Superworm Care and Breeding, a Step by Step Guide

[diggerdrake]

i wonder if it would be possible to get this stickied. . .

or as an article ... maybe a web page containing this info

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

I should prob pm one of the mods

 

[clear]

If it works out for you and in a few months send me a pm and I will add it to my site and give you credit for it!

 

[diggerdrake]

If it works out for you and in a few months send me a pm and I will add it to my site and give you credit for it!

now there is a great place for it. I have referenced http://www.feedersinc.com/ on many an occasion

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

clear runs feedersinc?

 

[fresnowitte]

clear runs feedersinc?

Yep!

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

so cool, i didnt know that. . . . i used that site to find some places locally that sold feeders! haha

does anyone know the production rates of the beetles? like eggs per week or anything of that nature? clear is asking me but i dont know the answer aside from what i have read. that each beetle will lay about 500 eggs, of which about 50 will hatch.

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

can anyone else think of some good pros and cons?

this has been approved to be stickied or turned into an article. i just want to makre sure i have all the bases covered.

 

[patrickb]

Nice write up on them! And some nice pictures to go along with it.

Pros:
Since you are producing your own endless supply of feeders, you don't have to worry about hustling down to the petstore when you get off work to pick up more food or bug your parents to take you to the petstore for the fifth time this week. You also don't have to spend $$$ on gas driving there!
If you like to go fishing, free bait!
Robins, Bluebirds and various other bird species love mealworms and superworms both! Watch your backyard birdies enjoy a new treat!

On the Cons, I wouldn't really consider it a time consuming thing, more of a prolonged project than anything. They really don't take a lot of physical time, it just takes a period of time before they get up and going. But the upside to that is that once they are going, you won't have that worry anymore. Much like getting a colony of Dubia started for instance.

Under your morphing info, you mentioned separating them out, but don't specify that they should have no food or moisture when separated in order to stress them which forces the pupation. You note this in the cliff notes section, but not the morphing part. I would add that info to the morphing paragraph as well so people don't miss that part if they skip the last sections (which people do ).

Another idea, add a list of "Things Needed" of "Materials" towards the top. Reading the article, I find throughout that I need another container, and yet a third container and possibly even more depending on how often I move the beetles. A shopping list could be very handy there. Having a list upfront helps some people to get started a little more easily. Include things like food, moisture, containers, egg crates etc... Just a thought on that.

And one more thing, Non-medicated Chicken Egg Laying mash bought from a local feedstore should make a good substrate as well if you want to add it. I know lot's of people use it for supers and mealworms both and it is cheap stuff that works good.

Good work!

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

additions made

 

[VEGASLIZARD]

Wow, thanks for the detailed post. I just purchased 500 supers from mulberry and was thinking about breeding. This guide is very helpful!

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

your welcome, if you use about 75 of those supers to morph you might have to buy just 1 more shipment before your colony is up and going. Once you get it started your all but set.

I would also gutload the supers for about a week or so before trying to morph them tho, i had a higher success rate when i had done that.

 

[Navan94]

I have a question as I find this oh so interesting. My beardy is but a baby and won't be looking into supers anytime soon. I showed this thread to a co-worker and his mouth hit the floor on how this whole process unfolds, it's really neat. But.. I'm easily amused.

Now back to my question. Once you've relocated the beetles to breed in a new bin and after their baby supers have grown to feeding size... if you move the supers to, let's say......a feeding bin, do you completely change out the substrate when you're ready to reuse that bin to start the process all over again? It might be obvious to some, but I was curious if you reused substrate or if you started from a blank slate.

I am definitely going to revisit this thread when my dragon is of age, because I believe I can convince my wife to running a set up like this. Dubias on the other hand.... I don't see having so much luck. :lol:

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

Depending on how old your dragon currently is, it takes about 4 months for them to go from worm, to beetle, to egg, and back to a full adult. My dragons were at about 16 inches around 7 months in age. So if u were to space it our properly when they were at the right age you could start feeding.

Also after you transfer the beetles to a new bin, you start all over with fresh substrate. As for moving the worms into a new feeder bin, changing the substrate is up to you, it can be done, but is not completely necessary. Most say to change it every 3 months or so, i change mine if it starts to smell bad.

 

[diggerdrake]

navan: by time you get supers ready to feed your dragon should be big enough. the time it takes is about 4 months give or take. since it is recommended that your dragon be 16" or larger that gives you a good time frame to get them up and running. not to take away from the great post by honda but as far as the dubia go... they are easily raised and a sustaining colony takes a bit of time to get there. a little research and you will find all the info you need to have a colony going.

I think there is so much good info on this board that any novice can quickly become well versed in all aspects of beardie husbandry which much is crossed over to other herps as well. I thank all members here for the much needed info we all need from time to time.