Frozen or Tropical? Need to setup worm habitats.

[UncleChester]

Refrigerating will keep them from pupating and maturing into adults. If you just want you tub of worms as food and don't want to breed, then keep 'em cool.

I've only really had success with breeding mealworms (my waxworms make many moths, but no young yet). I wouldn't bother with a sponge for moisture, you can just drop in a slice of carrot, celery, kale, lettuce or whatever veg you have on hand every couple of days. I use a mix of oatmeal, wheat germ and wheat bran whizzed up in a food processor as food/substrate. You can keep a couple of bins, one with worms and one that you move the pupae over into for them to mature into adults and breed. Room temperature is fine, more heat will speed up the breeding process. They are hard to kill even with neglect- I've read more than one story of people who forgot about a shoebox sized colony for a few months only to find it filled with young mealworms.

[MeTree]

Thanks guys! That is really neat!

I don't know why I forgot that earthworms, mealworms, and waxworms are a larvae. Breeding moths sounds interesting, but diffecult! It may come to that, though, because my sister's gecko is temporarily using it as a staple.

So I will keep the night crawlers in the fridge in their little can of humus peat whatever, and I will take the mealworms out of the fridge and build them a habitat.

Now I have an entirely new question...How do I breed moths?? Just when you think you know it all....................

Thanks again guys!

[berksmike]

I breed my waxworms on a 1:1:1 mixture of Ready brek (instant porridge oats with added vitamins), wheatgerm and wheatbran (about 1 cup of each). I then add a couple of table spoons of dried active bakers yeast and bring the lot together with honey and glycerol. The glycerol stops the mixture drying out. You want to coat all the ingredients with the honey/glycerol giving you a crumbly texture that isnt too wet. You can added shaved beeswax to this but I have had great success without it.

Have them in a ventilated container with a piece of kitchen towel under the lid. The larvae can eat thru anything so My lids are ventilated with very fine stainless steel mesh. It can seem that nothing is happening and then theres an explosion of larvae!

[MeTree]

Whoa, neat! Do Waxworms turn into moths also? I am hesitant on breeding something that is going to fly away when I open the lid.

Just an update. I went to Petsmart today. I got 50 baby mealworms and put them in a container. I believe they are on pure oatmeal right now, so I will need to go to the store and get them some other stuff. I mixed the big ones with the little ones, I hope that will be Ok. I threw in some Potato slices for moister.

I also got Waxworms!! I didn't know Petsmart carried Waxworms! I am so excited! I got 50 of them. I do not suppose I will be breedint the waxies, so they can just stay in the fridge right next to the Baby Night Crawlers and they will be fine, correct?

My Pacman Frog happily gobbled down a Waxworm today. I know they should be fed sparingly, but I don't really have any idea how often. My Pacman frog isn't eating Pinkies yet, it is too small. How often should I feed my Pacman Waxworms, and how many in one setting. I just need a general idea. That would be alot better than me just not knowing the answer lol.

Thank you all for helping me! I am so excited to start setting up colonies!

[berksmike]

They do turn into moths but frogs will eat them as well! Greater waxworms like the ones in pet shops can breed very quickly and in massive numbers. The lesser waxworms take longer to breed.

[MeTree]

They do turn into moths but frogs will eat them as well! Greater waxworms like the ones in pet shops can breed very quickly and in massive numbers. The lesser waxworms take longer to breed.

So, what do you mean by "massive numbers"?
Are you talking about 20-50 or something like 200-500 or more than that? It is hard to tell when breeding feeders what a massive number is LOL.

I probably will not breed Waxworms. I do not like the idea of little moths escaping and flying around my house. My house has enough moths in it as it is LOL.

I do plan on breeding Mealworms, though. I have regular mealworms in with "giant" mealworms right now. I have read that "giant" mealworms are actually treated with a growth hormone, and are not able to reproduce. I am really excited about the little guys, though! I can't wait to have an excuse to have tons of beetles walking around! That is going to be very interesting! I had no idea that mealworms turned into beetles!

Anyway, I have the habitat mostly setup. I still need to swing by the store and pickup some wheat bran. I am using the oatmeal from the cups as substrate, and have fed them potatos.

Here are some pics of the Mealworm habitat until I get more substrate.

[berksmike]

Ive never had a problem with escaped moths - they arent great flyers anyway - hence why they are so easily picked off by frogs.
From a pot of 50 original waxworms you would get a few hundred worms given enough culture medium