Superworm Beetles

[wst0209a]

I have about 20 beetles now and they have been all together for about a week now. How long will it take them to lay eggs and how many will they lay? Will I be able to see the eggs? I have them in a clear container with cereal, apples, and some egg crates. Is there anything else that I should have? Any help would be great. Thank you.

 

[lele]

My tip? just sit back and don't throw anything out from the container (except bad food of course) b/c there may be little eggies on it . The eggs are VERY tiny and the newly hatched supers are very tiny, too. You probably won't see them until they are about 1/4" long and have darkened. I have to cultures going right now and they are slow growers (also have a mealworm and super colony in my tank of Giant Cave Roaches! It was fine for a while b/c I would pick out the small ones to feed to my smaller lizards but now it is out of control. The roaches are pets so they have nice substrate, cork bark caves, branches to hang out on - all in a 30 gallon tank. It is going to be a big job but I'll have all sorts of sizes

Sorry...back to your supers. I see you live in Maryland so you have warm humid summer like we do up here (NH). DO NOT LET HUMIDITY BULID UP AND DO NOT USE OATS IN SUBSTRATE! Supers are notorious for mites and in the right environment they will explode! I found this out the hard way a couple years ago - UGH!!!! So be sure to remove any fruit that will cause moisture build up.

Here;s a good site for breeding supers. I do it a bit differently , but the out come is the same.

Have fun!

 

[Heika]

Sorry...back to your supers. I see you live in Maryland so you have warm humid summer like we do up here (NH). DO NOT LET HUMIDITY BULID UP AND DO NOT USE OATS IN SUBSTRATE! Supers are notorious for mites and in the right environment they will explode! I found this out the hard way a couple years ago - UGH!!!! So be sure to remove any fruit that will cause moisture build up.

Eww... mites. I had that problem one time in a super culture.. the box got wet when a tube on my misting system burst. The substrate was just a little damp, so I figured no harm.. ha! A few days later, I was overrun by mites.. disgusting, tiny, very prolific little mites. It took forever to get rid of them all.

Heika

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

After a mite problem, I now keep my superworm container sitting in a pan with a 1/4" of soapy water. On the rare occasion that there is a mite bloom, they all drown. If you ever want to see what a billion mites look like...