Super worms are mad at me

[VerteX]

Alright, I was just about to go to bed and I grabbed some romaine lettuce for the super worms. At this point I realized that their oat meal bedding was moldy towads the bottom. Like green moldy. Like glowing green.

I immediately changed their bedding, washed and scrubbed their container, put them back in. Evidently all of them were alive. Some of them had slight mold on their their heads.

I'm mad at myself for being neglectful about these little guys. I don't plan on feeding these to Kermit the cham for a week until I know absolutely for sure that they are not going to mutate into a little green radioactive monsters.

Your comments would be very highly appreciated.

 

[Marc10edora]

Make sure that the top of the container is well ventilated.

 

[Heika]

I would look into how the bedding is getting wet. I keep mine dry and feed them moisure rich foods.

I just recently read that superworms do well on 2" of slightly damp peatmoss. I thought I would give it a try.

Heika

 

[Cherron]

I keep my superworms in a cat litter box (that i bought new for this purpose, of course). This way they get all the ventilation they need. I keep them in a bedding of infant cereal, bran and oatmeal. I have never once had the bedding mold and haven't had any escapees, either!

 

[Canopy Chameleons]

I use peat moss for my supers, and have never had a problem. Never molded once. I keep them in a little rubbermaid tub, with a ventilated lid, and they do phenomenal. I tried the oat mix for them once before, and hated it. It stunk after a week, and they didn't seem to be enjoying it.

 

[Heika]

I use peat moss for my supers, and have never had a problem. Never molded once. I keep them in a little rubbermaid tub, with a ventilated lid, and they do phenomenal. I tried the oat mix for them once before, and hated it. It stunk after a week, and they didn't seem to be enjoying it.

Do they seem to be eating the peat moss? What else do you feed them when they are in that bedding? I use a mixture of grains and "other stuff" right now..

 

[Canopy Chameleons]

I feed them greens (endive, escarole, collard greens, etc etc) Alot of squash, sweet potato, broccoli leaves, apple, carrot, sometimes banana, cactus pad, my god, I feed them alot, haha. I feed them a huge handful everyday of random veggies. And as far as eating it, they seem more to be composting it. They make the nicest black soil from the peat, works great for planting new cham plants actually.

 

[TylerStewart]

Lately, I have been using coconut chips for them... It's really lightweight, so you can basically push it to the side and find the worms in small groups under it. Peat moss works great too, though. Easy to find and clean.

They make the nicest black soil from the peat.

I think this is called "frass" LOL...

 

[Will Hayward]

I use to use Bran, but lately Ive been using crushed corn cob- usually used for rodents or small mammal keeping.

 

[Canopy Chameleons]

I think this is called "frass" LOL...

lol, To put it bluntly, yes! But it makes the best soil to mix with for repotting.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Supers and peat moss

We also keep our supers on peat moss. We order like 500 supers every few months and when the new batch arrives we throw out the old peat moss, in our compost pile, clean out the rubbermaid container and fill it with new peat. In goes the mulititude of supers and then on top of the peat we lay a few slices of potato. They get cut about 1/4" thick and they just lay on the peat. The worms come up from beneath and eat the potato and it also provides them with water. Been doing this for years.

Elliot and Sandy
Graham Washington

 

[Heika]

Wonder what the gutload value is of peat moss? Most grains are high in phosphorous.. it would be interesting to see how a superworm kept on peat moss compared with one kept on grains. Someone on this list mentioned that their chameleons would actually shoot up peat moss and eat it.. must be something to it. Anyone have any clue about the nutritional content of peat moss?

 

[Canopy Chameleons]

Not a clue, but it's an interesting thought. Now that you mention it, I can't get my Veields to stop eating the dirt in the plant pots. I should ask my bug supplier, he uses exclusively peat for his supers. I'm going to dig further into that I think, cause now you have me wondering about my feeder nutrition, lol.