Easy insects to raise?

[littleindiangirl]

Well, since the last reptile show, I have been hanging onto some super worms and giving the rodents treats once in a while. Although, I read on here that they are super ridiculous to raise a bunch of, they stink, and bite.

Well, my ASF's went NUTS! over them, and demolished what I had left in no time. They tore apart their whole cage going after them, and just love them.

I'm just looking for ideas for insects to raise for some treats for the rodents. I heard meal worms are easy, is this true? Is it worth it?

[Patrick Long]

I have super worms on stuff that chickens eat, at room temp, and they seem to be thriving! No care whatsoever on my part lol

[littleindiangirl]

Huh, I was reading a thread where they say to get them to turn to beetles, you have to separate them into a little container until they grow into adults... that they stink and bite... I don't want to even touch the little nasties!

Are yours reproducing in there like that? That would be super nice if they were!

[Patrick Long]

The little ones seem to reproduce faster than the super worms lol

[SatanicIntention]

I love my orange-headed roaches. They are SO easy! I bought around 100 of them last year and now have a good couple hundred in varying sizes. Some of the first babies are now almost adult size. They are clean, they don't smell, they don't bite, they don't climb or fly. They eat chicken mash, fruits and veggies. I just keep them on cypress mulch in a tub with a few plastic saucer hides for them to hide under, in the snake room(which is around 82). They thrive and the Bearded, the Leopard Gecko and the Crested LOVE them. Plus, no coccidia like what crickets carry AND they have an extremely high meat to shell ratio, so no chance of impaction(unless you feed too big).

The babies are kind of cute too.. Look a bit like roly polies

[Beardedragon]

Call me crazy but Silkworms were so easy to take care of It cost $300 for me to get everything set up + silkworms + 10 pounds of dry food but my beardie was never happier. Breeding them was easy as well, the moths go to it right when they find each other! Raising them was easy, just shred some silk chow over them twice a day, and clean their tub once a week. Everyone said how hard they are to raise, but after raising crickets/roaches/superworms I can say different for myself

BTW, I never had a problem with superworms biting? I had 1000 of them with zero problems other than smell?

[littleindiangirl]

Thanks Becky, I'll have to pick your brain about those.

I don't like how the super worms fling back and try to get you.. I use pliers with the little nasties. I don't know how the rats deal with them hahaha

[ADEE]

I have found super worms very easy to raise. I use a pair of wooden tongs to remove the super worms i need to feed off. Mine dont smell at all. I have about 1,000 in a rubbermaid type shelf thing (three small drawers full)

Mealworms are easy also...

I feed/keep mine on a type of chicken food and drop lettuce in there every couple days for moisture, they are breeding like crazy and creating lots of little super worms for me lol... I keep them at room temp and honestly aside from adding lettuce and chicken food every once in awhile there is absolutely no maintenance. IMO its alot of work for your ASF's, if you were feeding something that needed the super worms or meal worms it would be more worth it.. but if you dont mind having them around, have at it!

[littleindiangirl]

Are you breeding super worms like that? The articles I read say that you have to separate them to get them to grow into beetles. I don't really feel like messing around too much, that's why Becky's roaches sound like a good plan.

[Patrick Long]

Connie, I dont seperate mine, and I see four stages of development alive and well. LOL Mine dont even bite.....I didnt even know they could bite!