Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello,

I am trying to breed large numbers of superworms to feed my 20 bearded
dragons. Cricket bills are killing me! Anyway, I have adult beetles and they seem
to be laying eggs on some bark in a tub with bed-a-beast bedding. My questions are:
WHat is the best substrate/ food for small superworms that will allow for easy
access to the superworms? How can sort out 100 at a time without spending so
much time.

Waxworms:
I finally got some waxworms to breed but how do you separate all the worms out of
the medium? There must be an easy way that the commercial breeder use.

Thanks for any feedback, ericR

You could try sifting them. Maybe get some hardware cloth or screen and make a sifter that will allow the substrate to fall through but keep the worms. I am going to start a breeding project soon and will be working on the same problem.... Kinda like me trying to sort roach nymphs....

That is the main reason I don't use substrate in most of my roach bins. I just pick up the egg crates and knock all the roaches off into an empty container. With the ones left in the bin in the frass I just scoop them out with a spoon or use my hands with rubber gloves. I then put new egg crates in the empty bin and pick out the adults and put them back in. Then I'm left with a bin full of nymphs that I rasie for feeders or to sell. Takes about 15 minutes or so. This method does not work with the climbers, but does with all the non-climbers.
James

hi,

I am going to change my lobster roach set up so it does not have any bedding. Thanks for the impute james.

ericR

Hello MrAsmodius,

The problem is that the bedding I use (bed-a-beast = coconut shell soil) holds the
humidity but will clump up when you try and sift through it. Does anyone have any
ideas on a substrate that will allow you to sift though? There must be an easy
solution that the wholesale insect breeders use that they will not tell.

Thanks for reading, ericR

np