Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey,
Whats the best way to keep waxworms? I usually buy them and stick them in the fridge and they last for a few weeks before they all turn black. My local pet shop doesnt sell them in anything under 50 and i dont get through half of that before most of them have too much black on them to feed to charlie. Is there a way i could keep them longer?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

A few things...don;t put them in the fridge, you will kill them faster. as soon as you see a dead/black one take it out right away. It is a decomposing body and will contaminate the bedding and kill others quicker.

Don't recall where you live, but you might be able to find a bait shop that will sell them in varying amounts.

As for keeping them (and breeding - easy) here are a few sites for you:

this first one has some good additional links, too
home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/waxmoths.htm
www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/misc/ef011.htm
www.waxwormkit.com/

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Here's one more site that might be of use....
http://adcham.com/html/insects/insects-waxworm-rearing.html

The fridge is probably how most people kep them. If you keep them at room temp, they will end up turning into moths. If you wanna have some fun, breed them. It is very easy to do. Heres how i did it. I just took a glass mayonaise jar, and filled it with a mixture of honey and corn flakes, and grounded it all up. I put about an inch of that on the bottom of the jar. Then I put in some crumpled up pieces of wax paper on top of that filling up the rest of the jar (just place it in the jar, dont pack it). Then just ad 50 or so wax worms, keep it at room temp and your in business. There are probably better ways to do it, perhaps on lele's links, but thats how I did it. However I think I remember the baby wax worms climbing up the glass sides, and eating their way out of the plastic lid, and finding them all over the cham room.... so you might want to figure out a way to fix that problem....

-Adam.
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As always thank you.

Jeff