Superworms

[IAmAMirage]

Do superworms need water? All of my superworms died. They were just fine, I have them in a container with air holes and oatmeal and I sprinkled a teaspoon of calcium in there to gut load...they all hardened... what happened? @xp29 @BPSabelhaus @NickAVD

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Do superworms need water? All of my superworms died. They were just fine, I have them in a container with air holes and oatmeal and I sprinkled a teaspoon of calcium in there to gut load...they all hardened... what happened? @xp29 @BPSabelhaus @NickAVD

They get water from veggies. Sliced carrots, potatoes, apples all go well. Pears tend to go mushy fast.
I started some mealworms around October. Failed every time before, but veggies this time and I have a male and female beetle and a bunch of pupating and the rest fat

 

[IAmAMirage]

They get water from veggies. Sliced carrots, potatoes, apples all go well. Pears tend to go mushy fast.

Oh ok! How often should I give it to them?

I started some mealworms around October. Failed every time before, but veggies this time and I have a male and female beetle and a bunch of pupating and the rest fat

Hmm thats interesting...I was told that superworms cant mature due to the fact that they are genetically modified.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Oh ok! How often should I give it to them?

Hmm thats interesting...I was told that superworms cant mature due to the fact that they are genetically modified.

Not sure about that, I have had some mature but they are cannibals so they need to be separated in a dark space. Alex like eating the adults lol I did try to breed them, but didn't get anywhere. Pupating isn't difficult though. Pill jars etc...

 

[IAmAMirage]

Not sure about that, I have had some mature but they are cannibals so they need to be separated in a dark space. Alex like eating the adults lol I did try to breed them, but didn't get anywhere. Pupating isn't difficult though. Pill jars etc...

Ok!! Perfect! Thank you very much!! Good luck with your print

 

[NickAVD]

Do superworms need water? All of my superworms died. They were just fine, I have them in a container with air holes and oatmeal and I sprinkled a teaspoon of calcium in there to gut load...they all hardened... what happened? @xp29 @BPSabelhaus @NickAVD

I agree, superworms should be fed vegetables to keep them hydrated.
Mine doesn't eat superworms, so I haven't bought them in a while, but I remember what you need to do to breed them.
They will never pupate if they are in the same container. The movement of their brethren nearby eliminates pupation. They can exist like this for months. But if you put one worm in a "solitary chamber" it will pupate.

 

[NickAVD]

Regarding beetles...
When the beetles appear, you need to organize a container for reproduction.
First, you should pour sawdust and oats into the container in approximately equal quantities. You should also install some snags or different pieces of bark in which they will lay eggs and hide. Then put the beetles in the container. The beetles should be sprayed often, but little by little, to create 60-70% humidity. The temperature should be 77-82 degrees.
You should feed the beetles with juicy food, one carrot or apple is enough for them, but the more varied it is, the better. You should feed them often, but in small portions, so that the food does not get moldy. Then, in a week or two, live larvae will appear.

 

[xp29]

I'm late to the party lol. Bp and Nick pretty much covered it.

 

[AHBD]

Do superworms need water? All of my superworms died. They were just fine, I have them in a container with air holes and oatmeal and I sprinkled a teaspoon of calcium in there to gut load...they all hardened... what happened? @xp29 @BPSabelhaus @NickAVD

What kind of container are they in and is it room temp. where you keep them ? I keep mine in larger containers [ even a plastic shoe box will do ] filled about 2-4 inches with bran and/or oatmeal. I put a carrot chunk in about once a week or every 10 days. No lid needed if they can't reach as high as the top of the container . They live for months like that.
EDIT - fixed typo

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Warmth too, forgot that lol mine is next to the roach colony.

 

[AHBD]

Warmth but just like room temp. is how they live for a very long time.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Calcium can clog their trachea (breathing openings).
For this reason, I only dust as many as are eaten for sure per day.
I give my superworms oats and veggies (like carrots).
I keep them at room temperature which is 20 - 26 °C at our place (we have neither heating nor cooling, so our room temperature varies during the year).
My superworms live for months. They never die. They will just pupate after half a year - normally pupation is triggered once they are fully grown and are then separated (each one into a small dark container), but if the latter isn't done, they hold off pupation for as much as about 6 months after being fully grown.

Regarding clogging their trachea: We once had an extreme amount of loss of mealworms and superworms when my husband - who wasn't very much into that - fed them flour... He did so, as "mealworm" is literally "flour worm" in our native language German ("Mehlwurm"). All died within a week which was the time for which he had to take care of them. And I hadn't recognized this mistake as I was traveling, and he wasn't aware of doing anything wrong and he just told me via e-mail that he's "feeding them really well, and more and more die".

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Warmth but just like room temp. is how they live for a very long time.

The feeders definitely like the lower temps. Refrigerator slows em down more. But for pupating and breeding there are trigger temperatures they need to be within. I'm waiting on more beetles, but eventually I need three different chambers for breeding adults, pupating larvae and growing out mealworms. A lot of setups use 3 drawer storage bins with breeders on top, pupae in the middle and feeders on the bottom with the top heated. Seems simple enough.

 

[ChileanTaco]

@BPSabelhaus
Mine pupate at room temperature.
I don't refrigerate them, as for superworms as far as I've read this will kill them (other than mealworms). Also, they live so long, I don't have to hurry to feed them to my dragon. Also, I want them be rather large when I feed them to my dragon, because I feed him superworms sparingly (as I have here a very limited selection of feeder insects - I can dubias, mealworms and sometimes superworms -, huge superworms are his super-special treat, so once in a while he suddenly gets one ).

 

[KarrieRee]

Do superworms need water? All of my superworms died. They were just fine, I have them in a container with air holes and oatmeal and I sprinkled a teaspoon of calcium in there to gut load...they all hardened... what happened? @xp29 @BPSabelhaus @NickAVD

I use carrots for hydration -- I have been having a hard time for quite awhile keeping superworms alive for more than a week -- I was buying them from different places the main one Fluker farms but for some reason I cant keep any of them alive - so I finally bought some from PetSmart and they have managed to stay alive - I dont know what the deal is w/ this -- this has been going on for over a year now