There are some good places online to search out, try Google. That's how I found out how to do it. Anyway, here are some directions.
Get some nice plump worms at the pet store. Put them in some oatmeal (raw please) with a chunk of potato. Let them eat and poop for at least two weeks.
Get some covered cups like what salsa is served in or the individual little cup of cole slaw in a deli. We have a Fresh Burrito place by us that uses these cups. Put one worm in each cup. Punch a hole in the top with a thumb tack and set the cups in a dark warm cabinet or drawer. They will shed if needed then curl into a C shape for a couple weeks and then pop out of that skin into a crysalis. This crysalis takes about 2-4 weeks to develop. It will then start to turn brown, do a little shed (you will see the legs emerging) and then one day you will see this beetle. It starts out being very light colored, but darkens over the next couple days.
I take the beetle out of the cup and put it in a plastic shoe box with a mixture of wheat germ and oatmeal with a chunk or two of potato. Take the lumpy part of an egg carton (cup off the flat part) and turn it upside down covering your beetle. They will pile into one or two of the cups and hang upside down in there, warm and dark.
They will eat the meal and the potato, slowly. After about 4-5 days they will mate and start laying eggs which you will probably never see. When the eggs hatch the worms will be sooooo tiny you probably won't notice them. In about a month the teeny worms will grow big enough for you to see them, but not to feed to your cham.
This is a slow process, but you will realize hundreds of worms. The beetles will start to die off in about 2 months, but the worms will be growing.
Again, keep them warm, but don't worry about fresh potatoes, they seem to like them better when they have been sitting in the bin for weeks. One day you will pick up that piece of potato and see the worms are eating a hole in the potato. If you throw away the hardened potato piece you may be throwing away worms.
Don't feed them off until they get large, about 2" and fat.
I put worms into the cups about every month so I have an ongoing batch. I have 5 chams and am propogating 12 every month. If you have any young chams they can eat the smaller worms. My little ambilobe (4 months) loves the worms and gets 3/day along with about 8 1/4" crickets.
Good luck - it takes a long time but it is interesting and once they start you will have a nice colony.
Get some nice plump worms at the pet store. Put them in some oatmeal (raw please) with a chunk of potato. Let them eat and poop for at least two weeks.
Get some covered cups like what salsa is served in or the individual little cup of cole slaw in a deli. We have a Fresh Burrito place by us that uses these cups. Put one worm in each cup. Punch a hole in the top with a thumb tack and set the cups in a dark warm cabinet or drawer. They will shed if needed then curl into a C shape for a couple weeks and then pop out of that skin into a crysalis. This crysalis takes about 2-4 weeks to develop. It will then start to turn brown, do a little shed (you will see the legs emerging) and then one day you will see this beetle. It starts out being very light colored, but darkens over the next couple days.
I take the beetle out of the cup and put it in a plastic shoe box with a mixture of wheat germ and oatmeal with a chunk or two of potato. Take the lumpy part of an egg carton (cup off the flat part) and turn it upside down covering your beetle. They will pile into one or two of the cups and hang upside down in there, warm and dark.
They will eat the meal and the potato, slowly. After about 4-5 days they will mate and start laying eggs which you will probably never see. When the eggs hatch the worms will be sooooo tiny you probably won't notice them. In about a month the teeny worms will grow big enough for you to see them, but not to feed to your cham.
This is a slow process, but you will realize hundreds of worms. The beetles will start to die off in about 2 months, but the worms will be growing.
Again, keep them warm, but don't worry about fresh potatoes, they seem to like them better when they have been sitting in the bin for weeks. One day you will pick up that piece of potato and see the worms are eating a hole in the potato. If you throw away the hardened potato piece you may be throwing away worms.
Don't feed them off until they get large, about 2" and fat.
I put worms into the cups about every month so I have an ongoing batch. I have 5 chams and am propogating 12 every month. If you have any young chams they can eat the smaller worms. My little ambilobe (4 months) loves the worms and gets 3/day along with about 8 1/4" crickets.
Good luck - it takes a long time but it is interesting and once they start you will have a nice colony.
