Buying and keeping Superworms

[JeepFreak81]

Hello again everyone! So I've had my little guy(or gal) for over a week now. He's been eating regular sized mealworms quite well eating anywhere from 8-12 a day. My only problem is that I like to put 5 in his dish in the morning and 5 at night. He seems to like that. However, the mealies tend to get a bit sleepy and stop moving around much even with some carrot in the dish. He then ignores them. So that coupled with idea of feeding some variety I'd like to get superworms. In fact I did buy some superworms at the local pet shop but they were waaaay to big for him. He just looked at them as if to say....what are you thinking dude! :main_laugh:

So, plan B. Small supers, Petco sells them but when I went down to check them out (1.5 hour drive) the ones they had seemed to be half dead. I'd like to order some online but I prefer to order maybe 200 or 300, definetly no more than 500. I just have the one little guy for now so would take a long time to go through all of those.

Question is this - where can I get small supers for a reasonable price with shipping?

Also, how long can I reasonably expect to keep them alive? I'm going to keep them in a small critter keeper with the proper substrate and fresh veggies.

I plan to still get small quantities of mealies and put a couple of those in and a couple of supers in. Thinking the more active supers will keep the sleepy worms moving longer and also provide some variety to his diet.

Thanks for all suggestions in advance!! :main_thumbsup:

 

[Coby78]

The supers, especially at such a small size, can last for months. You can buy some here http://www.greatlakeshornworm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=64

But be careful with shipping in winter, I ordered a batch of 100 superworms once in march last year at around 40 degrees F (from a different website than the one I sent). By the time the place I ordered sent them, temperatures dropped and they sent them in a blizzard and they all died.. no refund either

 

[Wolvenspawn]

Hello again everyone! So I've had my little guy(or gal) for over a week now. He's been eating regular sized mealworms quite well eating anywhere from 8-12 a day. My only problem is that I like to put 5 in his dish in the morning and 5 at night. He seems to like that. However, the mealies tend to get a bit sleepy and stop moving around much even with some carrot in the dish. He then ignores them. So that coupled with idea of feeding some variety I'd like to get superworms. In fact I did buy some superworms at the local pet shop but they were waaaay to big for him. He just looked at them as if to say....what are you thinking dude! :main_laugh:

So, plan B. Small supers, Petco sells them but when I went down to check them out (1.5 hour drive) the ones they had seemed to be half dead. I'd like to order some online but I prefer to order maybe 200 or 300, definetly no more than 500. I just have the one little guy for now so would take a long time to go through all of those.

Question is this - where can I get small supers for a reasonable price with shipping?

Also, how long can I reasonably expect to keep them alive? I'm going to keep them in a small critter keeper with the proper substrate and fresh veggies.

I plan to still get small quantities of mealies and put a couple of those in and a couple of supers in. Thinking the more active supers will keep the sleepy worms moving longer and also provide some variety to his diet.

Thanks for all suggestions in advance!! :main_thumbsup:

Supers are really easy for me. I keep mine in a combination of wheat bran and 10 grain cereal from Winco. I keep them in a plastic shoe box of sorts with about 15-20 holes melted into the top of the lid in the center in a small circle. About every 2 days I toss in a handful of water crystals and throw in some grated carrots or potatoe. ( I grate them because I find I don't ever have a mold problem developing with my supers substrate or my mealies.

I can not give you a definite on how long they will keep but I've had some of mine for at least 2 months. From what I understand because I have started raising supers and have already over 50 King Beetles from them, that keeping them with plenty of food seems to prolong them pupating and then becoming a beetle. I actually seperate each super I want to pupate into their own individual container. I had started out with bead boxes with lots of slots and drilled a small hole into the top center of each slot. Then I place one in each one without any food or water. (sounds cruel) But doing that causes them to begin to slow down and then 95% of them pupate. I use film canisters now, much easier for me to use.

Lol... Went of your topic though. Just stick with the basics they can eat pretty much what we gutload crickets, mealies, dubias with. Just keep their substrate from becoming to damp so you don't develop mold. Depending on how many you want to keep you will probably want to take a small sift scooper or screen and sift there substrate over another container to get rid of excess waste and then put the stuff thats still good above the screen (including the supers) back into their container. Add more food/substrate as needed. If they don't have enough other things to eat they can and will eat each other. Also don't refridgerate them. They are not as tolerant of the cold like mealies are in my opinion and can die.

Good luck to ya with your supers. It's not hard to keep them and you'll know exactly what is going into your geckos/pets you feed them too because your in charge. Oh... I do occasionally toss in a bit of calcium or multivitamin every so often. At the very least some of it can transfer to your geckos.

Jamie

 

[acpart]

Unfortunately you really can't order a small number online and most online places I'm familiar with don't offer different size superworms. Since you're in NH, why not come to the Manchester NH Reptile Expo (www.reptileexpo.com) since there may be a superworm seller there. If you ever get to the Boston area, I breed superworms --a really small number-- and could probably pick out some little ones for you.

Aliza

 

[Dimidiata]

One thing i learned, supers+fridge=dead. I keep mine in a bait bucket with plenty of food, i have been thinking about seperating for pupas.

 

[Coby78]

One thing i learned, supers+fridge=dead. I keep mine in a bait bucket with plenty of food, i have been thinking about seperating for pupas.

Well of course, you can't keep supers in the fridge, they're not like mealworms. Which is why it's hard to order them in winter because they can't survive low temperatures for even a day, which I learned the hard way.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Great Lakes Hornworm has excellent quality baby supers. While they last for months, they also grow. It should be okay tho since your gecko will be growing too. They eat a lot of veggies so you'll want to keep them well fed. Keeping them in an open container will stop humidity and natural gasses put of by veggies from accumulating.

 

[JeepFreak81]

Ya I'm really excited to try some supers but like I said the Petco small supers seemed to have alot of die off in them. Only other place I've seen them is online and there appears to be a limited number of sellers offering the small ones. I'll check out the few places you guys suggested. Might have to wait for warmer weather anyway, pretty chilly up this way this time of year.

Also, I'll have to check my work schedule might be worth the 2 hour drive to manchester for the expo if I have that day off.