Superworm Project

[B.appel13]

ull have beetles in 2 weeks or less depending on the temp where they are kept.

 

[RoninSTi]

1/18/2010

The first pupa that I had is starting to turn into a beetle. The legs are darkening, I think within the next few days a beetle is going to pop out of there!

I also went through and placed the immature worms I had back into their normal living container and picked out the larger mature worms to replace them. This is working much better as now I have 0 deaths and alot more beginning the transformation. I hope to have more pupae in the next few days.

 

[sammer021486]

I was doing some research and came across a site saying that you can keep them at 80-90F, have you come across what temperatures these guys can handle before it gets too hot for them?

 

[RoninSTi]

I was doing some research and came across a site saying that you can keep them at 80-90F, have you come across what temperatures these guys can handle before it gets too hot for them?

Haven't come across whats too hot but I can tel you this from my experience. They keep fine at room temp 68F. This what I keep my feeding bin at. The metamorphosis happens much quicker at temps in the 80s. I have not subjected them to anything higher.

 

[Tony C]

I keep my pupa container on the shelf directly over my beardies, so they get pretty warm from the lights. I haven't bothered to check them with my temp gun, but I could if anyone is curious.

 

[sammer021486]

I would be interested to see what temps that can handle, right now I've placed 12 into a tackle box and stuck it in my hovabator, getting it ready for eggs and figured why not, I incubate at 84-86F.

 

[RoninSTi]

2nd Pupa

1/20/2010

My second pupa just formed and just about every worm I have in the container has curled. I also noticed that my original pupa is nice and dark now and doing what appears to be situps. I think the beetle will emerge any day now.

Even though I'm not keeping track of my mealworm project, I already have some beetles and a bunch more pupa!!

This is all pretty exciting, I like breeding my food.

 

[Tony C]

I hit my pupa with the temp gun today, they range from about 80-95 depending on where they are in the box.

 

[Landen]

I personally have 50 beatles going. I started with 20 six months or so ago. That was good for about 1000+ worms which 50 were used to replace the original beatles that were near the end. The rest were fed as needed to my breeders. The second round has been alot more successful. I usually try to judge the worms to pupate based on the girth of them. The ones that are as big or bigger around as a standard pencil are the ones to go with (usually at least 2" long). I rotate my beatles to new bedding every 6-8 weeks. I've got a section of 12 5qt tubs without any heat on the bottom of my rack and that is what I use for both my mealworms and supers. Basically, the top left two are for superworm beatles laying new eggs (25 ea tub), the top right two are full of mealworms beatles laying new eggs(200 ea tub). The second row is the bedding most recently pulled from the beatles of each kind, and the bottom row are the tubs with 1/2" or so mealworms. When the top tubs are ready to move, I harvest all the mealworms in the bottom bins and combine them to a 3 part feeder bins by my main racks. I constantly collect the largest mealworms and set aside several to pupate for the next round so I do not feed off all of them.

I have a colony of a little under 2 dozen breeders, I've got half a dozen hatchlings so far but expect somewhere around 75-100 this year. This set up should produce plenty for what I've got to feed. mealworms make up about 50% of my feeders, superworms about 20%, crickets about 20%, and waxworms for treats on the other 10% (approx).

 

[RoninSTi]

1/27/2010

Ok so I think I have this down to a science. I've drastically reduced the amount of deaths and increased the amount beginning to pupate. I have one beetle so far, and 6 pupae getting there. The poor lonely beetle looks like it needs a friend haha!

I took the advice I received and picked only big the longest/fattest worms to go into the pupa tank. With the temps in the high 70's they pupate in approximately 1 week. Once I have mutiple beetles I'll take some pics and monitor for babies!

 

[Landen]

There you go sounds like your onto a good start. good luck.

 

[RoninSTi]

1/28/2010

Hard lesson learned:

Don't put your only beetle back in the bin with the worms. They will devour it. I knew there was a chance this would happen...but I figured since the worms had plenty of food and moisture that the beetle would be safe...WRONG.

So now I have no beetles and learned a lesson haha. I'm waiting for my 5 pupae to turn into beetles to keep this process going. Maybe in another week these guys will be beetles.

I was digging through the bin tonight and there a bunch of HUGE supers in there. I'm going to pluck about 5-10 of them tomorrow and get another batch going. I'd like to have about 20 beetles or so for this first round.

 

[RoninSTi]

2/1/2010

Came back from a VT trip and the biggest pupa I had is now dead. These things are starting to discourage me.

 

[sammer021486]

2/1/2010

Came back from a VT trip and the biggest pupa I had is now dead. These things are starting to discourage me.

I wouldn't get discouraged your post has been really helping me. Using information that I have gathered from your posts I have been having success (fingers all crossed).

I am using my hovabator to incubate the supers at 84-86F and within a week the majority of them turned to pupa. By selecting only the largest of the worms in my collection I have not had any die yet that I have placed in the incubator. The majority of my worms are about 2"+ long and slightly smaller then a pencil is round.

 

[RoninSTi]

I wouldn't get discouraged your post has been really helping me. Using information that I have gathered from your posts I have been having success (fingers all crossed).

I am using my hovabator to incubate the supers at 84-86F and within a week the majority of them turned to pupa. By selecting only the largest of the worms in my collection I have not had any die yet that I have placed in the incubator. The majority of my worms are about 2"+ long and slightly smaller then a pencil is round.

That's great! That's exactly why I made this little journal. Maybe I should get a hovabator. Are they expensive?

 

[sammer021486]

That's great! That's exactly why I made this little journal. Maybe I should get a hovabator. Are they expensive?

Not at all, you can find them for around $50 plus shipping. I know that the Tractor Supply Company has Little Giant incubators which are basically the same thing as a Hovabator for around $42.

If you have the parts laying around you could even build your own. A hovabator is just a heating element controlled by a wafer thermostat. If you have some heat tape/mat/cable laying around and a spare T-stat, you can get a styrofoam box from a pet store or dollar store and build one.

 

[JaZ]

This pupa journal is hilarious!:main_laugh::main_thumbsup:

 

[Jama]

great job!! please keep updating!!!
i'm thinking of tryin myself!!!

 

[RoninSTi]

2/11/2010

So I officially suck at breeding these things. I've been able to pupate about 8 of them (out of about 25) 17 worms died. 6 pupae died, 1 beetle death from my stupidity...and whoopdeedoo 1 lonely beetle.

I have them separated. I pick the fattest/longest ones. I have the temps right. I just bought some more from a reptile show and the quality of these worms look much better than the pet store worms. They've been fattening up in the bin. I'm going to dig through there tomorrow for some monsters and try again. Look for Superworm project part 2 if you want to keep following my ridiculous pupa journal.

 

[Landen]

store bought worms are in my opinion near death when you get them. The breeder worms will probably do you much better, where I'm at we've got a worm guy and his stuff is top notch. Good luck with the new worms. Just make sure they're fat and happy before you pupate, I hope you get it. It saves me a ton of money breeding my own.