Waxwormwoes.--.-.

Vys

Arachnoprince
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So I got some waxworms, hoping they'd eventually turn into moths and go into my Avic's mouth.

They came with wax-cakes, that were already a little moldy, but I thought 'Hey, they were a bit moldy when they arrived, prolly not a big deal' for some reason, and now, 4 days later, they seem to be dying.
The first day they all tried their best to escape, but now, they're mostly looking dead. So should the moldy bits be removed pronto, or should I just stick whatever survivor(s)-worms there are inside my Avic's enclosure, and hope she will eat them as worms?
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
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I dont really feed waxworms to my guys (the lizards, yes, but the T's, no).. no reason really, but i don't.

however, i'd probably not feed them to the avic. I mean, if theres a couple that are still kicking, it shouldnt be too bad, but i'm not real big in the 'waxworm community', so who knows :)

peace
dave
 

rapunzel

Arachnodemon
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I do!

A few of my T's love them! The ones that are big enough will pounce on them just like a cricket, except for my L. parahybana, It is afraid of them.
I don't give them often, usually when I can't get crickets at the petstore.
 

Buspirone

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I bought 250 wax worms that were in some kind of wood shavings. I didn't feed them anything and after several weeks they started to pupate and turn into moths. I fed some to my Ts but eventually I got tired of chasing down moths that would escape when I opend the little tub they were in and tossed the whole bunch.
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
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now the moths, I do feed, but i wait for them to pupate. I can't really tell you why...

buyt my RP rosea pretty much only sticks to moths....

good protein! you might want to munch some yourself ;)

joshing, right?

peace
dave
 

RugbyDave

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;) "we young boys needs our proteins"

Kim's the best


now for the quick T-info... um...

i may try some waxworms with my young ones now!

pce
dave
 

rapunzel

Arachnodemon
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i thought that was the line you college boys gave the girls?

"it's all protein...its good for you";P ;P
um,,, maybe I shouldnt have been a blonde.


Kim
 

Vys

Arachnoprince
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Hmmm, well I wish mine'd pupate..but Rapunzel; these worms are pretty small? Or did you mean moths of the greater type ?

And no one happens to know about the mold ?
 

rapunzel

Arachnodemon
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the worms I use come in a tub of fifty

with woodchip stuff in there. I got them at the petstore, I have never had one make it to a moth, so my T's get the worms. I know they are high in fat, so they are not recommended often for lizards, so the T's just get them for variety.
 

skadiwolf

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the best source of protein and food are crickets. waxworms are actually very fatty but are GREAT for getting reptiles and Ts alike to grow quickly.

my G. rosea LOVES waxworms! she grabbed THREE at a time and they took her hours to eat them. :)

i put some cricket food (grain, etc.) and took some wood shavings out and hopefully they'll do a little better.

you can keep them in the fridge and they'll slow down and go into stasis of sorts.

when they start turning dark or black, they're dying or dead.
 

Kali

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feed my t's who have just molted and are starving the wax worms. as for the moths, i usually feed them until they pupate, and then place the pupated waxies in an unused section of the t's enclosure and they are usually eaten as soon as the moth land in its web. good luck! protein, in any form, is always a good idea.

Kristin;P
 

Vys

Arachnoprince
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I tried removing the moldy peices of honeycomb just now..and just those sections were crawling with fat little maggots...yuck! Can they stand mold or what?
 

rapunzel

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Vys? yours are small? are you sure they are waxworms?

sounds like Bee larvae. The waxworms i get are fat and about cricket size.
Why are they in honeycomb? I have never seen them in that before, just in woodchips.
 

Vys

Arachnoprince
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Because normally they infest honeycombs, a.k.a beehives.

Anyways, big as cricks they're certainly not at current, but perhaps they'll become?
Now they're a little bigger (longer, in the most cases) than ordinary bluebottle-maggots. Since they tend to climb the sides (when they're not dying) and web, I do think they're waxies :)
 

minax

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Hey Vys!!

Sorry I answered so late, .....I saw you were wondering about if the mold is safe among the waxworms............I would definately take the mold out..........just to be safe. I do not like to take any chances with what we feed to our spiders. But as for is it killing the waxworms? I doubt it. I have cultered these guys for a couple of years, and I think they are very sensitive to a changing of conditions, especially shipping. I do not know if you had them shipped to you............But I have had them do the same thing you described, dying about a week after purchase, if it took this long........they do not handle temperature change well.

But they can be quite hardy once you get them on track, and to deal with the high fat content of the worm, try mixing up some branflakes with some honey, just enough honey to make the bran slightly sticky, then add some high grade cricket food, I use the fluker cricket gut load, but any decent grain type food for crickets should work well. I have used this recipe for years, and the waxworms even reproduce in it! And an article in Reptiles magazine claims waxworms can actually be gutloaded to as high of protein levels as crickets. If someone goes to this extra trouble, they make a great variation from crickets for T's! I have used these protein gutloaded waxworms for years with my T's, and they do great on them, the gutloading seems to make a big differance, and the T's love the variety!!!!

:D :D
 

Vys

Arachnoprince
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Hmm..yes, they were indeed shipped...about a week ago now, so I guess we'll se what happens ..I took some mold out, but it doesn't seem to be bothering them :/

I'm going to try to find some cricketfood like that and make goo for my waxworms, I think. Thanks for the tip
 

Vys

Arachnoprince
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K, uum, now about everything that hadn't molded(if that's a word) is moldy. The stench is horrible, and I picked the littel petpal up to see if I could see any live worms in there. I didn't, but I did see what appeared to be a small reddish brown millipede. What is that?
This is getting freakish.
 

Immortal_sin

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ewwww.. doesn't sound in the least healthy. I'd be tempted to throw it all out, but I'm sure you paid a good amount since waxworms tend to be on the expensive side.
And for those wondering what they taste like, I ate one the other day ;)
Don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you.. :D
I was messing with Shelby, and popped one in my mouth. Then I swallowed it. My daughter thinks I'm REALLY WEIRD....I am sure she is right!
 
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