Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I been trying to breed supers for some weeks now. First I got a few put them in some medicine bottles most died and I got one alien. I then got 100 supers putting like half that into film canesters over the heater (temp upper 80's) its been since jan 10th or so just checked them most are dead, the alien looks dead also. I put a little oatmeal in with the last bunch as well. What is wrong?

My first guess is that they might not have been mature enough. You may want to feed them for a while and then try containing them again them. They need to be about 2 1/4 inches long and about as thick as a pencil to morph.

Also, if you had just bought them and immediately put them into film canisters, it could be that they weren't strong enough to make the change (because they hadn't been fed well enough).

However, I hear that it's common to lose quite a few while trying to get them to morph. They're difficult that way.

You do lose a few, but losing them all sounds like something else is wrong. Could be they are too young to morph, they arent healthy enough to morph, the temps arent right, it isnt dark enough etc.

What I did was raise them to about 2 1/2 - 3+ inches. I fed them nutritious food constantly making them very plump. Once they reached 2.5-3 inches and were acting "restless", I would pull the biggest and fattest and put them in bead boxes (seperated compartments). I then put them in a dark warm place with temps around 80-85 degrees. I checked on them in 2 weeks and most had started to morph. I only lost a couple. The key is to not disturb them at all! Make sure it is dark, make sure they are ready and healthy!

Goodluck on your next try Take care, Lindsay

Beetles breeding (morphed superworms)!

How i did it with pretty good luck...

Use
35 mil. film or the containers that you get when you buy 50 meal worms. 1 large worm per container. A little oatmeal.

I simple placed them into the container, then into a 5 gal fish tank (empty) and sat them on an upper level shelf. Checked on them once a week, removed the dead ones, when they did the morph from worm to larve, I removed them and place them in a clear plastic clear flat container ( butter cup size ) could hold approx 10 larve stage. I keep a watch on them and when the larve changes to a beetle i just removed it and placed it into another 5 gallon fish tank... My worms were never ovr room temp and this winter i think the are at low 60's. I have not tried morphing them this winter.

Key things.

Temp- well.... it was summer, i have Ac, I would guess room was in mid 70's
Light- I placed the larve cup inside a magazine holder so it stayed mostly dark. The bettles were in a variety of containers from dark film cannisters to clear platic ones.

So, I didnt go to any great steps and I know that they were colder than your mid 80's...

Good luck

Hello,

just a point... I simply threw them into a plastic box of oatmeal, about 2 inches deep.

Sometimes , i just used a chicken feed product called crumbles, an inexpensive product for 50 lbs; again 2 inches of the bedding.

I just keep my worms ( i have only bought 1,000 per time twice)
in the bedding material (the oatmeal/bran meal sometimes or the chicken food. I never noticed a difference in activity with either bedding. Water is from potato or carrot or some greens.

They will live as warms a long long time (maybe because i keep them in low temps)

I would guess that under 25 % die in container before morph, some dont make itfrom larve to bettle stage

Previous link about wheat bran

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=235999,236969

You say 2.5-3" well I dont think they where near that large maybe an inch. I dont think I ever saw one 3" didnt know they get that big mine where like this> ------------------. So I think I will put them back in container and feed them some more.

2 1/2 inches or over should be fine! Just make sure they are plump plump Will help hold them over the 2 weeks it takes them to turn into beetles. Goodluck! Keep us posted, Lindsay