How to Care for Your Super Worms
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Different Watersprite
|
Super
Worm Factoids |
|
|
Origin |
Central
and |
|
Size |
Two
inches |
|
Temperature |
Room
temp fine |
|
Foods |
Any
grain or cereal -- keep dry but … |
|
Add
Water Source |
Carrot,
potato, apple |
|
Container |
Any
slick sided container with a cover |
|
Culture
Medium |
Bran
works best |
|
Feed
to … |
Lizards,
hedgehogs, birds, fish, turtles |
|
Biggest
Threats |
Cannibalism,
mice, ants, mold |
|
Breeding
Comments |
Hard
to breed |
|
|
|
|
|||
LALots of superworms -- and that's just the top.
Origin. Frankly, I don’t know where these feisty
Un-Worms. First, superworms are really insects – the larval form of a chunky beetle. Excuse us for calling them worms. But, gee, mom, everyone else does it.
LA
Superworms grow much larger than regular mealworms.
LA
As superworms grow, they shed their skins.
LA
Softer and tastier at this stage.
Size. Superworms weigh in at a hefty two inches long. You will not feed these guys to small lizards. You can get a good idea of their size from their picture.
Biters. Don’t toss a raft of these guys in with your lizard regardless of size. These guys can bite. They’ll bite your lizard (and you) – especially if you overfeed. Superworms even gnaw their way out of those hard plastic cups they are sold in. They start chewing on one of the pin-sized air holes and make it large enough to wriggle out of.
Feeding Technique. If
you just toss your superworms into your lizard tank, they will burrow
into your lizard’s substrate and “bug” your hungry lizard later.
Put them into a slick-sided container with sides too high for them
to clamber out of – sort of a lizard buffet.
LA
Super "worms" shed their skins as they grow larger.
LA
Recently shed superworms are softer and less bitey.
Recent Instars. Superworms that just finished “molting” are softer and easier to chew. Doubting Thomas? Try a test bite or two.
Increase Their Nutrition. You
can successfully keep your superworms in the original medium they came in.
But before you feed them to your critter of choice, you may want to
gut load them or as the Governator says “We will plump them up.”
Put them in a small container with a highly nutritious food – any
of the cricket gut loading foods will work.
We use chicken egg-laying mash.
You cannot dust them like crickets because of their Teflon-like
exoskeleton.
LA
Critter cages like these successfully hold hundreds of superworms.
Housing. Any kind of slick-sided container with a ventilated top will work. A tightly sealed lid runs up the humidity and encourages mold.
LA
Plain ol' bran works best for us. You can give them many different
media to live in.
Culture Medium. We tried
some different media and finally came back to plain old bran.
Superworms, eat, hide in, and breed in their media.
It will probably last two months before they totally consume it.
LA
Carrots make an excellent water source for superworms.
Nutritional
Content
|
|
|
Protein |
19.06% |
|
Fat |
14.19% |
|
Fiber |
2.60% |
|
Moisture |
61.92% |
|
Calcium |
173
ppm |
Water Source.
We prefer carrots as their water source.
Without the carrots, they devour each other for moisture.
You find a lot of dried heads with no bodies attached.
Potatoes and apples also work but not as well.
Apples seem to increase the humidity too high.
LA
You can scoop your super worms sans medium if you use a scoop with the
right size holes.
Capturing. Catching superworms one at a time is time-consuming but it will help you learn that they bite. Use a colander with the right size holes to “separate the worms from the chaff” so to speak. Drop them into a non-chewable container and feed them out as needed.
LA
When you lift up their opaque cover, you'll find where your superworms
hang out.
Capturing Hint. If you
leave something opaque on the surface, many of your superworms will
congregate immediately below its surface. They
do not like the light and prefer to spend most of their time below the surface of
their media.
LA
August 16, 2005. Separate out individual superworms and they will pupate.
LA
August 27, 2005. First pupa emerges
LA
August 28, 2005. More are making the change to pupae.
Pupa Comments.
You actually have to force superworms to pupate. Otherwise, they
remain larvae. The ones that curl up (above) tend to pupate
successfully in a couple of weeks. Some people use those tubes film
comes in You gotta punch a small hole in it. Add a bit of bran
and check every so often. We use that 24-section tackle box
above. It costs $3 and lets you see all your potential pupae with a
minimum of effort. Separating the individual larvae protects the pupae from
their cannibalistic brethren.
Pupae develop into beetles that
redden over time. They need a bit of moisture at this time.
Beetle Comments. Your pupae will convert to beetles in
another week or two. These beetles are the breeders of your next
generation. Each mama beetle lays hundreds of eggs. I’ve
never counted them so I can’t
give you an exact number. They lay eggs in your media for at least
two months.
Last Word. Few people want to breed their own superworms. However, now you know how it’s done. LA
© 2005 LA Productions
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