Superworm breeding

Toothless the cham

Established Member
So for my chameleons I am looking for a constant supply of super/morio worms. To do so I'm thinking about trying to breed them again. When I tried the first time I failed completely. in the pictures below is what I have as their setup so far. Any critiques would help greatly. Anything I could do to get them to pupate what also will be good. When they turn into beetles I know that they lay eggs. a question I have is how do the eggs get down to another event without the Beatles eating them because I know they will. I've heard of putting holes in the bottom of the bin but I'm not sure if it works. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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As I said any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
To pupate them into beetles I put the biggest superworms into thes fishing tackle box things. They need to be separate to pupate. It takes a couple weeks. They will curl up into like a c shape then turn into the pupa then the beetles a couple weeks later.


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For my breeding bin I just use a single bin and put a few inches of wheat bran or oat meal. Puts some egg cartons ontop. Feed carrots once a week or so. I pretty much just leave it alone for a few months other then feeding the carrots. Once I see a couple big superworms crawling around I setup a new bin with new wheat bran or oatmeal and move the beetles and egg cartons over.




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You dedicate the top bin to the adult beetles saving the bottom two bins to catch different batches of eggs/larvae. Cut most of the bottom out of the top bin and glue in aluminum screen. I put rolled oats in this bin and some egg crate pieces. I feed the adults potatoes or carrots.
I pupated almost 2 dozen of the largest sized or full size worms/larvae. Get the ones that spend most of their time on the surface trying to get out of the bin. Put them in any individual cups you have around condiment cups are a popular option. Leave them alone somewhere warm checking for them to se when they pupate and then mature.
Put the beetles in together and in a couple weeks nature will start to take its course. The larvae will be very small at first and mine only grew well when it was warm.
 
Yea I thought so to because there is about 1500 in the bin I have

Is there places for them to hide? Or deep substrate where they could get away from eachother? Or are you sure they aren't the giant mealworms. They can pupate together but you would probably be finding a bunch of them.
 
Is there places for them to hide? Or deep substrate where they could get away from eachother? Or are you sure they aren't the giant mealworms. They can pupate together but you would probably be finding a bunch of them.
It was at the way bottom of the substrate. I was digging for supers that just shedded and came across it
 
It was at the way bottom of the substrate. I was digging for supers that just shedded and came across it

Oh that makes more sense. If there's lots of room for them to get away from eachother I'm sure they could pupate in the same bin. I forget who but some on here says they put corkbark in there bin and the superworms burrow into it and pupate.
 
My plan is to put a layer of screen overtop of the oatmeal in the lay bin. After a few weeks I’ll lift the beetles/screen over to a new bin. Seems easier than sifting. Repeat that process every 2-4 weeks and I should be able to seperate beetles from eggs/small, and smalls from large.
 
Oh that makes more sense. If there's lots of room for them to get away from eachother I'm sure they could pupate in the same bin. I forget who but some on here says they put corkbark in there bin and the superworms burrow into it and pupate.
I’m sure if I didn’t find it when I did and didn’t put sweet potatoes in a 2 days ago they would have ate it soon
 
My plan is to put a layer of screen overtop of the oatmeal in the lay bin. After a few weeks I’ll lift the beetles/screen over to a new bin. Seems easier than sifting. Repeat that process every 2-4 weeks and I should be able to seperate beetles from eggs/small, and smalls from large.
I don’t plan on breeding the worms so I wondering if I can set it free or if that’s a no no where I live
 
My plan is to put a layer of screen overtop of the oatmeal in the lay bin. After a few weeks I’ll lift the beetles/screen over to a new bin. Seems easier than sifting. Repeat that process every 2-4 weeks and I should be able to seperate beetles from eggs/small, and smalls from large.

The beetles don't really burrow into the substrate usually just stay ontop so moving them to a new bin is fairly easy.
 
The beetles don't really burrow into the substrate usually just stay ontop so moving them to a new bin is fairly easy.

Cant risk getting too close :p I had read that they may eat the eggs, so a screen keeps them from doing so. I doubt they’d eat them all... but I’m loving the ease of lifting a screen to move my silkies around so figured it would work well with seperating beetles too.
 
I don’t plan on breeding the worms so I wondering if I can set it free or if that’s a no no where I live

I was responding to the OP’s question, but I wouldn’t release any feeders outside. When all else fails flush it and hope it doesnt swim! :p
 
Cant risk getting too close :p I had read that they may eat the eggs, so a screen keeps them from doing so. I doubt they’d eat them all... but I’m loving the ease of lifting a screen to move my silkies around so figured it would work well with seperating beetles too.

They may eat a few eggs but with the setup I show above I have a couple thousand worms. That are ready to be eaten. And a ton more in the breeding bin. So I have way more then I could ever feed my guys. I need a tokay gecko or something lol.
 
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