Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello everyone, has anyone here ever bread super worms. I saw where you can buy a breeding kit from wormman and I was wondering if anyone here has bought one or has ever raised them before. I breed wax worms and roaches if its as simple as that then I think I will be able to do it then thanks a lot

Sure, but I wouldn't waste my money on a 'breeding kit' lol. You need to stress out the worms to get them to turn into beetles. The easiest way I've found is go down to your photo lab and ask them for some old 35mm kodak cans (black), take those and drill a couple small holes in the lid with a hot needle. I'd start off with 50 or so of them because you will have some die off. Put a little bit of substrate in the bottom and 1 worm per container and then set them up on a shelf. Check back in a couple weeks, if they curl up into a circle you're doing good, if they die they usually die straight, trust me you'll smell it. Close them back up and check back once a week. Eventually you'll get aliens and about a week after that you'll get beetles. Transfer the beetles into a tub with about 1" of bedding/food in the bottom, I use the 99 cent white washtubs from walmart, you'll need a few. Transfer the beetles into a new tub every week and set the egg layden one up on a shelf, it will hatch in a few weeks.
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Heart Mountain Herps

man that's about as simple as everything else I do. I do have a ??? in your sentence you state//////Transfer the beetles into a new tub every week and set the egg layden one up on a shelf, it will hatch in a few weeks. does this mean transfer the beetles into the new tubs and the old tubs will have eggs layed in them from them just being in there. and what type of substrate do you use I use dry oat meal and give the greens that my dragons have left over from the day before. same substrate and greens for the beetles as well. also can you feed the beetles to the dragons??? out of 50 or so beetles how many super worms will that provide,and the last ??? is when you say wash tubs are you talking about those little .99 dish pans and doe sit need something on top to keep them in or are they non climbers.
thanks for everything you have been a great help

Yep, transfer the beetles to a new tub, the old one had the eggs in it and if you leave them in there too long they'll eat the eggs. I use my bug mix as a substrate/food for everyone (roaches, crix, supers, etc.) I just don't find oatmeal as a complete diet to gutload my bugs with, they'll live on it but eventually your animals are going to be eating them. Here it is, you'll have to scale it down to fit your purposes I get most of it at the feed store.

1 50lb bag chicken laying mash
1 50lb bag wheatbran
1 50lb bag alfalfa pellet
1 50lb bag rolled oats
1 50lb bag 13 grain rolled cereal
1 large box powdered milk
1 bottle brewers yeast
whatever else I've got laying around or is on 'special' when I go to stock up.
I run everything through a commercial coffee grinder to get it to size. Lasts me about a month, don't know that I'd mix up more than that. Fresh veggies on the top for a water supply works and it's what I use for the beetles but for the worms I cover the bedding with a chunk of burlap and then just spray it down daily. For crix and roaches I use a waterer that I make out of old peanut butter jars (kind of off topic lol). Out of 50 worms you might get 40 beetles, those should produce a few thousand worms for you. The white tubs are sterilite and if you go to walmart they're over by the rest of the rubbermaid/sterilite stuff, they're about 8" deep and maybe 12"x10" or so and easy to write dates on the outside. No lids required, they can't get a grip on the walls.

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Heart Mountain Herps

Great topic! I'm about to receive 1000 superworms from wormman and plan on breeding my own. Bred crix, and done with that. Bred silkworms, never again. Can't tolerate how darn sensitive they are to bacteria and then the whole seperating them from the silk covered in worm poop. Yeah, got old fast.
So now I'm going to try superworms, and keep breeding some crix on the side for variation.
Even though I was beat to the punch, thanks for all the info!

Jamie

That's cool, I hated breeding silks also, the food is god awful. One note though, you shouldn't feed supers as a main diet, think of them more like candy bars. They are way too high in fat to be used daily. Try roaches, they are super easy to breed, don't smell and are about 3 times as nutritious as crix. Just think of them as exotic beetles if the term roach bothers you lol.
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Heart Mountain Herps

what else can I say but man you have been great. thanks for all the help and all the time spent helping me.
its been a pleasure Jason

PS
does it have to have a certain temp for this to happen I keep my reptile room at around 85 from the heat from the lights would that be a good temps and after they hatch how long does it take to get to be full size.
thanks Jason

I do mine in my bug room, which is about the same temp so it should work fine. Adult size in about 4-6 weeks after you first notice the wriggling mass in your bedding.
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Heart Mountain Herps

I noticed one of your questions was missed and pretty much the only question I can answer LOL. Don't feed the beetles to your bearded dragons. They are very hard shelled and may cause problems for your dragon. A couple once in a while to your adult dragons may be fine, but no more than one or two a week because of that hard shell.

Superworm beetles are black, about an inch long and very hard looking. They also exude a rather foul smell when handled. I know this because I found a beetle in my crested gecko cage. I had fed them a newly molted superworm for a break from crickets and CGD and when I cleaned the cage later, found the beetle. I am deffinitely glad the crested gecko didn't find it first, way to big for them to eat. Fed it to my rats, they had fun chasing it around their cage.
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PHLdyPayne

question....do you have to use the film canisters? or just a small dark hide.
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0.1 SHTCT
1.0 PATTERNLESS
1.0 LEOPARD
1.0.1 BEARDED DRAGON
1.0 GREEN IGUANA

Small and dark is fine, I just find film cans easy. The key is small dark and no water though.
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Heart Mountain Herps

heart I see your the one that knows your bugs, bet you post a lot in the insect part as well. walmart wont let me get the film canastas nor will the local drug store. but my aunt works at a pharmacy that will give me a couple hundred old bottles they don't use anymore. ill be putting them in a container with a lid so it will be dark in there I read your article on breeding Croix that's pretty simply as well. so just keep about 100 adults in one tote then take the egg laying containers out and put them in there separate tote to keep the size's separate. this will come in handy in a couple of weeks when I have a couple hundred baby dragons running.
thanks for the info

I have found that the best thing to use for isolating the worms are those plastic flats for raising baby palms. They are more space efficient too because you can stack them on top of each other. The worms need to be full size, usually they start becoming really lethargic when they are ready. After you isolate them for a few days, they start to curl up. You can take them out and place them in a tray single layer with an inch of bran or bare floor. When the worms reach this stage, they are forced to change to beetles. Then you can replace the empty slots to keep the cycle going. Remove the newly transformed beetles(red color) immediatley, because they will eat the other pupae. Once the beetles are black, they are ready to go. The best thing is to put the beetles on an inch or so of red bran. Every week, move the beetles to a new container with new bran. If you leave them in the container for too long, you end up with a bunch of different sized worms. Don't let the beetles get too hot(above 85 degrees)The baby worms are best at 90 degrees. As they get bigger, they generate their own heat, so you have to keep them a little cooler. Slice some carrots or squash and spread it out evenly in the trays. The beetles will continue to live for a while depending on the temperature. Before I forget, make sure to get some latex gloves when you move the beetles. It is just nasty if you don't. Take care, Josh

A couple hundred baby beardies...been there and don't miss it a bit lol, you're going to have your hands full. Good luck to ya
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Heart Mountain Herps

was wondering about the smaller worms including the mini meal worm.any shared experience will be appreciated.Chris

Don't feed regular mealworms, they contain too much chitin and are a impaction risk. Minimealies are alright, I tested them for part of a season but didn't see the 'miraculous' growth rate increase that's advertised and they are a pain to fish out so I quit using them.
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Heart Mountain Herps

are the molted superworms the white soft ones ready to Beetlize or the big normals better.Chris thanks.........

The larger they are the better luck I've always had. It really doesn't matter what stage of molting they are in though.
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Heart Mountain Herps