# Help me understand why my supers are dying.



## SamuraiSid (Sep 6, 2012)

I dont understanding what Im doing wrong, and I havnt been able to figure it out re-reading superworm articles.


My set-up includes 2" of oats, about half of it is blended fine, as substrate. Ive got a small wax-coated paper plate as a dish for a slice of orange/carrot I change out every day or two.

For the past 4-5 weeks I have been searching for my first batch of bred baby supers, since my slings can eat the smaller ones. And everytime I see plenty of miniscule supers crawling around. I occasionally find a few 1/2" supers. After a month I was expecting the average super to be bigger, but it doesnt seem that they have grown at all in the past month.

A week ago I went to the lps and bought two dozen large supers, and I placed them in a dif. container wit the same set-up. 5 days later, I had only used 4 as feeders, and the rest died. some where straightening completely and became very stiff. Others started turning dark and straightened out, but were slightly pliable. (The T's are ok, btw)
Ive purchased supers from this lps many times over the last few years and have never had a problem before.


Im wondering if it might have something to do wit the oats? Wit the adults I purchased I noticed they were completely covered in oat dust and spend most of their time lethargically on top of the sub. Everything I have read says oats and powdered grains (oats) are fine, but it seemed they didnt enjoy the sub. They came in wheat bran, if that makes any difference.


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## Curious jay (Sep 6, 2012)

I personally don't raise morio worms but I do use them as feeders I brought 2 tubs in January I still have them now fully alive and huge. I have looked into the breeding it's simple to do when I attempted it to see how easy it was. Each worm will need to be in seperate containers to pupate unlike mealworms I think they have a chemical of some sort that stops pupation when in company of other worms. I keep mine on broken up weetabix adding a slice or two of carrot whenever I remember or a day before I use them as a feeder and I've had 0 issues maybe one death. All molting fine and are huge.
I did try oats at first but they didn't consume it very well compared to weetabix so I switched dunno if any of this info will help.


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## GiantVinegaroon (Sep 6, 2012)

Are they eating the food on the dish?  I just chuck potato in with my supers and the worms and beetles tunnel through.


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## SamuraiSid (Sep 6, 2012)

I dont think so.... I have noticed a few on the dish from time to time, but my main concern might be that they are predating on each other. Perhaps Ill scrap the dish and trhow in a couple slices of carrot and see how that goes.


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## catfishrod69 (Sep 6, 2012)

If you do decide to throw in moist veggies without a dish, you might wanna pitch the oats first. Those oats will contain tons of grain mite eggs, and the little bit of moisture that the veggies will get into the oats will hatch the eggs. Then you will have a explosion of grain mites. I had this happen to me with some mealworms when i first got in the hobby, been non grain mite free ever since.


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## Curious jay (Sep 6, 2012)

catfishrod69 said:


> If you do decide to throw in moist veggies without a dish, you might wanna pitch the oats first. Those oats will contain tons of grain mite eggs, and the little bit of moisture that the veggies will get into the oats will hatch the eggs. Then you will have a explosion of grain mites. I had this happen to me with some mealworms when i first got in the hobby, been non grain mite free ever since.


Interesting, completely avoided by using weetabix and that potato idea sounds good as it doesn't rot/dry out as quick as carrot.


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## catfishrod69 (Sep 6, 2012)

Ive never heard of the weetabix. I no longer keep any mealworms though. Although when i did have them, and they were housed on oats, my lizard had died, so i just set aside the mealworm tub. After a while it got forgotten about, and stuff stacked on top of it. Then about 1.5 years later i was cleaning that whole area out, and found the mealworm tub, and was like oh yeah i forgot about these. Well i opened it up and they were thriving. I think the adults were feeding off the pupae/larvae, but either way they survived a long time. 





Curious jay said:


> Interesting, completely avoided by using weetabix and that potato idea sounds good as it doesn't rot/dry out as quick as carrot.


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