some superworm question

[bcreps]

ill start by saying these are far from my staple feeder. so I decided to experiment with a small colony of beetle and now that there all mature im wondering.. -Should I be leaving all scraps in there, do they actually lay there eggs in them? - When I open the droor there in why are there always a couple of them on there backs but very much alive and well. Also are they very likely to eat the eggs an how often do you switch. thanks for answers!

[JeffreH]

A second opinion would be appreciated, as I've only bred superworms (Zophobas) on a few occasions and its been many years since I've last given it a run. I'm a bit rusty =)

I always removed old food and just placed it into a small container neighboring the beetle colony "just in case". After rotating the beetles, I'd just dump the contents of this container with the old, dried food remnants back into the bin once the fear of the adults eating them was gone. I usually rotated my beetles every 7-10 days.

While I think adults eating the eggs is certainly a possibility, the shear number of eggs a single female can lay is staggering. When it all boils down, I've had great success breeding mealworms effortlessly by just keeping eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults all in one bin. Surely there is accidental (or intentional) consumption of the eggs, but I still have mealworms out my ears because the females lay so many it just isn't possible for all of them to be consumed if the colony is otherwise well-fed with the gutload/substrate and provided with adequate moisture sources (produce). Superworms are a little different and certainly more voracious, and the process is more time consuming, so I would still rotate them as recommended by most of those who culture them.

[bcreps]

thanks. my main thing is why did some die on there backs is that a sign i should raise the temp?

[JeffreH]

What are your temps now?

The adults don't live for a very long time, at least relative to the amount of time spent in the larval stage of development. I don't think being overturned on their backs is an artifact of husbandry issues so much; I would think its more likely an accidental consequence of being crowded during breeding or something that cause them to flip over. Perhaps they cannot right themselves very easily... I never paid too much attention to the behavior of mine; they always seemed to just swarm together into giant, breeding masses and I left them be.