Superworm Bedding?

[bloftis1]

Hey guys! So I'm soon going to start a colony of superworms, my only question is the bedding. Now I know I can use regular oatmeal or wheat bran. But what about ground up dog food?? I've heard some people use it for their bedding is that good for them?

 

[nightanole]

"no added vitamins and not fortified"

You use bran, because they are called "grain mites" not "bran mites". Little suckers can breed in bran.

You can also use gunea pig or chicken feed, if again, its not fortified or has added vitamins.

 

[bloftis1]

"no added vitamins and not fortified"

You use bran, because they are called "grain mites" not "bran mites". Little suckers can breed in bran.

You can also use gunea pig or chicken feed, if again, its not fortified or has added vitamins.

Okay! Thank you so much!!

 

[jamest0o0]

Definitely not ground up dog/cat food. No animal proteins. I use a mixture of bug buffet with some oats, but in these more humid months I've noticed mold grows more easily, on everything and grain mold, according to some reports can be dangerous. So with that, I am going to switch to a more natural approach. For my next superworm batch I'm going to give them a large bin with cocofiber, bark, moss, leaf litter, etc. Add some springtails, isopods, and darkling beetles for clean up. Going to see how it plays out, going to try and give them enough hiding spots to try and get them to pupate and reproduce on their own.

 

[JacksJill]

I agree dog food could cause problems for your chameleons. I'm using steel cut oats rather than the flattened oat meal in my super worm bin. Too early to tell if this is going to work well but it has less dust and is easier to sort.

 

[bloftis1]

I agree dog food could cause problems for your chameleons. I'm using steel cut oats rather than the flattened oat meal in my super worm bin. Too early to tell if this is going to work well but it has less dust and is easier to sort.

Definitely not ground up dog/cat food. No animal proteins. I use a mixture of bug buffet with some oats, but in these more humid months I've noticed mold grows more easily, on everything and grain mold, according to some reports can be dangerous. So with that, I am going to switch to a more natural approach. For my next superworm batch I'm going to give them a large bin with cocofiber, bark, moss, leaf litter, etc. Add some springtails, isopods, and darkling beetles for clean up. Going to see how it plays out, going to try and give them enough hiding spots to try and get them to pupate and reproduce on their own.

Sweet! Thank all of you guys for the info! This is definitely going to be helpful once the superworm colony begins! Awesome information

 

[nightanole]

Definitely not ground up dog/cat food. No animal proteins. I use a mixture of bug buffet with some oats, but in these more humid months I've noticed mold grows more easily, on everything and grain mold, according to some reports can be dangerous. So with that, I am going to switch to a more natural approach. For my next superworm batch I'm going to give them a large bin with cocofiber, bark, moss, leaf litter, etc. Add some springtails, isopods, and darkling beetles for clean up. Going to see how it plays out, going to try and give them enough hiding spots to try and get them to pupate and reproduce on their own.

I would like to note that supers will eat cleaner crews. I found that out the hard way...

 

[jamest0o0]

I would like to note that supers will eat cleaner crews. I found that out the hard way...

I don't doubt that. I keep supers in my enclosures though and I haven't had any issues with them killing everything off. The isopods I use get very large too. I'm hoping with enough food it won't be an issue, but even if they do eat the cuc it won't matter much.