Superworm breeding questions

Discussion in 'Feeder Forum' started by ps90000, Jul 22, 2006.

  1. ps90000

    ps90000 New Member

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    Thinking about breeding some supers and I have a few questions. How many eggs will a female lay at a time, and how often does she lay eggs? How long do the eggs need to hatch? How long do the beetles live? How long does it take supers to get up to the 1.5-2.5 size range from hatching? Thanks in advance.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. Cerus

    Cerus Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure how many eggs they lay at a time but they will lay up to 500 eggs in their lifetime which is around four months. The eggs will hatch in a couple weeks, depending on what the temps are in your bin (80-85F is ideal for faster growth) and will reach adult size (2.5-3 inches) in about two months (also depends on the temps)

    Growth rates also depend on the quality of food you provide them. You'll have the best growth rate if you use the worm bedding from www.cricketfood.com
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. ps90000

    ps90000 New Member

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    I bought 1 lb of the worm bedding. I'm still trying to decide if it's worth it to breed some worms (a lady said she'd buy them from me if I could sell 1000 for under $30). It seems like it'd be worth it to me, but I'm still trying to decide. What kind of housing, a 10g w/ 2 in of worm bedding and egg crates with baby carrots on top? And with the beetles, they eat the worm bedding as well, or carrots/apples? Ever feed some beetles do your leos or are their skeletons too hard)?
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. Cerus

    Cerus Well-Known Member

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    1000 supers online typically sell for around $20 so I think her price request is more than reasonable. Breeding your own is definitely worth it since a) you won't have to buy them elsewhere anymore and :D you'll always have just the right size on hand. That setup would work great as well as Rubbermaid or Sterilite bins although 1lb of bedding won't go very far. A 10 gallon is close to the size of some of my worm bins and it takes about 5lbs to get a 2-3 inch depth.

    The beetles eat the same worm bedding as well as carrots, lettuce, apples for moisture. I prefer lettuce over the others since it doesn't mold and they usually eat every bit of it before it dries out. The beetles have a lot of chitin (shell) and very little meat so they make for poor feeders but the pupae are like candy to leos as well as many other herps and most go nuts for them.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. ps90000

    ps90000 New Member

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    Where can you get 1000 for 20? So if I don't want to pay $30 for 5lbs, can I mix oats in with the worm bedding, or the sawdust type bedding they come in? Thanks a lot for your help.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. Cerus

    Cerus Well-Known Member

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    www.superwormfarm.com sells 1000 for $20, www.sunshinemealworms.com sells 1000 for $19 and www.grubco.com sells them for $22. There are a few other online stores but that's about the average price for them. But they also sell millions a year so the cost is a lot cheaper than pet stores.

    You could mix various whole grains, oats, rice cereal etc to beef up the amount but the sawdust stuff won't do them any good. Just use a good variety of all natural grains and that, combined with the cricketfood bedding should be pretty good.
     
  12. ps90000

    ps90000 New Member

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    Thanks a lot for the help so far Cerus. I ordered 500 from grubco for $20 with shipping, but here at http://www.wormman.com/pd_superworms_shipped.cfm they're $20.50 with shipping for 1000. Is Wormman reputable? Also one more question, can the superworm beetles climb glass/plastic walls?
     
  13. DaCubs

    DaCubs Well-Known Member

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    I've had mixed results the few times I've used wormman and have heard from others that also had problems. So they aren't the best IMO.
    Grubco comes highly recommended by a few long-time herp keepers and really did a great job the time I used them. Even though it was the post office that screwed things up they were very quick to do everything they could to fix the problem. If I were to go back to buying my feeders from online vendors they'd definately be the one I'd use.
     
  14. Cerus

    Cerus Well-Known Member

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    Mealworm nor superworm beetles can climb smooth surfaces or fly. No worries :)
     

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