I was just curious as to the life span of a superworm. Basically, I am wondering how long before mine will turn to beetles. I know that depends on the size, mine are around 1 inch or a little bigger. How long do they live? Is there anyway to slow down the beetling process, since you cant refridgerate them? Thanks!
Superworms pretty much won't turn into beetles as long as there are a bunch of them together. In order to get them to turn into beetles, first they have to be big enough, and second, they have to be separated into individual containers. I did have one turn when I only had three or four in my container. Those were probably 9 months old or so. I had hatched them last summer sometime, and they only changed this spring. I do also know that the supers that I had last summer were dying off rather quickly, probably due in part to overheating and lack of moisture, but I wonder also if it could possibly have been due to their age? I am not sure about that. They were full sized when I got them, and it was three months before they started dying on me.
what is full size for a super anyway? i was reading into breeding them, doesnt sound too hard. hehe. i was at work today and opened up our little fridge and found someone had screwed up and put the containers of super worms in there! what was weird was, they werent dead! they had been in there at least 24 hours, and the temp on the fridge was set to 65.. so not too cold. they werent moving much, but once they warmed, they were like their old selves. odd. well hopefully, this batch of 1000 supers will last me for awhile then... i wish my other two would get bigger so they can eat them, then i can get rid of crix alltogether!
It seems to me like mine morphed and laid eggs a lot better in the summer than they did in the winter. I am going to assume that it was temperature related, as I did not have them heated, and our house heats and cools with the seasons. Anyhow, if you want to try breeding, you might want to get started. It takes a while to get them from worm stage to beetle stage. The beetles are really big and crawly, and just a little creepy for me (and I'm generally not bothered by bugs). I guess that the temperatures weren't quite cool enough to kill . . . that is a good thing. I just measured the only 'old' super I have left (the rest are medium sized babies) and it is a bit over 1 1/2 inches long. He was harder to measure than Boo. He wouldn't uncurl and sit still at the same time.
Nope, the beetles can't climb. I once ran an unofficial experiment to see how long superworms would last if I did absolutely nothing to care for them. I got a bunch and my first leo just wouldn't eat worms. So I just left them in their tub and did nothing. No adding new bedding, no moisture source, nothing. I figured they'd be dead within a few weeks like mealworms. After about 6 months when most of them were still alive and kicking I froze them and threw them out. So they can last a loooonnnng time if you take care of them. Hardy lil buggers. Mine are about 1.5 - 1.75" long right now, which is about as big as they'll get.
fabulous... at first i was like, geez, i only have 1 gecko, all these supers will die before he eats them... but, i think i'll be fine then, they have lots of bedding, potatoes for moisture, and lotsa nice gutload. plus, the juvies i have are getting big enough to eat the smaller ones. i am so happy about switching to supers, its like mealies without the hassle of the fridge! its great. i would always forget to put my mealies back up, and end up with a container of beetles. wee hee. no more crickets! yay!
July 19, I saw my first superworm eggs, July 30, I saw my first superworms. Today, the biggest superworms are about full sized. So from that, I would say that it takes less than 1 1/2 months for them to go from baby to full sized. Here is a thread I started about supers and morphing into beetles etc.
cool. that really doesnt sound too hard at all.... i think ive found the perfect answer to not having to buy feeders anymore... when my worms get low, ill just start breeding them. ooooh this is exciting!
oh yeah, one more thing, how long should you leave the beetles to lay eggs? ive read about two weeks, then that you should move them, so they dont eat the eggs and baby worms.. is that about right?
Hmm, I don't know. I didn't move my beetles, but a few weeks ago, I did sort out the biggest worms and put them all in their own container. I haven't found the supers to be quite as prolific as the mealies though, so maybe that could be part of my problem? Moving the beetles every two weeks sounds like an exciting allergy project :S Remember, it takes about a month for the super worms to morph into beetles, about two weeks for the eggs to hatch, and then another month or so for the eggs to turn into worms big enough to use as feeders, so you might want to start before your feeders start to get low . . . in fact you might want to try a few now, just to see how the process works, and decide if this is something you really want to do.
