super and mealie babies

Dani33 · 12-25-03, 05:28 PM

I started a meal worm and super worm colony approx. a month to a month and a half ago. I have beetles - not sure how long I have had the beetles. I can't remember.

Mealworms - I separate the various stages and the temps are around 78 degrees. I have a piece of egg crate in w/ the beetles. I feed various veggies - carrot greens etc.

Supers - I speparate the various stages and the temps are around 80 degrees or so. I also have an old piece of wood in w/ the beetles. I feed various veggies - carrots, greens and what not.

I also have them on mixes of brans and stuff.

Question is - how long will it be before I have babies? I am getting impatient and not sure as to how long it will take. Any ideas? I have read various care sheets and haven't found as to how long it will take.

Thanks in advance.

Linds · 12-26-03, 12:04 AM

I don;t really keep track of how long the stages last, but I would say it was approximately 4 weeks before I started noticing a lot of little supers, and my meaies I would say approximately 3 weeks. I never used to seperate my mealies, but in the past few months they stoppped production so I was forced to, but the supers I have seperated from the start. They are all kept at a cycle of 78-82 degrees, and wil be experiencing a cycle of 65-80 in the next few weeks.

Doug & Deb · 12-26-03, 11:05 AM

I have got news for you. We started our colonies of superworms at the end of June and we just got worms as big as the ones we originally bought to make the worms 2 weeks ago. They are so microscopic when they are eggs you will not see them all you will see when you move the bran with your fingers you will see the flakes move. I understand the pricing because it takes about 7 months before you have a large worm.

Good Luck

Dani33 · 12-26-03, 06:14 PM

Well, last night, I turned the egg crate over and looked with a flash light. I saw some baby meal worms-really tiny! I tried with the supers, I couldn't see anything. I think that I saw eggs in the cracks of the wood - not sure though. Thanx for your replies everyone!

WALTER · 12-26-03, 08:19 PM

7 months!. That sure is a long time to get a large superworm. Yes they are lot of work and it will take some time to get it down right.I get large worms in 6wks from hatching. It take the eggs about 5-8 days to hatch. 6 wks to be around 21/2-3" long.I keep mine around 75-82.
In another 2-3wks I will be producing 100,000 a wk.It took a long time to get a system down that works. You are right there isn't a lot on the net but the information is there if you look and try a few things out to see what will work for you and your set up. Sorry I can't get into more detail about raising them it took me a few years to get it working well for me. One hint I can give is they are not a mealworm so don't keep or raise them like one.

Dani33 · 12-26-03, 09:49 PM

I was just reading another care sheet about the supers. Do you keep the beetles on peat moss? I have been keeping them on a mixture of brans. Does this work for anyone?

This is what I'm doing with them. I have the worms in a shoebox rubbermaid w/ various brans as a substrate. I put in an old piece of wood to hide in. I daily put in fresh veggies. Approx. 78o.

I purchased 2 plastic containers. The kind w/ 24 compartments and used for fishing lures. I drilled 3 1mm holes above each compartment. I have 2 of these. In each compartment I place approx. one teaspoon of bran for food. I then place one super in each compartment, (I put in the largest ones that I can find). It is kept at aprox 80o or so. I haven't had any problems w/ them turning into beetles.

I than place the beetles into another shoebox w/ the same bran substrate w/ a hunk of wood. I put in fresh veggies daily. These are also kept at 80o or so.

Does this sound ok to everyone? Any suggestions?

Dani33 · 01-02-04, 02:11 AM

Anyone?

Linds · 01-02-04, 12:21 PM

I'm by far experienced at this and haven't perfected any system, but have finally gotten the hang of it nonetheless. Your setup sounds fine to me, however I would add more types of grain to the susbtrate instead of just bran. I've heard of people using peat moss before, but I've never considered it.

WALTER · 01-02-04, 08:50 PM

peat moss works fine but you will have to do some trial and errors with the stuff. Once you get it you will like it.

Dani33 · 01-04-04, 06:45 PM

Yay! I have baby mealies, supers and crix! I have only been trying for approx. 6 weeks or so. I guess that I'm just impatient - LOL. Thanx for your input everyone! I think that I will try and use the substrate mix recommended on Dr. Gecko.com. I'm just going to leave it for now as they are obviously comfy w/ it. Does anyone have any good methods of changing the substrate w/out throwing out babies. Oh and does anyone know of any efficient methods of removing pin head crix from their little incubator box into their new home?

CHRISANDBOIDS14 · 01-04-04, 09:12 PM

What i do with crix is i have a margarine container(empty) with sphagnum moss in it and i leave it in for about 2 weeks and i then put that in another big rubbermaid and they hatch, no incubator, then i take out the margarine container and i got my crikets in my container.