Waxworm breeding

[insectovore]

During one of my orders of waxworms quite a few turned into pupae before I could feed them off (they are a light brown color, not black). I mixed up some wheat bran and organic honey and put it inside a canning jar with a paper towel for a lid. this went into the top of a closet which gets quite warm. I began seeing moths soon after but they quickly perished. I worried they had perished so quickly that they would not have found each other and laid eggs. However, when I opened the contain today, about 3 weeks later, I was surprised at how large the larvae were. They are too large now for my bumblebee toads but I will use them for my arboreal salamanders and grow some up full size for my lizards.

 

[MissSkittles]

Yup, that’s how it’s done. The worms will make quick work of eating thru the paper towel though and make their great escape. I had tried cotton fabric and they were eating thru that. Now I use several layers of screening in the lid, and the little buggers sometimes still can force their way thru the holes, but they get trapped by the next screen layer.

 

[insectovore]

Yup, that’s how it’s done. The worms will make quick work of eating thru the paper towel though and make their great escape. I had tried cotton fabric and they were eating thru that. Now I use several layers of screening in the lid, and the little buggers sometimes still can force their way thru the holes, but they get trapped by the next screen layer.

Where do you get the screen?

 

[kinyonga]

They eat through plastic too.

 

[MissSkittles]

Where do you get the screen?

I’ve had to rescreen some windows and enclosures and so I have some left over. You can buy rolls of screening at any Home Depot, Lowe’s or other similar store - even Walmart used to carry it. Don’t get the fiberglass though…they can eat their ways thru that too. Last year I read an article about using wax worms to help rid the planet of some excess plastics. They must have some serious little tiny teeth to chew thru everything.