Feeder worms/caterpillars/grubs/etc.

[SandDeku]

I heard they sell stuff like maggots, red worms, grubs, caterpillars(hornworms, silkworms, waxworms), etc. How do you breed those? I wanna breed maggots for feeding my toads. Part of a mixed staple diet. I was hoping to keep and culture these:

-Crickets/grasshoppers/locusts
-Roaches(dubias, and the others that are non flying that someone mentioned)
-Grubs
-Maggots(soldier flies---I heard they don't really bite, green bottle flies? fruitflies?)
-Red worms
-Moths
-Hornworms
-Silkworms
-Waxworms(and their moth adults)
-Mealworms(and their beetle adults)
-Slugs(though never seen one eaten by my toads)
-Butterworms
-Bess beetles

I guess I'm trying an extremely varied diet. I know this is probably taking it too far. But I thought to myself(I want to start a insect breeding project), so why not?

The staple would consist of:
-Roaches
-Grasshoppers/crickets/locust
-Maggots
-Red worms(earthworms or whatever)
-Moths

That's what I expect to feed them on a weekly basis along with a changed variety of stuff like butter worms, bess beetles and the other stuff.


But question is can these stuff be bred? I know flies can be, but i'd like a simple method of how to gather my own wild insect and sterilize them for any parasites or whatever.

Maybe I'd just buy them and breed them. I heard soldier fly maggots are very high in calcium/proteins yet low on phosphates(highest out there).

Redworms would be for building up a bit of fat(but they aren't overly fatty so it's okay--- it's good to make sure they have enough body fats. Toads need a reserve of fats--- but not overly much) plus they are high in proteins and other vitamins and such.
Roaches--- good feeders to get in lots of proteins and vitamins because what they eat can be loaded more with vitamins if anything.

Crickets/grasshoppers/locust can be dusted with calcium and vitamin supplements monthly and provide them with more stimulation.

Sure they don't need to have this wide of a diet. But i wanna give it to them anyways--- so anyone can help on these?

 

[LeilaNami]

I heard they sell stuff like maggots, red worms, grubs, caterpillars(hornworms, silkworms, waxworms), etc. How do you breed those? I wanna breed maggots for feeding my toads. Part of a mixed staple diet. I was hoping to keep and culture these:

-Crickets/grasshoppers/locusts
-Roaches(dubias, and the others that are non flying that someone mentioned)
-Grubs
-Maggots(soldier flies---I heard they don't really bite, green bottle flies? fruitflies?)
-Red worms
-Moths
-Hornworms
-Silkworms
-Waxworms(and their moth adults)
-Mealworms(and their beetle adults)
-Slugs(though never seen one eaten by my toads)
-Butterworms
-Bess beetles

I guess I'm trying an extremely varied diet. I know this is probably taking it too far. But I thought to myself(I want to start a insect breeding project), so why not?

The staple would consist of:
-Roaches
-Grasshoppers/crickets/locust
-Maggots
-Red worms(earthworms or whatever)
-Moths

That's what I expect to feed them on a weekly basis along with a changed variety of stuff like butter worms, bess beetles and the other stuff.


But question is can these stuff be bred? I know flies can be, but i'd like a simple method of how to gather my own wild insect and sterilize them for any parasites or whatever.

Maybe I'd just buy them and breed them. I heard soldier fly maggots are very high in calcium/proteins yet low on phosphates(highest out there).

Redworms would be for building up a bit of fat(but they aren't overly fatty so it's okay--- it's good to make sure they have enough body fats. Toads need a reserve of fats--- but not overly much) plus they are high in proteins and other vitamins and such.
Roaches--- good feeders to get in lots of proteins and vitamins because what they eat can be loaded more with vitamins if anything.

Crickets/grasshoppers/locust can be dusted with calcium and vitamin supplements monthly and provide them with more stimulation.

Sure they don't need to have this wide of a diet. But i wanna give it to them anyways--- so anyone can help on these?

Roaches are obviously the easiest to breed. You can simply buy a colony and they pretty much propagate on their own. Crickets are a little more work but be forewarned, they smell really bad. There's lots of info on the boards about breeding them too.

Maggots would depend on what type of fly you are breeding. Some flies require a liquidy substrate for the larvae while others need special diets for breeding. You would need to decide first on what flies you would like to breed before that answer can be given. If it's black soldier flies you are looking at, here's a website giving a little detail on how. http://soldiergrubs.com/?p=6

Moths are easy. Just pick a species that doesn't have toxic larvae. Be careful of which hornworms you choose as I believe I've read tomato hornworms are bad for the animal. I would probably just stick with wax moths. Here's a website explaining how to cultivate. http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/waxworms.htm

As I've understood it, Red worms can be thrown into a mini compost pile and just let them have at it. I've read that table scraps are good to supplement with. Here is some info on that http://northwestredworms.com/aboutus.aspx

You could also breed silk moths but they need special foods so unless you have a lot of access to mulberry, you'll be buying a bunch over the net (and they eat a TON)

 

[SandDeku]

Roaches are obviously the easiest to breed. You can simply buy a colony and they pretty much propagate on their own. Crickets are a little more work but be forewarned, they smell really bad. There's lots of info on the boards about breeding them too.

Maggots would depend on what type of fly you are breeding. Some flies require a liquidy substrate for the larvae while others need special diets for breeding. You would need to decide first on what flies you would like to breed before that answer can be given. If it's black soldier flies you are looking at, here's a website giving a little detail on how. http://soldiergrubs.com/?p=6

Moths are easy. Just pick a species that doesn't have toxic larvae. Be careful of which hornworms you choose as I believe I've read tomato hornworms are bad for the animal. I would probably just stick with wax moths. Here's a website explaining how to cultivate. http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/waxworms.htm

As I've understood it, Red worms can be thrown into a mini compost pile and just let them have at it. I've read that table scraps are good to supplement with. Here is some info on that http://northwestredworms.com/aboutus.aspx

You could also breed silk moths but they need special foods so unless you have a lot of access to mulberry, you'll be buying a bunch over the net (and they eat a TON)

Hmmm are wild flies okay? Im thinking green bottle flies? and soldier flies. As for roaches, what would be a good healthy roach to feed that are rarely to fly and climb? someone told me but I forgot.

How do you keep the flies from flying out when you're going to harvest them? Like it says there to put em in a screen terrarium. That's okay. but how do I harvest the grubs without having lots of soldier flies flying out? And for bottle flies? What about adults?

Is it possible to buy a small mulberry tree that I can keep indoors for this purpose? Like a few potted trees. Do you got a sheet on how to breed those silk moths?

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Mulberry Farms does offer care sheets for their silkworms,hornworms,and for the several other species that they offer.

Cabbage worms might be obtained by netting white cabbage butterflies
if you can cage them over cabbage plants with a butterfly feeder.

A finely meshed butterfly net will also corral flyaway flies.
Since flies are more evasive than butterflies you might want to learn butterfly capture before you tackle those.

Flies will move from darkness to light.
You might cover your culture-and uncover ONLY where you have placed your net...but your first experiments may free flies because swirling the net to entrap those you want to move and whisking your culture's cover over those you want to keep will require considerably more practice than butterflies did.

It's tough. At first. But it can be done.

 

[SandDeku]

Mulberry Farms does offer care sheets for their silkworms,hornworms,and for the several other species that they offer.

Cabbage worms might be obtained by netting white cabbage butterflies
if you can cage them over cabbage plants with a butterfly feeder.

A finely meshed butterfly net will also corral flyaway flies.
Since flies are more evasive than butterflies you might want to learn butterfly capture before you tackle those.

Flies will move from darkness to light.
You might cover your culture-and uncover ONLY where you have placed your net...but your first experiments may free flies because swirling the net to entrap those you want to move and whisking your culture's cover over those you want to keep will require considerably more practice than butterflies did.

It's tough. At first. But it can be done.

cabbage worms? Do they live in nj? Can they be obtained online or on a store? Do you by any chance know any local places that may carry bugs I can use to breed that they may not want because they may perceive them as a "pest" but won't really be a pest inside a house?

 

[ZergFront]

Waxworms do take a little work to make their food but if kept warm (77-79F) they eat and grow rapidly. YouTube has some care sheets on how to make their meal.

Superworms are very easy and takes a TON more mites than with mealworms to cause them harm if you do get those outbreaks. Mist water only after the substrate has started to really dry and you shouldn't have any problems with mites. THey seem to really like celery and sweet potato. When I get beetles, I provide a soft wood for the females to lay eggs.

Phoenix worms AKA soldier grubs are a good size maggot but I haven't had luck getting many critters to eat them. The large flies are a favorite to some of my arboreals but if you have a hoard of them, like I had a long time ago with a lizard I found too late wasn't eating them all, they are kind of a pain to contain. The light was good advice, because every time I got an escape they went straight for the window.

Can't provide care info on the other worms because I haven't personally raised colonies. Supposedly, butterworms have calcium but there's no way to breed these in the US. All the moths are sterile.

 

[SandDeku]

Waxworms do take a little work to make their food but if kept warm (77-79F) they eat and grow rapidly. YouTube has some care sheets on how to make their meal.

Superworms are very easy and takes a TON more mites than with mealworms to cause them harm if you do get those outbreaks. Mist water only after the substrate has started to really dry and you shouldn't have any problems with mites. THey seem to really like celery and sweet potato. When I get beetles, I provide a soft wood for the females to lay eggs.

Phoenix worms AKA soldier grubs are a good size maggot but I haven't had luck getting many critters to eat them. The large flies are a favorite to some of my arboreals but if you have a hoard of them, like I had a long time ago with a lizard I found too late wasn't eating them all, they are kind of a pain to contain. The light was good advice, because every time I got an escape they went straight for the window.

Can't provide care info on the other worms because I haven't personally raised colonies. Supposedly, butterworms have calcium but there's no way to breed these in the US. All the moths are sterile.

what do you mean all the moths are sterile? how? How do they breed em?

Pheonix worms? I fed them to my toads--- they loved them. my turtle loved them. my fish did not like em lol. Wax moths mate right?

 

[Pssh]

You dont breed butterworms. You have to import them because they are a pest. (see my website if you want to read about them. I have some for sale too.)

Using google will give you all the information you need about each and every one of those insects.

 

[SandDeku]

You dont breed butterworms. You have to import them because they are a pest. (see my website if you want to read about them. I have some for sale too.)

Using google will give you all the information you need about each and every one of those insects.

I know I read google articles and such. but I like to hear peoples experiences. You know what I mean?

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

White cabbage butterflies turn up almost everywhere,including New Jersey.
Their larvae are colloquially known as "cabbage worms" because of their (notorious!!!) readiness to burrow in the cabbages where they like to feed.

Since getting them out of cabbage heads can be difficult I would advise culturing closely related plants whose leaves aren't so "tight:"
Just make sure that cabbage butterflies WILL lay eggs upon the alternative species BEFORE you cage your potential breeders.

And keep your plants caged afterwards.
Cabbage worms may become easy prey if they are not in cabbages.
Although finely meshed netting does keep predatory bugs and birds out you may still have to bring them inside if marauding mammals begin to tear netting that was supposed to be "predator proof."

And then winter comes.
Unless you can access greenhouse facilities you will need a hibernaculum.
Please bone up on how to prepare one well BEFORE the first hard frost hits.

Netting cabbage butterflies is actually the easy part.

Breeding them is far more work.

But it CAN be done.

 

[SandDeku]

White cabbage butterflies turn up almost everywhere,including New Jersey.
Their larvae are colloquially known as "cabbage worms" because of their (notorious!!!) readiness to burrow in the cabbages where they like to feed.

Since getting them out of cabbage heads can be difficult I would advise culturing closely related plants whose leaves aren't so "tight:"
Just make sure that cabbage butterflies WILL lay eggs upon the alternative species BEFORE you cage your potential breeders.

And keep your plants caged afterwards.
Cabbage worms may become easy prey if they are not in cabbages.
Although finely meshed netting does keep predatory bugs and birds out you may still have to bring them inside if marauding mammals begin to tear netting that was supposed to be "predator proof."

And then winter comes.
Unless you can access greenhouse facilities you will need a hibernaculum.
Please bone up on how to prepare one well BEFORE the first hard frost hits.

Netting cabbage butterflies is actually the easy part.

Breeding them is far more work.

But it CAN be done.

So culturing cabbages? Would stuff like lettuce work? I mean isn't it less tight? or what would you recommend personally? What other insects can I "attract" if I start growing some veggies. Like say lettuce, potatoes, carrots, etc. As for a green house my dad wants to make a miniature green house outside so that would work. Right?

he said he'd prefer if I breed my insects in there.

 

[Galapoheros]

You have a long list there. Some would be easier to do if you rented or owned a house, esp. caterpillars. When I kept a few toads, I'd just feed them crickets and roaches, sometimes hang out at the porch light and catch stuff that way. My fav feeder is crickets, not that they are easiest to raise but the inverts I have seem to go for them more than roaches. Takes more to raise them though. They grow fast, sometimes I have too many, then not enough. To get them really going, they seem to like it hot, mid 80's. I'm refering to the common store bought species. Males make a lot of noise so it's best to have another room to keep this kind of stuff in.

 

[SandDeku]

You have a long list there. Some would be easier to do if you rented or owned a house, esp. caterpillars. When I kept a few toads, I'd just feed them crickets and roaches, sometimes hang out at the porch light and catch stuff that way. My fav feeder is crickets, not that they are easiest to raise but the inverts I have seem to go for them more than roaches. Takes more to raise them though. They grow fast, sometimes I have too many, then not enough. To get them really going, they seem to like it hot, mid 80's. I'm refering to the common store bought species. Males make a lot of noise so it's best to have another room to keep this kind of stuff in.

I'd rather avoid crickets... I dislike alot of crickets now... Except jerusalem cricket. I'd like to go i nto roaches, worms, etc. Right now I j ust need bite sized food for soon to be toadlets. They're back legs already grown in. So I need to find something to culture quickly. I can't order online atm so I'm trying to look for something I can find local and are easy to breed. :/ Any suggestions? I'm trying to find "springtails" but I don't know how to attract them, or white worms or anything that small. I'm hoping to go to an asian food market soon to get some rice weevils but Idk if that's a possibility. My family is ubber busy atm.

Suggestions?

 

[Galapoheros]

If you're about to have baby toads, I'd raise termites for them, I think there is a sticky about it on this site somewhere. Springtails are too small anyway imo. I have them in my backyard under boards, I didn't have to raise them. I knocked them off the board into a container with some wood they were on and put a lid on. I fed slings that way, about 50 of them, big enough to eat roach nymphs now though. Yeah, crix are only good to raise if you have a lot of stuff imo.

 

[SandDeku]

If you're about to have baby toads, I'd raise termites for them, I think there is a sticky about it on this site somewhere. Springtails are too small anyway imo. I have them in my backyard under boards, I didn't have to raise them. I knocked them off the board into a container with some wood they were on and put a lid on. I fed slings that way, about 50 of them, big enough to eat roach nymphs now though. Yeah, crix are only good to raise if you have a lot of stuff imo.

I can't seem to find that sticky... But aren't termites not the best idea to get? I mean... won't they just get out of t he container? what about aphids? can aphids be bred? or anything of that size?

---------- Post added at 02:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:39 AM ----------

http://www.tracyhicks.com/aphid.htm

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Termites may feel no need for escape-proof housing...but their human propagators really HAVE to have it.

This can be researched on line.

So can looseleaf foods for "cabbage" worms-whose mothers are more likely to accept loose-leaved cabbage relatives than lettuce plants that are not as closely related as one might think from their similar outward appearance.

These caterpillars do make fine feeder bugs if they are fed first.

Try researching "cabbage worms" online to find out what else they eat.

 

[SandDeku]

Termites may feel no need for escape-proof housing...but their human propagators really HAVE to have it.

This can be researched on line.

So can looseleaf foods for "cabbage" worms-whose mothers are more likely to accept loose-leaved cabbage relatives than lettuce plants that are not as closely related as one might think from their similar outward appearance.

These caterpillars do make fine feeder bugs if they are fed first.

Try researching "cabbage worms" online to find out what else they eat.

I just can't seem to find a good termite mound... At all.... or even in trees.... I only find ant colonies. Wondering if I can feed ants to toadlets....

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Most ant larvae are excellent feeders. Most adult ants are not.
Since the adult ants defend the larvae separating them is not always easy:
but,as you have seen, FINDING ant colonies often IS easy.

"Termite mounds" turn up in Africa.
Most native termites NEVER make mounds.

Native ANTS do make mounds.

That is why your search of mounds found only ants.

Native termite colonies can be difficult to find outside swarming season because most of them are even more underground than true ants are.

When they DO swarm the flying "aelids" resemble VERY fat "flying ants" because they have absolutely no trace of an ant's "wasp waist."

If you see them (and catch some) you may be able to backtrack them to their natal colony in time to capture some of the workers before the flights taper off and the workers conceal their underground colony again.

 

[SandDeku]

Most ant larvae are excellent feeders. Most adult ants are not.
Since the adult ants defend the larvae separating them is not always easy:
but,as you have seen, FINDING ant colonies often IS easy.

"Termite mounds" turn up in Africa.
Most native termites NEVER make mounds.

Native ANTS do make mounds.

That is why your search of mounds found only ants.

Native termite colonies can be difficult to find outside swarming season because most of them are even more underground than true ants are.

When they DO swarm the flying "aelids" resemble VERY fat "flying ants" because they have absolutely no trace of an ant's "wasp waist."

If you see them (and catch some) you may be able to backtrack them to their natal colony in time to capture some of the workers before the flights taper off and the workers conceal their underground colony again.

Nice. Thanks for the information. Question anyone got advice on how to catch flying insects outside without much effort and chemical use? I'm thinking some sort of net and light at night.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Night hunting will only work if they swarm at night.
If they swarm in the daytime night hunting won't work.
Since local pest control teams get swarm reports from people who HATE
to see "All those bugs!!!" "HERE...!!!" At MY house...!!!"
they will know what time of day (or night?) most local species swarm.