Trying super worms

[piranhaking]

I've got a meal worm colony going now (lots of beetles, no babies yet) and i decided im gonna try super worms. I read that they have to be isolated before they will pupate, so I called a picture developing place and ended up with about 150 film canisters . I went and bought what was supposed to be 25 worms, and ended up with 75 . Several were still kinda small, but I've got probably 40 or so that im going to go ahead and put in the film canisters (which i washed out first just to be safe) and give it a go. I have holes poked near the top for air, and a small amount of corn meal in the bottom which is what the instructions i read said to do. We'll see in a few weeks if i get any pupae. I'll post some pics then.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

good luck. I'm gonna stick with the little to no work needed to breed mealies for now

[recycling goddess]

interesting... very interesting...

[Shelby]

I've bred superworms before.. the beetles are icky nasty stinky.. and they bite.

Good luck.

[piranhaking]

I hadnt heard anything about them having much smell or biting. Care to elaborate on that a little? Also do you have any tips? For now i just have the worms in the same drawer system as my meal worms (different drawer of course...) and a few of the film canisters in the back of that drawer. Tomorrow I'm going to pick through the rest of the worms and finish putting the larger ones in the canisters.

[Shelby]

Well.. you may notice that mealworm beetles have a mild smell.. especially if they are agitated (pick one up)

Multiply that smell by 10, make it six times bigger and give it decent sized chompers.. there's a superworm beetle.

I didn't use film canisters.. I found it simpler to put them in the compartments of a simple one level tackle box (or the little craft boxes for jewelry making.. just anything with small individual compartments) ..it was simpler since there was only one lid to open on all the grubs, not a million little canisters.

I dropped a piece of food in each compartment, and slid the box under a cabinet in a cool room. Peek in a few weeks and I saw most of the grubs in a dormant state half curled into a 'C' shape. Few more weeks and they molted into the pupae.

[piranhaking]

now ya tell me 150 canisters later . I may try that next time around. Should i put a small piece of potatoe in for moisture? I havent noticed any smell from the meal worms, but then again, ive usually been dealing with mice mice previously, so yea....... I guess a big pair of tweezers is a good idea with the supers then. Thanks for the help. One last thing. Does the container you used provide enough air? or did you ventilate it?

[smilin-buddha]

I bred alot fo them at one time. They need the stress to start the change. I drilled small holes in a fishing tackle box. I than placed a worm that was the largest possible in each section. I than waited. They will all change around the same time. When the beetles pop out they will be brownish. Take them out of the container and put them in some kind of tub. I used peat moss. They will turn the peat moss into powder. They will be very thirsty and hungry so I put a little chick starter non-medicated. And used carrots from the dollar store. In a month remove the beetles into another tub. And wait. You will slowly see he peat moving those are the larvae. I found if I moved the beetles after a month I would always have worms. The beetles will eat the eggs and the smaller worms Good Luck.

[piranhaking]

still waitin for them to pupate. I did however find one beetle in our tarantula's cage. i dont remember feeding any super worms to it, but apparently some one did and it made it, pupated, and morphed into a beetle. It is now in the drawer unit awaiting some friends. I'll keep you all updated on how it goes. I plan to make some sort of tray and lid system for the canisters with a screen top to keep them in, and a solid top over that that still allows air in and out. That way they're still isolated but i dont have to buy the other boxes (i already have the stuff i need to make the trays) and i get rid of most of the down sides of the canisters (having to poke holes in each indiviudal one, having a ton of lids to open up when checking on them rather than one big lid to open, etc....) When its made ill be sure to post some pics.

[MarkS]

How long to the beetles last and continue laying eggs? If you move them every month, how many months can you go before you have to start new breeders? I tried to do superworms once, and got 'some' larva, but it wasn't what I would call a real big success.