Don't know how many people feed superworms to their t's , but I feed them to my bearded dragon so theis may be helpful for some people...
Breeding Super Worms
Materials:
-3 Rubbermaid container with lid (6$ at Wal-Mart) of approx. 5 gallons each
(Length and width are more important then height so a container with a large footprint is ideal)
-50-100 film canisters (ask at Wal-Mart film section as they will give you tons for free)
-substrate (I use wheat germ and oatmeal as well as a cricket food mix of dry milk, fish flakes, powdered nuts...))
-egg cartons (also can use those paper cup trays)
-drill and drill bit
Method:
-Put 12 film canisters into margarine container (repeat with multiple margarine containers or cottage cheese containers (7 per container)
* the above step is not nessisary, however i find that it is easier if they worms are isolated in smaller groups so its easier to move around
-Put containers into Rubbermaid (Not mandatory, if you have a lid on the containors thair in)
-Buy 50 to 100 worms and put ONE in each container (use the largest ones)
-Add a pinch or substrate to each container
-Wait a week until they curl up (check every week and remove and replace dead worms)
-sounds bad, but the key is to stress them out then they will morph into beetles (a dark room and segrigation can help trigger this)
-A week or so after they curl up they will shed and look like a albino aliens (may of seen this in meal worms)
-A week after this they will do there final transformation into a beetle (red right after morph but will turn black in 48hrs)
-With checking at least every week (to also remove any dead worms) you can add the beetles to the contains described in the following
Beetle container
-Buy all materials
-Drill lots of holes into lid for ventilation or cut entire lid off (leave frame still) and glue on a window screen)
-place substrate in the containers (enough to just cover it- i use the same stuff that i feed the worms since it will eventually feed the offspring worms)
-Add an egg carton
-Add the beetles as they hatch
-Beetles will not be very messy so you don’t have to clean them
-Every day (or every other) add a piece of potato, lettuce, apple… or any other fruit or vegetable to the container for water. Potatoes are pretty good since they add moisture, but are not to moist which would make mold grow on the substrate)
-Replace the food every day or two and remove any old veggies
- Do not let the container get moist or the substrate will get moldy (good ventilation is the key)
-They will then deposit eggs on the egg carton, after the eggs hatch they will go into the substrate and grow
-Keep doing every thing the same and soon the worms will be larger (1inch) and the beetles can be moved to the third Rubbermaid (1st for morphing to beetles, 2nd & 3rd to alternate laying the eggs and growing them)
-The worms are messy but I don’t clean them until after I move then to a container to be fed to the predator or to the 1st container to be turned into a beetle, I just add more substrate- they will also eat apples, potatoes, lettuce…(you are what you eat so you want well fed worms) I use lage containors that probably have 3-5 sq feet of surface area so it is plenty to keep worms in without the substrate gettign too dirty
-Initially, the worms will be tiny , but eventually will grow, when they get to about meal worm size, i remove the beetles into a nother large containor to breed more. The beetles are easy to remove.
Remember:
- The beetles wont breed if their too cold so keep it in a warm place or use a heat mat. A no0rmal room tem shoudl be fine as long as your house does not get to cold
- After the batch is at feeding size add some of then to the 1st container to be turned into beetles (the beetles will die a couple months after changing into beetles)
- Don’t let the Rubbermaid get moist or the substrate will mold
- It takes a month or so before you get your first batch but after that you will have plenty
- If there isn’t good ventilation the thousands of little worms will smell like ammonia so add some new substrate and air out the container
* Unlike meal worms, superworms cannot be kept refridgerated, they will die.
They are very easy to breed and require minumal setup and are fairily clean. All you have to do is swick the substrate when all the feeders from a batch are used up
Breeding Super Worms
Materials:
-3 Rubbermaid container with lid (6$ at Wal-Mart) of approx. 5 gallons each
(Length and width are more important then height so a container with a large footprint is ideal)
-50-100 film canisters (ask at Wal-Mart film section as they will give you tons for free)
-substrate (I use wheat germ and oatmeal as well as a cricket food mix of dry milk, fish flakes, powdered nuts...))
-egg cartons (also can use those paper cup trays)
-drill and drill bit
Method:
-Put 12 film canisters into margarine container (repeat with multiple margarine containers or cottage cheese containers (7 per container)
* the above step is not nessisary, however i find that it is easier if they worms are isolated in smaller groups so its easier to move around
-Put containers into Rubbermaid (Not mandatory, if you have a lid on the containors thair in)
-Buy 50 to 100 worms and put ONE in each container (use the largest ones)
-Add a pinch or substrate to each container
-Wait a week until they curl up (check every week and remove and replace dead worms)
-sounds bad, but the key is to stress them out then they will morph into beetles (a dark room and segrigation can help trigger this)
-A week or so after they curl up they will shed and look like a albino aliens (may of seen this in meal worms)
-A week after this they will do there final transformation into a beetle (red right after morph but will turn black in 48hrs)
-With checking at least every week (to also remove any dead worms) you can add the beetles to the contains described in the following
Beetle container
-Buy all materials
-Drill lots of holes into lid for ventilation or cut entire lid off (leave frame still) and glue on a window screen)
-place substrate in the containers (enough to just cover it- i use the same stuff that i feed the worms since it will eventually feed the offspring worms)
-Add an egg carton
-Add the beetles as they hatch
-Beetles will not be very messy so you don’t have to clean them
-Every day (or every other) add a piece of potato, lettuce, apple… or any other fruit or vegetable to the container for water. Potatoes are pretty good since they add moisture, but are not to moist which would make mold grow on the substrate)
-Replace the food every day or two and remove any old veggies
- Do not let the container get moist or the substrate will get moldy (good ventilation is the key)
-They will then deposit eggs on the egg carton, after the eggs hatch they will go into the substrate and grow
-Keep doing every thing the same and soon the worms will be larger (1inch) and the beetles can be moved to the third Rubbermaid (1st for morphing to beetles, 2nd & 3rd to alternate laying the eggs and growing them)
-The worms are messy but I don’t clean them until after I move then to a container to be fed to the predator or to the 1st container to be turned into a beetle, I just add more substrate- they will also eat apples, potatoes, lettuce…(you are what you eat so you want well fed worms) I use lage containors that probably have 3-5 sq feet of surface area so it is plenty to keep worms in without the substrate gettign too dirty
-Initially, the worms will be tiny , but eventually will grow, when they get to about meal worm size, i remove the beetles into a nother large containor to breed more. The beetles are easy to remove.
Remember:
- The beetles wont breed if their too cold so keep it in a warm place or use a heat mat. A no0rmal room tem shoudl be fine as long as your house does not get to cold
- After the batch is at feeding size add some of then to the 1st container to be turned into beetles (the beetles will die a couple months after changing into beetles)
- Don’t let the Rubbermaid get moist or the substrate will mold
- It takes a month or so before you get your first batch but after that you will have plenty
- If there isn’t good ventilation the thousands of little worms will smell like ammonia so add some new substrate and air out the container
* Unlike meal worms, superworms cannot be kept refridgerated, they will die.
They are very easy to breed and require minumal setup and are fairily clean. All you have to do is swick the substrate when all the feeders from a batch are used up