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what is the best food source for waxworms? is wheat/oat bran fine?

how long do waxworm moths live?
how big are the waxworm moths?
how many eggs do the waxworm moths lay?
what percent of the eggs usually survive?
is room temp fine for waxworms?
is it easy to sell excess waxworms to pet stores?
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0.1 Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 ball python (felix)
1.1 feral cats (Fuzzy, and Bear; it used to be fuzzy, wuzzy, bear)

Waxworms, which are actually catapillars from the Wax Moth, live in bee hives in the wild. They eat honey and wax.

This is what I do...

Put a few cups of bran flakes in a plastic container and pour in some honey. Stir it will and keep adding honey until it's a sticky mess. Then, grate a block of beeswax until you have a handful. Stir that in and add your waxworms.

The waxworms will tunnel through, eating the honey and wax and when they're ready, they will spin a cocoon. (Sometimes they pupate without spinning though...that's normal.) A couple weeks later, moths will emerge, mate and lay eggs in the honey/bran. A couple weeks later again, those eggs will hatch but they're so tiny that you wont see any baby catapillars for a little while.

When you start to see clumps that look like they have white fuzzy stuff in it, that's silk (not mold) and it means you have babies. Don't throw the fuzzy clumps away! (I did that once or twice. I thought it was mold until I pulled a clump apart and saw a bunch of babies! Then, I felt like an idiot because I realized I had thrown a bunch of catapillars out.)

Hope that helps.

Moths in general lay about 200 eggs. I don't know many wax moths lay exactly but they do incubate at room temperature and you should have at least 50 babies from each mating.

About selling the excess to pet stores...wait until you get a colony going before you say that! LOL! Sometimes I don't get lucky, where my moths emerge close enough that they can mate. If female moths don't (at least) start the mating procees within the first 24 hours of eclosing, they don't generally have the energy/life span to mate and lay eggs anymore.

The moths are little, about a half inch long with a slightly wider wing span than the length of their body. They're also rather ugly...little bland, brown things.

I think I answered all your questions now. LOL!

>>Waxworms, which are actually catapillars from the Wax Moth, live in bee hives in the wild. They eat honey and wax.
>>
>>This is what I do...
>>
>>Put a few cups of bran flakes in a plastic container and pour in some honey. Stir it will and keep adding honey until it's a sticky mess. Then, grate a block of beeswax until you have a handful. Stir that in and add your waxworms.
>>
>>The waxworms will tunnel through, eating the honey and wax and when they're ready, they will spin a cocoon. (Sometimes they pupate without spinning though...that's normal.) A couple weeks later, moths will emerge, mate and lay eggs in the honey/bran. A couple weeks later again, those eggs will hatch but they're so tiny that you wont see any baby catapillars for a little while.
>>
>>When you start to see clumps that look like they have white fuzzy stuff in it, that's silk (not mold) and it means you have babies. Don't throw the fuzzy clumps away! (I did that once or twice. I thought it was mold until I pulled a clump apart and saw a bunch of babies! Then, I felt like an idiot because I realized I had thrown a bunch of catapillars out.)
>>
>>Hope that helps.

I don't do the wax. Just honey, oatmeal and some bran flakes. I tend to forget to feed more later too.......something to watch. And I DO get mildew or mold growing in the bottom of the colony. Don't know what I am doing 'wrong' that is making it a PITA. I don't need many waxies and so a few homegrown would be great....if they didn't mold. Maybe it is the lack of wax? I tend to put in a few balls of waxpaper and they nest on them. (read it somewhere) But not getting grey fuzzy mold would be keen. Though I also gotta say, the wax worms don't seem to really care too much about a little mold. But it wreaks havoc with my allergies (to gee.....molds).
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

It shouldn't mold. Honey alone doesn't mold. If you're growing mold in your waxworm box, there wasn't enough honey.

how long do the larvae live?
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0.1 Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 ball python (felix)
1.1 feral cats (Fuzzy, and Bear; it used to be fuzzy, wuzzy, bear)

>>It shouldn't mold. Honey alone doesn't mold. If you're growing mold in your waxworm box, there wasn't enough honey.

I'll try more honey. Thanks
All I need is a few Waxies for this silly Petco lizard that I don't even know what it is. They called it a Nicaraguan Alligator Lizard and it is a skittish, but cool looking thing. He favors waxies. Even small crix are gnawing on him...idgit. And he won't wrestle with mealies unless he is starving.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

It's kind of fun getting an animal you don't know...and frustrating at the same time. LOL! I was given a snake that I'm still trying to identify precisely. I've got it narrowed down to the genius, thanks to the "what kind of snake is this?" forum here at kingsnake, but that's as far as I've gotten. LOL!

Will your guy eat pink mice? Maybe he'll like them better. They're more nutritious anyway.

>>It's kind of fun getting an animal you don't know...and frustrating at the same time. LOL! I was given a snake that I'm still trying to identify precisely. I've got it narrowed down to the genius, thanks to the "what kind of snake is this?" forum here at kingsnake, but that's as far as I've gotten. LOL!
>>
>>Will your guy eat pink mice? Maybe he'll like them better. They're more nutritious anyway.

This guy is maybe 5 inches long and like 4 grams...can't find his card this sec. He is very secretive and I have never seen him actually eat. But the waxies disappear and he poops.

I will try a picture. His tail tip is gnawed off but otherwise you get the gist.

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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

He doesn't have the scales like an alligator lizard...more smooth and soft, yet bumpy, like a leo. He sure does have a snake-like head though. I've never seen anything like him! He's very neat looking.

That is a very interesting lizard, so I did some quick internet searching. I believe that this lizard is actually a Yellow-spotted Night lizard (Lepidophyma flavimaculata). Doing some more searching, they are in the Xantusiidae family & this species is also called: Central American Bark Lizard.
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