Breeding Superworms

[brillobee]

Since my hoard of geckos has grown substantually lately, I've decided it is time to try and save some money and breed my own superworms. I've watched a few videos, and I've got beetles. Hopefully it is a simple as it looks. Anyone done this? Is it as simple as it looks?

 

[OnlineGeckos]

It is as simple as it looks, but it'll take time. It's been a few months since I've had beetles and I'm just starting to see tiny lil, and I do mean little, worms crawling out.

 

[MarkXS]

Yes, they are a LOT slower at growing then mealworms. What I'll do is move my adult beetles to a new tub every month, it's at least another month or even more before I'll start seeing very tiny worms in the first tub.

 

[acpart]

It's not hard but it's very slow. I'd recommend instead buying them online. I can get 1000 superworms shipped next day air for a total of $29.11 from expresscrickets.com. If you do want to try breeding, you may want to read Gecko Time's most-read article ever:
http://www.geckotime.com/how-to-breed-superworms/

Aliza

 

[Landen]

I've been breeding my own worms for my colony for about 4 years now. The hardest part for me has been maintaining a stable colonoy of beatles to keep the production of the worms approximately the same each month. What I've found is that beatles produce worms in different volumes depending on where they are at within thier life cycle. So I'd have months where I produced double what I really needed so I would then stop pupating more worms so that I wasn't overloaded, but then about 6-8 weeks later I'd run real low due to the lapse in the beatles. Pupating the worms into beatles is relatively easy, it seems like reliabably maintaining the beatles to keep a steady supple is a little harder to do. Everytime I think I've got a good routine down, they teach me another lesson...lol. Also once you start to produce 3K or more a month you have do deal with the dust or "frass" that they produce by eating the wheat bran and veggies they turn to "worm dirt". I don't know how some breeders don't produce their own food supply and actually turn a profit, but if you decide to do your own, I'd recommend to look at it as a stable supply for most of the year but be prepared to fill in the gaps while your figuring out the right routine to create a constant supply that works for you.

 

[Kotori]

Tip: Those cute little cupcake trays are perfect for superworms. Stackable, clear and free. I also use butter tubs,and a salad tray that has divisions.
One of the bait sorters at bass pro or equivalent stores is also great.

I have four beetles and I haven't moved them since they emerged, probably 3 or so months. I think I have some small ones, smaller than a mealworm. Do they have the darkened tips at that point?