Wax worms.

[Stl_Greaser]

So I started my wax worm culture a long while ago and seemingly after moths I got nothing. Well about 3 weeks ago I started a new culture with the same medium and moved all of my feeders to a closet to get them out of the way, and keep them all warm easier. I just looked and I have an absolute ton of baby to super huge wax worms and moths! I am going to have wax worms coming out of my ears! I guess it was a little too cool in the room they where it for the eggs to hatch!

Good thing I have lots of hungry mouths to keep busy masticating!

 

[Brett B]

Sweet. I was thinking of raising my own wax worms so can you please explain your setup?
Like Temps they are stored at
Food
Container Held in
How many you got to start off

And one last question, how do you get out the wax worms when you have moths flying all over the place?
Thank You
Brett

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Sure, I have them in a dollar store cheeseball container with some strips of one sided corrugated board for the moths to lay eggs on.

Food is wheat bran, honey, and glycerin mixed to a crumbly consistency. It covers the entire bottom.
About 1 inch thick.

The whole thing sits in a closet around 78 to 80 ambient.

I started off with 50 worms in the beginning. That seemed like a good number cause not all of them will make it to mothhood and breed.

I will not remove any until the moths all die off. They only live a couple weeks.

You are going to be amazed to see how big these will get when home reared. I've got some almost 2 inches long!

Enjoy!

 

[Tony C]

Very cool, I started a culture a while ago and can see some little worms crawling around. I'm actually more interested in growing them into moths, they make great frog food.

 

[Brett B]

Thanks. I am trying to find a container to raise these guys in. I will try to find that cheeseball container you use. And about the corrugated board, does that go on the top or the bottom? Would cardboard or plastic work just as good?

I'm not really suprised they hit 2"... People who raise feeders to sell and not to feed to their own pets don't care about quality, they care about quanity. And these guys are "fresh" the ones you get from ******** are sitting in a container for a week or more, losing valuable nutrients by the hour.

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Thanks. I am trying to find a container to raise these guys in. I will try to find that cheeseball container you use. And about the corrugated board, does that go on the top or the bottom? Would cardboard or plastic work just as good?

I'm not really suprised they hit 2"... People who raise feeders to sell and not to feed to their own pets don't care about quality, they care about quanity. And these guys are "fresh" the ones you get from ******** are sitting in a container for a week or more, losing valuable nutrients by the hour.

What most people call cardboard any corrugated are the same thing. Just pull off one side to expose the wavy center. It will sit in the containe at an angle from bottom to the side near the top! You can also use crumpled up waxpaper instead!

I like to use the cheeseball container cause then I have to eat them first!

 

[Brett B]

Thanks for the help. I'm going to get a clear storage container thats long and shallow and fill it with 1" of Wheat Bran and Honey mix. Atleast I think its Wheat Bran lol. I'm going to buy 50 at first, wait 2 weeks, buy 50 more, wait 2 weeks, buy 50 more, keep repeating that until I have bought 300 worms. This should give me a consistant supply of worms. Atleast thats what I'm hoping....

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Thanks for the help. I'm going to get a clear storage container thats long and shallow and fill it with 1" of Wheat Bran and Honey mix. Atleast I think its Wheat Bran lol. I'm going to buy 50 at first, wait 2 weeks, buy 50 more, wait 2 weeks, buy 50 more, keep repeating that until I have bought 300 worms. This should give me a consistant supply of worms. Atleast thats what I'm hoping....

You will want to use something a little taller. Something more like a jar. You will get a lot of eggs and there fore worms from just 50 or a 100 worms. It is more of a start a culture, wait, harvest. Then you will just start all over. There is no good way to keep a colony going. When there are moths you will not be able to open the lid, to remove worms or add food. So you will not want to add worms like your planing on.

 

[Brett B]

Ok. Then I will start several containers to try and keep a good harvest.

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Good luck man! Let me know how it works out for you.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

This is very interesting, thanks for posting