ones in my closet.... XD).... And they should turn into beetles within a couple weeks....
My substrate for worms(and beetles when I have them) is: Wheat bran, Scottish Oats, and Corn Meal. And I add carrots everyday for moisture... I actually don't always ADD them, but I will peel the carrot's old skin off so it's fresh underneath... That way I'm not going through carrots like mad!
I'm hoping for the best! And I should start to morph some more worms soon.... I've got plenty more big ones!

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

the dog food may have oils on it or something that irritates the beetles... i would just use a wheat bran/ground oats mixed

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Well, I'm up to 26....? maybe aliens. I have about 31 more worms morphing I believe. I hope I ahve beetles soon! I've had my aliens since the 28th so sometime next week maybe.
A few alien's eyes are turning darkish colour, and one has black eyes already! Does that mean I'll have a beetle soon? :3

 

[beardie osk]

Yes, the eyes turn black, and the bodies start getting light red, to dark red, to black beetles............the only problem for me was, I had a ton of healthy beetles, but never worms. I tried several times, trying different things, but never progressed beyond the beetle stage. Hopefully, you'll be more fortunate.

 

[dedc369]

bump

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I got my first beetle today! I haven't moved it into the new container yet, but I put some food and carrot pieces in there. And I also put some food and carrots in a couple of the other alines who should be beetles within a few days.
Especially one alien looks really close to turning!

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I'm up to 12 beetles now(since I last checked) and I have several more ready to turn into beetles too....
My only issue is that none of them are black yet... Even my three from three days ago aren't black. :/

Well, they seem to be living, so yeah, and I think I even have a couple pregnant females already! (Some of them have their wings split at the bottom)
I'm going to go move my newest guys into the beetle bin and get more worms ready to morph.

 

[triumphtt]

fluffpuffgerbil: Well i hope you will lose less hair on supers then i did. I am just suck of watching this all over again. Its the same thing all over again. I get 100+ bettles ( which should produce 1000s and 1000s of supers. They lay eggs, i see 100s or 1000s of small worms moving hapily around, i move bettles to another box and after a while, the small worms in first bin just dissapear and in the end its like i barely end up with enough supers to make new bettles from them. And then i end up with about 100 superworms which continue to grow just fine, grow, grow for about 3-4 months and not a single dead, and then suddenly they start dying. Since i suspect mites i took some drastic measures. First, my apartment is now soo dry that my skin is completely dry and itchy. I only add moisture to supers every 2-3 days ( everyday to bettles though ), etc. I also added a duck tape. One thing i found out also, if i grind the dog food and add it to oats, bettles start rapidly dying off. Soo this time they are on oats only. I am wondering if dogfood has anything in it that kills the critters. I read somewhere some dogfoods have stuff that kills roaches and i seriously doubt they would write that on the dogfood, i mean, like 99.999% wouldnt mind if dogfood was poisnous to insects.

JenFid: No, you seriously dont need it. Throw male and female dubias into plastic box, add food, add moisture. Everything else is time, you simply cant go wrong. Seriously. Now superworms, they deserve more then 1 topic because they are impossible critters, i hate them.

Not that I know much about this but just a thought. Maybe you have to many in one bin and they are over crowded and getting some kind of a illness. If you keep them all in the same bin. Like I said I'm knew at this.

I have beetles um 20 + I think stopped counting lol. I have had them for about 5 months and no worms. So that's why I'm rereading all this. I am going to try a few things. I didn't realize I need to switch them out every 2 weeks or so. Gonna buy a heat pad, not gonna bother with the light I'll just put something around the bin to block the light. Bought some water crystals and gonna try them with veggies. I use chicken feed I bought from Agway. Best deal ever 50LBS yes POUNDS for $11 I'm pretty sure I'm not going to run out anytime soon. Anyway to "filter" the old stuff to reuse it? since it would have possible poop in it?

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Do you really need to switch the beetles out every two weeks? I've had some for two weeks, but not all of them... I just got my 24th beetle today.

IDK if I said this, but my beetle's substrate is: Cornmeal, Scottish oats, and Wheat Bran(Because I premixed it all beforehand.)... I microwave it and let it cool before I stick anyone on it... They are in a sterlite container(a pretty small one.... not sure how small though it's part of a three stack). I have for moisture: Carrots placed randomly around a container and watercrystals in a dish. I just bought a 4oz pack of dehydrated watercrystals at the reptile expo and every ounce = 1 gal....
My last gallon lasted from November 6th to Jan 14th. XD

But anyway..... I guess I'll switch them out every three weeks just to be safe. :3 I was going to do four..... But hmmm

 

[Lexie]

Idk if this will work or not but.... If you were able to get someone to sell/give a couple of their beetles and start a worm colony from that??? If it would be easier and maybe speed up te initial process or not?? Idk it's just an idea. Lol idk if anyone would be willing to sell their beetles lol it seems like their hard to produce lol !

 

[keen77]

Kyle awesome step by step on the Super Worms, as stated before you rock! Have you ever shown pics of your roach set up? I have got some awesome Dubia from you! Do you breed other types of roaches?

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

Kyle awesome step by step on the Super Worms, as stated before you rock! Have you ever shown pics of your roach set up? I have got some awesome Dubia from you! Do you breed other types of roaches?

Thanks! i had some pics somewhere of the individual tubs with the auto feeders etc... the set up is pretty simple, its several of those wire racks that are adjustable... with wood as a liner and heat tape with a proportional thermostat hooked up to it. holds 10 66qt tubs each. This equals 5000+ adult females (500+ per tub) and countless tubs of nymphs on a monthly basis... i recently had them kicked out of the apt by the GF and they are now in a self storage unit... haha shhh dont tell anyone. now i just have to figure something out for the supers as i am getting back into breeding them again. the 1st batch i did lasted me almost 2 years

-Kyle

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

Kyle awesome step by step on the Super Worms, as stated before you rock! Have you ever shown pics of your roach set up? I have got some awesome Dubia from you! Do you breed other types of roaches?

also, no i dont breed other roaches... i am into it, just not that into it... also dubias seem to be the most in demand... only bad thing for me is the reproduction cycle of them is so slow...