Superworm Breeding Questions

[atpinto]

Hi All, I bought 1000 superworms from livefoods about the middle of Feb. all Mixed sizes. My Beardies love them BTW.

I keep the feeders in a tub with oats and throw in vegies like potatoe, pear, celery, etc as well as a few dog biscuits and they smash through them, fast.

About 3 weeks ago I picked out the biggest, fattest and longest and put them into a few toolbox type organisers I got from bunnings. 2 have clear dividers and 2 have orange dividers so they can't see one another.

So,.. 3 weeks have past, and they are all still in there and still alive and moving, but not curling up and not pupating. Have I missed something? They have no food and no water, some of them, say 5% have been able to climb under/over the dividers somehow and end up in another compartment, but it is not the majority, and once there they seem to stay put.

What else can I mention, I keep them in a cupboard, dark, inside the house, in the herp room, so warmer than most of the rest of the house, not cold, not hot, should I heat those organisers with a heat mat? Or cool them? I have about 300 feeders left, and they are still eating and getting bigger. The ones I have separated 3 weeks ago are about are about 3-4cms long. Should I pick some bigger ones from the feeder colony and try again, does it matter?

Anyway, not sure, maybe I'm just impatient, I wanna see these alien things turn into beetles! But if there is something obvious I am missing please be kind enough to point it out for me.

Thanks in advance,

 

[fourexes]

I just let them grow out and pull the pupae when they appear... it's a painfully slow cycle. Though when you forget about them they seem to take over lol.

 

[Chris1]

maybe theyre not old enough?

i breed mine once a year so the worms are close to a year old by the time i start.


mine tend to turn into aliens at all different times, some around a week, some 2-3 weeks,...

i keep mine in small taco sauce jars, in a shoebox. i give them some bran substrate in the jar, and a bit of carrot as their last meal,..i found if they dont have bran the beetles are sometimes stuck to the glass by the bum by the time i remember them.

 

[mad_at_arms]

Not old enough.
Put them back in the colony and keep feeding them.
I find they do there own thing quite successfully in my woody colony.

 

[atpinto]

ok thanks for those responses. Seems like not old enough is the consensus. So do I really need to wait a whole year? Or is there a size I can tell that they might be ready? What is the largest you've seen them?

 

[atpinto]

Not old enough.
Put them back in the colony and keep feeding them.
I find they do there own thing quite successfully in my woody colony.

Hi mad_at_arms, do you just keep superworms with your woodies? and do they pupate and breed on their own in your woody colony??

 

[atpinto]

maybe theyre not old enough?

i breed mine once a year so the worms are close to a year old by the time i start.


mine tend to turn into aliens at all different times, some around a week, some 2-3 weeks,...

i keep mine in small taco sauce jars, in a shoebox. i give them some bran substrate in the jar, and a bit of carrot as their last meal,..i found if they dont have bran the beetles are sometimes stuck to the glass by the bum by the time i remember them.

Thanks, I might change and try this method as well when they're ready.

 

[geckodan]

What temperature do you have them at? For optimum growth keep around 29c. Yes they will still grow and breed at lower temperatures but depending on your needs they will not do so at maximum breeding rates and will show seasonal unpredictability . At this temp they will curl up within a week of separation, pupate within another 2 weeks. Maintained at the appropriate temperature you can harvest near adult-sized worms at 8 weeks.

 

[mad_at_arms]

Hi mad_at_arms, do you just keep superworms with your woodies? and do they pupate and breed on their own in your woody colony??

I originally bred them separately.
I threw some old bedding in the woody tub that must of had some eggs in it.
About 8 weeks later I noticed the ones in with the woodies were doing better than the separate colony.
I am yet to see the full cycle occur in with the woodies, but I don't see why it won't work.

 

[solar 17]

Two points..... IMO the cycle takes (approx.) 4 months (at normal room temps)(unless you are going to warm them) plus l find it better if you separate them, l use a screw/nail/washer box from Bunnings with 16 - 20 compartments in it and put one in each compartment....be sure to give them ventilation (drill holes) solar 17

 

[geckodan]

Mad, the reason they are likely to be doing better is the increased warmth in the woodie colony (woodies put out considerable metabolic heat). Occasional beetles will appear in a 'colony' but most of the eggs will be eaten anyway so there isn't much to be gained.

 

[mummabear]

Mine are about 5cm when i put them in tackle boxes. I use a soldering iron and put a ventilation hole in each compartment. I also put a small amount of bran in each compartment so if they are not quite ready they have a bit of food before turning.

 

[atpinto]

Hi all,

I thought I would report my success.

So I warmed the worms up a little fed them loads and tried again about 10 Days ago, and I kept the containers near a warm window in the house.

Last Thursday I got my first alien, and today I've got 10!

So thanks everyone for helping me work that part out. I suppose the rest is easy? Famous last words....

Thanks again.

 

[Stuart]

Great news. Thanks for coming back and letting us know