SYNOPSES of MY experience:

PHASE ONE: MORPHING SUPERWORMS

-Day 1 Separated each superworm into individual housing.
-Day 7 First Superworms morphs into Pupa.
-Day 11 Majority of Superwoms in Pupae stage.
-Day 21 First Pupa morph into Beetles.
-Day 26 Remaining Pupae morph into Beetles. -All Beetles now moved from Individu
al housing
containers into community breeding boxes.
PHASE TWO: BREEDING DARKLING BEETLES
-Beetles placed on 2 inches of raw oatmeal in 1x1ft space.
-Beetles will start breeding after eating food/moisture item.
-Beetles breed in boxes until death.
-End of week 4, firsy Beetles begin to die.
-All Dead Beetle remains removed from box.
PHASE THREE: RAISING AND KEEPING SUPERWORMS
-Old breeding box now used as nursery.
-Eggs hatch in roughly 2 weeks.
-Maintain oats and moisture items.
-3 weeks later barely visible superworms appear.
-Week 5-6, new superworms now big enough, to move into main "feeders" box.
-SUCCESS!
Rinse and Repeat.
My Superworm/Beetle Housing:
-Individual housing done in 36 slot tackle organizers.
-Breeding boxes/general housing for superworms in a 1x1ft, 3 drawer Sterlite box
system.
-All drawers filled with 2 inches of uncooked oatmeal.
-Beetle breeding drawer ONLY contains "hides". -Egg Cartons -Old Toilet Paper Ro
lls -Old Paper
Towel Rolls
Recommended Substrates/Food for Superworms/Beetles:
-Uncooked Oatmeal
-Whole Grains
-Raw Wheat Grains
-Bran
-Chicken Scratch
Recommended Moisture Items:
-Carrots
-Celery
-Potatoes
-Grapes
-Cucumber
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Breeding superworms is a very easy task. If given the proper conditions, before
you know it, you
will have thousands of tiny babies, depending on how many beetles you have.
First of all you must have adult supers to start the breeding process, so pick o
ut the biggest
ones from your colony to start. I normally start with 100 adult supers for breed
ing, but I have
alot of mouths to feed also 50 would do, but sometimes a few of the worms may d
ie so it's best
to have quite a few to start.
The only way supers will start to change into pupae is to separate them individu
ally, keeping
them together will not work. Keeping them alone will cause them to become stress
ed and so the
change will begin. What works well to keep them in empty 35mm film containers, o
r something of
similar size, even empty washed spice bottles, which is what I have used alot, a
nd works well.
They should be kept at room temps in the little containers, with no food, water,
or substrate.
After about 1-2 weeks, you will see the superworm start to curl up, this means t
he pupae stage
is starting. If you see the worm turning black, or laying straight, it is most l
ikely dead. Once
the worms start to curl up, within a week or two it should be in the next stage
, the pupae.
Leave them in the film containers. After another 1-2 weeks, it will be in stage
3, the beetle.
Once the pupae has changed into the beetle, it will look all white, or tan color
. Leave them in
the containers until they are completely black, otherwise if you place the beetl
es in the same
container together before their shell has hardened, they may eat one another, es
pecially since
they will be so hungry
Once the beetles are completely black, you can place them in the breeding box to
gether. I like
to use the plastic rubbermaid containers, with a bedding such as oats, or bran.
Place a few egg
flats in the box, and lots of food for moisture, like potato slices, carrot, etc
. they will be
very hungry after the long process and will not breed until they have eaten. Aft
er they have had
their fill, you will see them gather underneith the egg flats, to begin breeding
. Always make
sure they have plenty of fresh food, to be changed daily to prevent mold from fo
rming. What I do
is have the whole top lid cut out and replaced with screen for lots of air flow,
or condensation
will form molding the food, and the substrate, killing the whole colony.
Once a week I move all the beetles in a new container so the babies will hatch f
rom the eggs in
the first breeding bin. At times the beetles will eat the eggs, so it is best to
move them, and
keep the breeding process going.
Once the first lot of babies hatch, within a few weeks, you will not see them as
they will be
very tiny in size, but add carrot pieces, potato pieces, etc for them, or they w
ill not survive.
You will eventually see them underneith the food, chowing down, and after a few
months they will
be big enough to start the breeding process again.
How long do the beetles live you ask? I have had beetles live up to almost 1 yea
r. And incase
you do not know, the beetles can fly. You rarely ever see it, but they sure can.
I have been
breeding supers for years and only one time have I seen one fly, although it did
n't get to far
before hitting the floor
There you have it, you are on your way to saving yourself a few pennies by breed
ing your own
feeders. It is well worth it, especially if you have your own little private zoo
like me
Good luck, and happy breeding!
Nancy McBride